DU is selling the historic Phipps Mansion for $9 million and will use the money to create more scholarships for DU students.
The mansion was listed for $9.2 million and was on the market for just over a month.
The buyers are Tom Gill and Scott Miller, both active in Denver social circles. The deal is expected to close at the end of the year due to previously scheduled events at the mansion.
“Money being made by the university [in the sale] is not going to the university’s bottom line,” said Jim Berscheidt, associate provost of communications. “So anyone that think the university has sold [the Phipps Mansion] because of financial difficulties is wrong. It has nothing to do with that.”
Berscheidt said the mansion was sold near its appraised value.
“Whether or not it would be worth that much more in six months, 12 months or 18 months is sort of speculative,” he said. “It’s not something that was guaranteed to happen.”
The 6.5 acre estate, built for Sen. Lawrence Phipps and his wife, Margaret, was completed in the 1930s and is located next to the Polo Club at 3400 Belcaro Drive. It was donated to DU in the 1960s.
Berscheidt said most of DU events once held at the mansion can now be held on campus in venues such as the Gottesfeld Room or the HRTM facility, which were not yet constructed when the mansion was donated. Rentals of the mansion also have declined, Berscheidt said.
Gill and Miller will use the mansion as their primary residence.
Berscheidt said the university also took into account “significant costs” of extensive maintenance that would have been needed to upgrade the mansion, which would “take away from the core mission of the university.”
“It was just decided that it was not worth coming expenditures and not having to spend money on it annually,” Berscheidt said.
“We understand a lot of people had special memories of the house, but when you look at the long-term university history, it’s actually only been in our hands for a little over 40 years,” Berscheidt said. “While it was much appreciated gift, it’s not something that goes back to the founding or 1900s, but I know why it’s beloved and why it’s sad.”
