Pro hockey player buys Jack Nicholson’s former Aspen home … for $59.75 million

Bad TV reception meant famous actor Jack Nicholson couldn’t watch his beloved Lakers from his Aspen home, according to a 2008 book written by Hollywood reporter Dennis McDougal. Fellow Aspen dignitary and American record producer Lou Adler had the same exact problem.

So, Nicholson and Adler teamed up to purchase what’s called the Newberry House near downtown Aspen, a Victorian wooden structure built in 1895 — which, to help their pro basketball needs, has better TV reception. 

This was 1980. The purchase price was $555,000, according to Pitkin County property records. Factoring in inflation, this purchase price equates to about $2.1 million in today’s standards.

Property records show Nicholson eventually sold the house in 2013 for $11 million to Ellen Bronfman Hauptman, heiress to the Seagram’s liquor brand. But on Tuesday this week, Nicholson’s one-time Lakers haven was sold to former National Hockey League goalie Patrick Dovigi for $59.75 million, property records show.

The West End property, added to the National Register in 1987, underwent significant renovations in 2015, property records show. It is also adjacent to Hallam Lake toward Red Mountain, while it neighbors properties owned by the Lewis family. 

Jonathan Lewis, son of the late former chairman of Progressive Insurance Company Peter Lewis, infamously once purchased and tore down the former home of modern Aspen founders Walter and Elizabeth Paepcke to build anew in the area.

“Regarding the age of the home, while it does have historical significance, as for many of the homes from the Victorian-era in Aspen, the home has been completely redeveloped, expanded, and modernized over the years,” Aspen Board of Realtors President Elect Mark Lewis said via email of Nicholson’s former home. “Additionally, it sits on an extremely valuable and sought-after parcel of land in one of the most highly-coveted area’s in the city of Aspen: the West End.”

Lewis added, “As history tells it, Jack Nicholson purchased that property due to its convenient in-town location, and that it received good satellite reception in that location, so he would watch the Lakers games.”

But amid the excitement and extravagance of celebrity home purchases in Aspen, what continues to drive up the price of the local housing market? Realtors say, in a post-COVID-19 world, it falls on changes in land-use codes. 

In an effort to go green and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, Pitkin County commissioners amended the county’s land-use code and zoning regulations including a reduction of the final maximum floor area, according to a 2023 news release. The reduction, which immediately took effect upon adoption, applies to development in unincorporated Pitkin County and limits the final maximum floor area to 9,250 square feet. The former maximum floor area allowed was 15,000 square feet.

“We recognize that we have a pretty serious environmental emergency, and we have science showing us that anything above 8,500 square feet raises greenhouse-gas emissions and increases environmental havoc,” Pitkin County Commissioner Francie Jacober said in the release. “I think we need to keep that in mind when we think about why we are doing this — it’s really about responding to our climate action plan.”

Tuesday’s real estate deal isn’t the only one under Dovigi’s belt in Aspen.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the former Edmonton Oilers goaltender and founder of waste-management company Green For Life Environmental purchased an Aspen mansion for $72.5 million in 2021 only to sell it for $108 million earlier this year. He also purchased another Aspen property for $44.5 million and sold it for $55 million in 2022. 

According to Scott Bayens, a realtor with Aspen Snowmass Sotheby’s International Realty, the confluence of home-size restrictions and the luxury market is prompting more wealthy homebuyers to look for turnkey locations — like the 7,908 square-foot Newberry House — rather than building anew.

“They’ll stay there for two to four weeks, for a couple of years, sleep in the beds, make a meal, flush the toilet, and then, within two or three years, see a return of 25 to 50%,” he said. “They don’t want to redevelop; they don’t want to remodel, and if they find something that checks off all the boxes, it’s clear that they’ll pay any price.”

Fellow Sotheby’s brooker Duncan Clauss has spent plenty of time in the West End. He agreed certain local housing restrictions hinder the demographics of who can buy.

“People north of the $20 million price range are going to go for turnkey properties that you can move in tomorrow,” he said.

Before being sold to Dovigi on Tuesday, the 2024 assessed value for the Newberry House was nearly $2.56 million, while its actual value was nearly $38.16 million, according to property records.  

“The sales price is indicative of the demand of Aspen’s luxury, high-end real estate market segment,” Mark Lewis said. “The price paid may not necessarily make sense on paper (although the size of the lot is rare), but it makes sense to the owner as that segment of the market, for those truly special properties with valuable attributes, are irreplaceable. Plus, this was an unsolicited off-market sale as it was not officially listed for sale on the market. 

“The buyer knew exactly what they wanted and were willing to pay for it.”

Ray K. Erku can be reached at (970) 429-9120 or rerku@aspentimes.com.