Around $425 Million in Bonds Approved for Sale of the Stanley Hotel to Colorado Nonprofit

Even though the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park ranks as one of the most haunted places in the country, the plan for a state entity to buy the legendary hotel is alive and well.

On October 23, the board of the Colorado Education and Cultural Facilities Authority approved issuing approximately $425 million in bonds, which CECFA will use to eventually purchase the Stanley through a new subsidiary set up specifically for that purpose called SPACE, LLC (Stanley Partnership for Art Culture and Education).

CECFA was established by the state legislature in 1981 to “provide affordable capital financing for colleges and universities,” according to its website. The organization's reach has since expanded to museums, sports facilities, schools and performance spaces. CECFA has issued over $7.6 billion in state bonds but has never owned any of the facilities it has worked with before.

But when the deal that John Cullen, the Stanley’s current owner, had worked out to sell the Stanley to an Arizona nonprofit fell through, CECFA stepped in. Originally, CECFA would have issued the bonds to the Community Finance Corporation; CECFA will now be the recipient of the bonds as well through SPACE.

Cullen bought the Stanley out of bankruptcy court for $3.14 million in 1995. In February, Cullen told Westword that he wants to sell the hotel to a nonprofit to preserve its legacy for future generations.

To make that happen, CECFA needed to form SPACE and get permission from the Colorado Legislature to expand its purpose. In May, the legislature passed an amendment to the law that authorized CECFA to add ownership and management of facilities like film centers, hotels, restaurants and gift shops to CECFA’s mission.

That legislation didn’t mean CECFA’s board would approve the sale, simply that such a move would be legally allowed. As of October 23, though, the board has officially given CECFA the ability to move forward with the plan.

SPACE will borrow the bonds issued by CECFA and eventually own the Stanley once those bonds are fully paid off.

“This transaction will generate long-term funding to support Colorado’s educational and cultural charities as well as public middle school arts education across the state,” CECFA said in an announcement about board approval.

According to the announcement, CECFA will receive approximately $18 million over the term of the bonds that the organization can use to further other aspects of its mission.

“In addition, approximately $500,000 per year (nearly $30,000,000 over the term of the bonds) from project revenue will go toward The Stanley Art and Culture Fund, which will be administered by John Cullen and SPACE for the benefit of public middle school arts education across the state,” the announcement adds.

Once the bonds are retired, the revenue from the Stanley — projected at $50 million per year — will support CECFA’s mission. The $425 million in bonds will retire existing debt at the Stanley, purchase the property, renovate and expand the hotel and build a new event center on the hotel campus.

Cullen has been developing the plans for the nearly 70,000-square-foot Stanley Film Center since 2015. The center will honor the Stanley’s connection to Stephen King, who based his book The Shining on his spooky experiences at the hotel. There will be a 10,000-square-foot exhibit space dedicated to horror-movie history curated by horror-movie production giant Blumhouse, known for movies like the Halloween reboots, The Purge, M3GAN and Get Out.

The door-splitting ax Jack Nicholson used in The Shining before his iconic “Here’s Johnny!” moment has already been donated to the project, and Cullen told Westword artifacts from Get Out may be coming, too.

The Stanley Film Center will also have a 1,200-person concert hall. It was approved for state funding back in 2015 under Colorado’s Regional Tourism Act, which aims to attract out-of-state visitors. The project originally received $12 million but struggled to raise additional capital, which stalled plans. But now the state has updated the project’s financing structure and will contribute $46 million.

Under the state's timeline, the Stanley Film Center must be completed by November 2025.

The next step for both the film center and sale of the hotel is for CECFA to issue the bonds the board approved.

“We will continue to work diligently to make that happen just as soon as we can, but no timing yet,” says CECFA executive director Mark Heller.