Aspen's Little Red Ski Haus Is Up for $11.8 Million After a Quick Flip

(Bloomberg) -- In its 128-year history, the Little Red Ski Haus in downtown Aspen, Colo., has been many things to many people: (allegedly) a brothel during Aspen’s days as mining town, a boarding house, a dormitory-style inn for budget ski travelers, and more recently, the site of a protracted legal dispute among Chicago developers who wanted to turn it into a fractional-ownership scheme. That plan fizzled, the bank repossessed, and then in 2014 it was purchased for $5.1 million by one Jaime Rubinson, a self described “jack of all trades.” (The trades, in this instance, include attorney, real estate broker, real estate investor, and Miami nightclub developer.)

Two years later, Rubinson has returned the house to the market, this time listing it for for $11.8 million.

Rubinson said she’s completely revamped the house. “We went through it top to bottom,” she said. “It looked like a Hampton Inn-level accommodation with some antiques sprinkled in, and what we did was transform it into a chic mixture of colored glass, chandeliers, and chrome.”

Rubinson configured it so that the house, which measures a hefty 6,677 square feet, can double as a bed and breakfast or as a private home for friends and family. It has 14 bedrooms, 10 of which have en suite bathrooms, (there are 13-and-a-half baths in the house in total), a dining room with a table that seats 24, and a 25-foot-long bar. The house comes with a full gym, hot tub, three areas for entertaining, and a mudroom with what Rubinson said is enough space for 24 people to store skis and boots.

The house is located in the center of town. “You walk a block and you have your favorite kale salad, you walk another block and you’re at the mountain,” Rubinson said. “It’s one of those places that you can leave your door unlocked, not that we actually do.” From the front porch, Aspen, Smuggler, and Red Mountain ski resorts are all visible.

Rubinson is selling the property because “I’ve achieved what I intended to do,” she said. “I wanted to renovate it and make someone appreciate it the way I thought it should be appreciated, and I did.”

The house is listed by Melanie Muss of Douglas Elliman Real Estate.

To contact the author of this story: James Tarmy in New York at jtarmy@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chris Rovzar at crovzar@bloomberg.net.