{"id":2447936,"date":"2019-08-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-24T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=311691"},"modified":"2019-08-24T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-24T06:00:00","slug":"david-koch-had-decades-long-history-in-aspen-from-ice-rink-idea-to-investing-in-isis-theater-rebuild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/david-koch-had-decades-long-history-in-aspen-from-ice-rink-idea-to-investing-in-isis-theater-rebuild\/","title":{"rendered":"David Koch had decades-long history in Aspen, from ice-rink idea to investing in Isis Theater rebuild"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
FILE – In this Aug. 30, 2013 file photo, David Koch speaks in Orlando, Fla. Koch, major donor to conservative causes and educational groups, has died on Friday, Aug. 23, 2019. He was 79. (AP Photo\/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)<\/strong>
AP | FR121174 AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

David Koch, the billionaire who along with his brothers built an empire then put their money into many conservative causes, had a history in Aspen dating back nearly 30 years when he bought his first home here.<\/p>\n

Koch died Friday, and the cause of death was not disclosed. He was 79.<\/p>\n

In the 1990s, Koch was a significant investor in revamping the Isis Theater building and was behind a failed plan in 1992 to try to put an ice rink in Wagner Park during the winters.<\/p>\n

Koch wanted to spend $3 million on the project and to donate an Olympic-sized rink to the city of Aspen, according to Aspen Times reports. Koch spent at least $50,000 on planning and designing for the rink, which was to be converted back into a playing field each summer.<\/p>\n

The proposal generated a lot of discussion, but City Council rejected the plan by a 3-2 vote and the idea died.<\/p>\n

John Bennett was mayor of Aspen from 1991 to \u201999 and said Friday though he didn\u2019t agree with Koch\u2019s politics on a national level he found that Koch \u201cclearly cared about this community and wanted to support local nonprofits he believed in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was fascinated by the ice rink proposal,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cWhat I remember was it sounded like an interesting and generous offer. That was a really tough one for me. On one hand we had an Aspen resident and major philanthropist, and without question a huge amenity for the community, and it would have been amazing.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut taking it out each summer and getting it back to park for other events \u2026 it felt insanely complicated. That\u2019s what finally made the council vote it down.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the mid 1990s, the building that housed Aspen\u2019s one-screen movie theater went up for sale. In an effort to keep it as a theater, longtime Aspen resident Sam Houston put together a group of co-investors. They bought the building and renovated it into a multi-screen cinema, which remains today on Hopkins Avenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I developed the Isis Theater in the mid 1990s, David Koch was the lead investor,\u201d Houston said Friday. \u201cHe was a great partner, a man of his word, honest and fair. I\u2019m sorry for his family\u2019s loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koch remained a visible member of Aspen\u2019s community of part-time residents. He was on the board of the Aspen Institute and was well known for his lavish New Year\u2019s Eve parties and the well-stocked wine cellar at his West End home.<\/p>\n

According to Pitkin County Assessor\u2019s office, Koch bought his first house in Aspen\u2019s West End on Roaring Fork Road in January 1989 for $1.9 million. That property is valued at $16.1 million this year, according to the county records.<\/p>\n

The nearly 8,100-square-foot house is listed as five bedrooms, seven and a half bathrooms and sits on just over 1 acre of land near the Aspen Meadows campus.<\/p>\n

Koch then bought the home next to it in December 1991 for $1.75 million.<\/p>\n

That house is 2,675 square feet with three bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms and is valued at $7.4 million, according to 2019 county tax records.<\/p>\n

The David H. Koch Hall sits nearby the houses on the campus of the Aspen Institute, and Koch had dealings in downtown Aspen as well over the years.<\/p>\n

His brother Bill bought the Elk Mountain Lodge property for $26.46 million in 2007 and poured millions of dollars into remodels and landscaping. The Pitkin County commissioners granted permission to convert the lodge into a single-family home in April 2007. Elk Mountain Lodge has a long history as an event venue in the Castle Creek Valley.<\/p>\n

Koch Industries said Koch, who lived in New York City, had contended for years with various illnesses, including prostate cancer, the Associated Press reported.<\/p>\n

Koch is survived by his wife and their three children.<\/p>\n

dkrause@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FILE – In this Aug. 30, 2013 file photo, David Koch speaks in Orlando, Fla. Koch, major donor to conservative causes and educational groups, has died on Friday, Aug. 23, 2019. He was 79. (AP Photo\/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)AP | FR121174 AP David Koch, the billionaire who along with his brothers built an empire then […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2447936","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-25 15:08:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2447936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447936\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2447936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2447936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2447936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}