The Caribou Ranch includes several buildings, including the main house, two horse stables, two tool sheds, five guest cabins and a lodge with six rooms and a meeting room. (Courtesy of Halle and Saal)

A ranch near Nederland that is linked to Walmart’s founding family and once hosted artists such as Elton John and Stevie Wonder is on the market.

The asking price for the 1,700 acres (about 670 hectares) off the Peak to Peak Highway, known as Caribou Ranch, is $48.5 million.

“It’s rare that a property like this comes up for sale,” said broker Jeff Buerger of Hall and Hall in Denver.

The property is owned by Indian Peaks Holdings LLC, which purchased it in June 2014 for $32.5 million. When the company registered with the Colorado Secretary of State’s office, it used the same Bentonville, Arkansas mailing address as Walton Enterprises and several other businesses and nonprofits associated with Walmart’s Walton family. Registration documents were later updated to remove the Arkansas address.

With elevations up to 10,000 feet (the main property at 8,400 feet), Caribou Ranch offers panoramic views of the snow-capped Indian Peaks to the west. (Courtesy of Halle and Saal)

Buerger would not confirm the identity of the owner, but said his client bought the land for his family and that since his children are now grown, it is time to sell.

“For my clients, family comes first. They’ve enjoyed it, but this phase of their life moves on, and so do they,” Buerger said.

The Walton subsidiary purchased the property from music producer Jim Guercio, who originally purchased more than 4,000 acres in the area in 1971. He transformed the property into a recording resort that attracted artists such as Joe Walsh and Elton John, Chicago, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and Earth, Wind & Fire.

After a fire damaged the recording studio in 1985, Guercio sold about half of the land to Boulder County and Boulder.

Caribou Ranch is a 10-minute drive from Eldora Ski Resort and a 30-minute drive from Rocky Mountain National Park.

Buerger said buying the property would be like buying a state park or designated wildlife refuge. The ranch borders Boulder County open space and is east of the Indian Peaks Wilderness. The owner has chosen not to hunt on the ranch, which is home to moose, fox, elk and other animals.

Caribou Ranch includes various water rights, several streams, and four trout ponds. North Boulder Creek, Delonde Creek, Fisher Creek, and Como Creek flow through the ranch year-round. (Courtesy of Halle and Saal)

With elevations up to 10,000 feet (the main property is at 8,400 feet), the ranch offers panoramic views of the snow-capped Indian Peaks to the west.

The property includes various water rights, several streams and four trout ponds. North Boulder Creek, Delonde Creek, Fisher Creek and Como Creek flow through the ranch year-round and are not navigable to the public, Buerger said.

“It has all the extras you need for fishing,” he said.

The Caribou Ranch consists of several buildings, including the main residence, two horse stables, two tool sheds, five guest cabins, and a six-room lodge with a meeting room. Some buildings date back to the 1880s, when the property was a mining base camp.

The primary residence is an 836-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bathroom home built in the 1980s on an 1860s cabin. Buerger said the two-story structure with a walkout basement has several stone fireplaces but needs renovation or replacement.

The five guest cabins are between 46 and 290 square meters in size.

“It’s a large piece of land in a densely populated area,” Buerger said. “I expect there will be a lot of interest in it.”