Tyco mansion changes hands
BEAVER CREEK ” Former Tyco CEO L. Dennis Kozlowski’s portfolio is a little lighter after he sold his Bachelor Gulch house this week.
The house sold for $10 million, plus $750,000 for the furnishings.
Realtor Darwin McCutcheon, who sold the house, declined to reveal the owner’s name, saying he’s a great guy who wants to maintain his privacy and is down the earth. In a few weeks, Eagle County records will list the name under which the house is owned, either the purchaser or one of his companies.
The $10 million will be go toward $167 million in court-ordered fines and restitution Kozlowski was ordered to pay, part of his sentence following his 2005 conviction for looting Tyco. The house was listed for $10.8 million by Realtor Mac Hodge of Prudential Colorado Properties. The buyer’s name was marked out of the court documents filed in New York state court in Manhattan.
Kozlowski originally paid $8.4 million for the house in 2001.
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McCutcheon said house, located at 3389 Daybreak Ridge in Bachelor Gulch, is one of the few lots you can ski to from both Beaver Creek and Bachelor Gulch.
Kozlowski spent $1 million to remodel it. Among the features he added was a bathroom that looked like an Old West outhouse and a heated driveway.
“He loves this house, and for good reason,” McCutcheon said. “They did a spectacular job on the remodel. It’s packed with livable details, not just things stuffed in for show.”
Another is a light under the counter that shines up through to show the details in the wine on it.
“I was up there yesterday thinking that this would be an easy place to live,” McCutcheon said. “One of the views is Birds of Prey. I watched the crew work on the race course for the World Cup event coming up later this month.”
“The quality is incredible.” McCutcheon said. “We have some phenomenal homes around here, and this is one of the best.”
In September, Kozlowski sold his Beaver Creek Lodge condo for $2 million, along with $15,000 for the furniture.
Kozlowski is in the Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy, N.Y., where he will spend as many as 25 years for his part in looting Tyco, the world’s biggest maker of electronic connectors, industrial valves and security systems. His sentence requires $97 million in restitution to the company and $70 million in fines.
Kozlowski and Tyco’s chief finance officer, Mark Swartz, were convicted of grand larceny and securities fraud for stealing $137 million in unauthorized compensation and gaining $410 million more through sales of inflated stock. Swartz, who got the same sentence as his former boss, is in the Oneida Correctional Facility in Rome, N.Y.
McCutcheon said the deal was one of the more complex he’s done. The paperwork went to his broker, his representatives then to attorneys and him in jail and the courts, then to McCutcheon. He had to send everything to his firm’s attorneys and some of the people at Forbes real estate.
“People tell me I was lucky, and that’s true, but it was also a lot of work,” McCutcheon said.
Kozlowski was depicted as the face of corporate corruption during his trial. Before prison, Kozlowski lived rent-free in a $31 million apartment on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. He bought it with Tyco money but put it in his own name, federal prosecutors said in court documents. The apartment featured $11 million worth of special touches, included a $6,000 shower curtain in the maid’s room, a $15,000 umbrella stand and a $17,000 traveling toilette box.
Kozlowski’s wife, Karen, filed for divorce after he went to prison. For her 40th birthday, Kozlowski spent $2 million on a birthday bash on the Italian island of Sardinia. The party featured performers dressed as Roman servants and a vodka bar featuring an ice sculpture of Michelangelo’s “David” with vodka flowing out of the sculpture’s male member.
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