In a deal aimed at locking in long-term stability for one of downtown Estes Park’s most ambitious redevelopment projects, developer John Cullen has sold the building that houses The Stanley Chocolate Factory for $24.875 million — while keeping control of the business inside.
The sale of the West Elkhorn Avenue property to Tebo Estes LLC, a company owned by Boulder developer Stephen Tebo, was recorded April 14. Cullen, through his company JWC Elevations LLC, will lease the building back for 25 years, securing what he describes as stable financing for a quarter of a century.
“We sold the building, but leased it back and own the business,” Cullen said in a Friday afternoon interview with the Estes Valley Voice. “There won’t be a single refinancing for 25 years.”
For Cullen, the structure of the deal matters as much as the price. He said the leaseback arrangement shields The Stanley Chocolate Factory from economic volatility and protects a broader vision tied to his investments in Estes Park.
“I don’t trust the economics of the world,” he said, adding that the financing will protect the project for a quarter of a century.
In looking for the right financing partner, Cullen said, “And who better than Stephen Tebo, who actually understands the value of a carousel?
Tebo donated the building in Nederland for the community’s Carousel of Happiness and also provided significant financial backing that helped turn a decades-long vision of Vietnam vet Scott Harrison into a successful nonprofit attraction that opened on Memorial Day in 2010 with a memorial to recognize the service of fallen veterans. Harrison’s story of dealing with post-traumatic stress and his journey of personal healing and bringing an antique carousel back to life is told in the documentary Carving Joy.
A long-term strategy
The financial transaction with Tebo mirrors Cullen’s approach to The Stanley Hotel, which he helped transition in May 2025 to the Stanley Partnership for Art Culture and Education – SPACE – a subsidiary of the Colorado Educational and Cultural Facilities Authority.
That deal, backed by a roughly $400 million public-private partnership bond, set in motion a sweeping expansion that includes a 65,000-square-foot event center now under construction, a horror film museum curated by Blumhouse Productions, and additional hotel development.
The hotel, now managed by the Sage Hospitality Group, remains listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a member of Historic Hotels of America.
Cullen said both projects reflect a deliberate pivot toward long-term financing designed to avoid the fate of previous owners.
“The last eight owners — most ended in bankruptcy or forced sale,” he said. “Nothing can penetrate the legacy of what I’m doing now — sustainable arts, sustainable education, sustainable business, and now sustainable finance.”
Reimagining a historic church
The Stanley Chocolate Factory, which opened Nov. 28, 2025, occupies a renovated 1909 church building — the former Presbyterian Church of Estes Park — on the Town’s main tourist corridor.
Visitors are treated to an immersive and sensory experience built around small-batch chocolate production, including tours of the chocolate-making process, tasting flights, and hands-on demonstrations where they can watch confectioners craft truffles, bars, and specialty items using locally sourced ingredients.
During a walk-through of the chocolate kitchen, Cullen proudly showed off the work of a candymaker who was infusing honeycomb-shaped candies with Colorado honey.
The old church building blends historic architecture with updates — from bedrock to crystal chandeliers including restored masonry and necessary structural upgrades. Outside, a work crew was busy replacing the old, broken sidewalk with new, stamped concrete.
“No one has shown love to this building since it was a church,” Cullen said. “We’re going all the way back to the foundation and doing it right.”
Cullen praised the work of local artisans who have worked to transform the old building into what he sees as a destination in its own right.
Expansion underway
The project continues to evolve. In the coming weeks, Cullen plans to open The Stanley Creamery, an ice cream shop featuring house-made products in a range of traditional and specialty options, including vegan, gluten-free and sugar-free varieties.
At the same time, construction is underway on a major addition to the building that will house an indoor carousel — a centerpiece Cullen believes will redefine the site’s appeal.
A new entrance along Cleave Street is designed to create what he calls a “sense of arrival,” with ADA-accessible entrances on both Cleave and Elkhorn Avenue. The entrance will provide a dramatic reveal with an enormous $15,000 chandelier over the front door leading to the carousel space.
“To have that volume of the room with a carousel, it needs that sense of significance,” he said.
The carousel alone is expected to cost about $1 million, with the carousel building adding another $4 million, bringing his total investment in the chocolate factory project to roughly $30 million, Cullen said.
“There’s $30 million in this thing. That’s more than the Rec Center, and nobody has pulled a building permit over $2 or $3 million downtown in decades. I beat that by a factor of 10,” said Cullen.
Standing on the roof of The Stanley Chocolate Factory and looking down at the construction of the carousel building, Cullen said, “I could have made a lot more money with a lot less investment. There’s not that much money in a carousel in terms of revenue or profit rather, but in terms of a draw for this town, it will fundamentally shift things.”
One of the shifts is a proposed collaboration between the Whimsadoodle Foundation, the Estes Park Housing Authority, and the Town of Estes Park to build a mixed-use development along Cleave Street that would blend housing, retail, performance, and gallery space, and parking. While the proposal is still in the very early stages of discussion, artists are sketching concept drawings to help people envision what the future might look like.
A legacy play
Cullen said his building and finance decisions are guided less by short-term returns and more by a desire to create lasting assets for the community.
His vision extends across properties tied to the Stanley name — from the 1909 hotel built by F.O. Stanley to the former church now reborn as a chocolate factory.
“This is about preserving these places for the town,” Cullen said. “Anything with the Stanley name has to be done at this level.”
With construction cranes towering above Elkhorn Avenue and new features set to open in the coming months, Cullen said the transformation of downtown Estes Park is far from complete — but its financial foundation, he believes, now is.
“I’m planning for the long term,” he said. “By the time I’m 87, I’ll worry about refinancing.”
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