The probable new owner of Animas Park for Mobile Homes said Monday its residents don’t have to start thinking about moving.
On Animas View Drive, it looks like a peaceful life where the 120-lot mobile community winds along the scenic river, just north of Durango. But for weeks, tenants have been in a state of frenzy as rumors spread that the park had sold, though owner Wilma Cooper would not confirm this news with residents or The Durango Herald.
On Monday, Dave Reynolds of Cedaredge, 150 miles north of Durango, contacted the Herald and said he intends to purchase the park and keep it as is.
“We are purchasing this mobile home park, and fully intend to operate it as a mobile home park for many years,” Reynolds wrote in an email. “We are not planning to redevelop it, and so the residents can rest assured we are not closing it. Once we close on the transaction we will provide a notice to all the residents to keep them from worrying about their future.”
Reynolds is expected to close Friday. He declined to disclose further details about the purchase until the transaction is complete.
Reynolds is a prominent real estate investor and principal owner at MHP Funds. According to his website and multiple news reports, he and his business partner Frank Rolfe are the sixth-largest owners of mobile home parks in the nation with more than 8,000 lots in 17 states.
If he closes on Animas Park this month, that will end Cooper’s 35-year ownership. She and her husband, Ted Cooper, purchased the park in 1980. Tenants own their homes and pay $490 per month to lease the lots.
jpace@durangoherald.com
