B. Joseph Krabacher

Member

Aspen, Colorado

Phone: 970.300.0123

Fax:

[email protected]

Education

  • J.D., University of Miami School of Law (1979)
    • Magna cum laude
    • Articles and Comment Editor, University of Miami Law Review
    • Class Valedictorian – Graduated 1st in Class
  • B.BA., University of Iowa (1976)
    • Magna cum laude

Joe Krabacher represents sophisticated clients, providing counsel for more than 40 years.

Considered by his clients, contemporaries, and counterparties to be one of the top legal talents in real estate, business and tax transactions, Joe brings an interdisciplinary approach to his representation of national developers and builders, as well as lenders, individual investors,  owners, and family offices. In 2020-2023 he successfully negotiated, documented, and closed more than 350 transactions totaling more than $2.78 billion.

Joe co-founded, owned, and operated several successful private companies, including an international satellite and fiber optics telecommunications business (working in Russia for 10 years and in China for six years), a U.S. based residential and multifamily construction company, and a green-tech manufacturing venture. This background provides him with a unique, well-rounded perspective and practical, firsthand experience in handling the types of issues his clients face.

He has degrees in finance and accounting, graduated first in his law school class of more than 360, and was an editor of the Law Review. He delivers clear thinking and consistently superior guidance to his clients. He is widely recognized as tactical and strategic in his approach, while remaining focused on the economics of the transactions, and has been highly successful in closing complex transactions while managing client risks and objectives.

His experience includes representing issuers in private placements of debt securities and guiding clients through mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures, business restructurings, venture capital transactions, and corporate and nonprofit governance matters.

Joe is co-founder with his wife of HaitiChildren.org, formerly known as Mercy & Sharing, a charity operating orphanages, schools, and feeding programs in Haiti for 30 years. He is also licensed as a multi-engine, commercial, instrument-rated pilot. He enjoys music, playing the flute, saxophone, guitar and piano, and is an avid skier, snowboarder, and wind-surfer.

Experience

  • Represented buyer of $25,000,000 residence in Aspen, Colorado featured in Wall Street Journal, 2023
  • Represented seller of $63,750,000 residence and vacant lot in Pitkin County, Colorado, featured in Wall Street Journal, 2023
  • Represented buyer of $47,910,000 residential and commercial condominiums in Aspen, Colorado, featured in Wall Street Journal, 2023
  • Represented purchasers and sellers on transactions exceeding $1.95 billion on 225+ residential, hotel, land, and condominium properties in western Colorado, 2020-2022.
  • Represented buyer of $43,950,000 residence in Aspen, Colorado featured in Wall Street Journal, 2022
  • Represented purchaser in acquisition of $50,000,000 single-family residence in Aspen, Colorado, featured in the Wall Street Journal, 2022.
  • Represented lender on refinancing of $70,500,000 commercial loan in Beaver Creek, Colorado, 2022.
  • Represented seller in the sale of $45,000,000 single family residence in Aspen, Colorado, featured in the Wall Street Journal, 2022
  • Represented purchaser in $33,000,000 acquisition and development of mixed use commercial building in Aspen, Colorado, 2023.
  • Represented seller in $22,000,000 sale of mixed use commercial building in Aspen, Colorado, 2022.
  • Represented foreign manufacturer of launch vehicle engines for Atlas V rockets, 2023.
  • Represented bidder in fixed base operation request for proposals, 2023.
  • Represented lender in financing of jet aircraft, 2023.
  • Represented assisted living and memory care operator in land use approvals, 2023.
  • Assisted in reorganization of fractional time-share project in western Colorado involving 1,000+ time shares interests, 2021.
  • Represented seller in $68,000,000 hotel sale, 2021.
  • Represented purchasers and sellers in various ranch transactions from 280 acres to 22,000 acres, 2017-2021.
  • Represented lender on $32,550,000 construction loan for 160-unit multi-family project in Denver, Colorado, 2020.
  • Represented issuer in equity private placement for electronic-sports, 2020.
  • Represented manufacturer/international distributor of skincare products in asset sale to foreign-controlled distributor ($20,000,000), 2019.
  • Represented seller in the acquisition, site development, and sale of the two largest single-family residential sites in the history of Aspen, Colorado ($21,000,000 and $24,200,000), 2019.
  • Represented seller in acquisition, development, and sale of “Millionaire Miners Cabins” in Aspen, Colorado that was the subject of November 2, 2018, Wall Street Journal feature story ($18,500,000), 2018-2020.
  • Represented buyers, sellers, and lenders in various aircraft transactions including financing of high-altitude helicopters, and structured management and pilot agreements for various single-engine and multi-engine aircraft, 2017-2023.
  • Representation of Aspen Board of REALTORS© on real estate brokerage regulatory, licensing, and related matters, 2017-2023.
  • In-bound investments from Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, and outbound investments in Argentina and Uruguay, 2016-2023.
  • Acquisition of mortgage servicing rights to $180 million portfolio of FNMA/FHLMC conventional loans.

 

REPORTED CASES

  • Colarelli Construction Inc. v. Quinn, 17 CA 063 (Colo.App 2018), 2018
  • Kaufman v. Solaris Property Owner LLC, 11CA 0244 (Colo. App. 2012)
  • Westpac Aspen Investments, LLC v. Residences at Little Nell Development LLC, 10 CA 0363 (Colo. App. 2011)
  • Peters v. Smuggler-Durant Mining Corp., 910 P.2D 34 (Colo. App. 1995)
  • Bert Bidwell Investment Corp. v LaSalle and Schiffer, 797 P.2d 811 (Colo. App. 1990)
  • Mountain Queen Condominium Association, Inc. v. Haan, 753 P.2d 1234 (Colo. App. 1988)
  • Maddalone v. C.D.C., Inc., 765 P.2d 1047 (Colo. App. 1988)
  • Pardee v. Mostow, 757 P.2d 1148 (Colo. App. 1988)
  • Trueman Aspen Company v. North Mill Investment Corporation, 728 P.2d 343 (Colo. App. 1986)
  • Wooldridge Homes, Inc. v. Bronze Tree, Inc., 558 F.Supp. 1085, Fed.Sec.L.Rep. P 99,167 (1983)

Publications & Presentations

PRESS

 

PUBLICATIONS

  • Updated: Real Estate Loan Drafting Guidance: Colorado
    Thomson Reuters | August 2023
  • Real Estate Leasing: Colorado
    Thomson Reuters | June 2023
  • Real Estate Loan Drafting Guidance: Colorado
    Thomson Reuters | July 2022
  • Real Estate Finance: Colorado
    Thomson Reuters | February 2023
  • Financial Crimes Enforcement Network: U.S. Treasury is Monitoring Cash Residential Purchases
    Sherman & Howard Real Estate Advisory | May 23, 2023
  • Electrifying Everything: The Alphabet Soup of Clean Energy Performance Standards
    Sherman & Howard Real Estate Advisory | April 3, 2023
  • National Sovereignty of Territorial Airspace and the Uncertain Boundaries of Outer Space: An Untethered Balloon
    Sherman & Howard Aerospace Advisory | February 9, 2023
  • Denver Enacts Landlord Licensing Ordinance
    Sherman & Howard Real Estate Advisory | February 7, 2023
  • Colorado Eviction Moratorium and Commercial Real Estate
    Sherman & Howard Real Estate Advisory | May 7, 2020
  • Confusion in the Crosswalk: the Difficult Intersection of Mechanics Lien Law and Foreclosures in Real Estate Construction Projects
    CBA Real Estate Council Newsletter | Spring 2012
  • Agricultural land classification Anti-Abuse Provisions Target “Gentlemen'” Farm and Ranch Tax Breaks
    CBA Real Estate Council Newsletter | Fall/Winter 2011
  • Colorado Supreme Court Upholds Indemnification of Landlord by Tenant for Failure of Landlord to Maintain Shopping Center Parking Lot
    CBA Real Estate Council Newsletter | Spring 2011
  • Construction Disburser Notices: Tools for Troubled Times
    CBA Real Estate Council Newsletter | Spring 2010
  • Installment Land Contracts: A Potential Trap for the Unwary
    CBA Real Estate Council Newsletter | Fall 2010
  • Tenancy-in-Common: Financing and Legal Issues
    33 Colorado Lawyer 89 | 2004
  • Foreign Investment in U.S. Real Estate
    22 Colorado Lawyer 1471 | 1993
  • Promissory Notes as Securities
    19 Colorado Lawyer 1585 | 1990
  • Peculiarities of Resort Real Estate
    19 Colorado Lawyer 2449 | 1990

 

PRESENTATIONS

  • Mechanics Liens
    Annual Colorado Construction Seminar | March 2020
  • Designer Liability for Construction Defects
    Sherman & Howard Construction Seminar | February 2018
  • Guide to Condo Conversions For Contractors & Developers
    Sherman & Howard Annual Colorado Construction Seminar | February 2015
  • Tax Planning for Real Estate Lawyers 26th Annual Real Estate Symposium
    CLE in Colorado, Inc. | 2008
  • Multi-Disciplinary Practice of Law
    18th Annual Real Estate Symposium, CLE in Colorado, Inc. | 2000
  • First World Summit on Financing for Satellite Communications and Broadcasting
    Euroconsult and Chase Manhattan Bank, Paris, France | 1997
  • Legislative Update: 12th Annual Real Estate Symposium
    CLE in Colorado, Inc. | 1994
  • Residential Real Estate Contracts: CLE Summer School
    CLE in Colorado, Inc. | 1994
  • 1994 Legislative Update
    Colorado Bar Association Annual Convention | 1994
  • 1993 Legislative Update, 11th Annual Real Estate Symposium
    CLE in Colorado, Inc. | 1993
  • Real Property Practice Refresher
    CLE in Colorado, Inc. | 1993
  • Program Chair and Moderator, Foreign Investment in U.S. Real Estate
    CLE in Colorado, Inc. | 1993
  • Affordable Employee Housing
    Colorado Bar Association Annual Convention | 1992
  • Program Chair and Lecturer: Resort Real Estate
    CLE in Colorado, Inc. | 1990

Professional Activities

CIVIC ACTIVITIES

  • The Mercy and Sharing Foundation, a 501(c)(3) focused on the children of Haiti, Co-Founder
  • Former Chair and Vice Chair, Pitkin County Planning and Zoning Commission, current member
  • Aspen Area Community Plan, former co-chair
  • Pitkin County Board of Adjustment, former member
  • City of Aspen Historic Preservation Commission, former chair and vice chair

Highlights

  • Real Estate, Super Lawyers (2007 – 2012, 2015 – 2024)
  • “AV Preeminent,” Martindale-Hubbell
  • “NITA Advocate,” National Institute for Trial Advocacy