Inman News

The secluded estate sits on 320 acres of land and is surrounded by a forest of aspens.

Tom Cruise has listed his Telluride, Colorado, estate — a secluded property nestled up against Campbell Peak within a forest of aspens — for $39.5 million, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Sotheby’s International Realty is representing the listing.

The 320-acre estate includes a four-bedroom main house and a three-bedroom guesthouse for a total of over 11,500 square feet of space, designed by Cruise and completed in 1994. Constructed in native stone-and-cedar, the property features wood-beamed ceilings, wood-paneled walls and stone fireplaces.

Although most people in the area are aware the property has belonged to Cruise for years, Sotheby’s told Inman that few have ever seen it because of the geographical features sheltering it. To get to the house, one has to drive down a gated one-mile driveway.

“The home is invisible to almost every property in the whole region,” Sotheby’s said. “So, living here for 20 years, everybody knows where TC lives … It’s just kind of common knowledge to locals. But you can’t see the house from anywhere, so it’s this kind of mysterious, totally private area that is really close to town.”

In addition to being more warm and intimate than many other sweeping estates in the area, Sotheby’s said that another of the property’s advantages is that the land it sits on is quite functional, rather than being too mountainous or rugged for many purposes, like other neighboring estates with vast acres of land.

“I think it’s not as big and grand as some would expect with the seller,” Sotheby’s said. “But it fits perfectly in the landscape and it has this great warmth.”

“It’s just impressive how you have three sides to national forest and open space, and you just have this incredible view with this, what’s called ‘usable land’ in Telluride”. “Because we sell a lot of properties here that are around 35 or 100 acres and they just, there’s like five acres that you can actually like walk on, and the rest of it is a mountainside.”

Reflective of Cruise’s reputation as an adrenaline and fitness junkie, the property features a large sports court, a dirt bike and snowmobile track and several trails that can be used for hiking, snowshoeing, or all-terrain vehicles.

Tom Cruise designed the property, which was completed in 1994 | Joshua Johnson for Sotheby’s International Realty

The native stone-and-cedar home features stone fireplaces | Joshua Johnson for Sotheby’s International Realty

Wood-beamed ceilings and wood-paneled walls are throughout the home | Joshua Johnson for Sotheby’s International Realty

The listing brokers speculated that Cruise was selling because he no longer used the property frequently | Joshua Johnson for Sotheby’s International Realty

The home boasts fantastic views of the surrounding mountains, but is hidden from sight from nearly all other properties in the area | Brett Schreckengost for Sotheby’s International Realty

Sotheby’s couldn’t say for certain, but suggested that Cruise was probably selling now because he doesn’t use the property as often as he once did, and decided he didn’t need to hold onto it any longer.

As for potential buyers of the estate, Sotheby’s said a few outdoor enthusiasts have already approached them about the listing, and they thought building a legacy around the estate would also be a primary factor for potential buyers.

“Clearly there’s a net worth hurdle for anybody, but we think the buyers here are looking to cement legacy with the outdoors being a huge part of their family and lifestyle,” Sotheby’s said. “We don’t see the buyer being any other person really.”

Sotheby’s added that many buyers searching for homes in Telluride have reassessed their lifestyles and realized that the outdoor amenities the city has to offer could be very fulfilling, a factor he believes is also true of this specific property.

“I think that’s like where our buyers are going,” Sotheby’s said. “We’ve seen this whole COVID thing, during which, we think a lot of people evaluated their lifestyles and said, ‘I’m going to prioritize lifestyle,’ because we all just kind of sat there and said, ‘What are we doing?’ Right? And you look at this property and it just screams, that’s the best lifestyle available.”