Stephanie Andelman, Nederland. Jim Guercio was the original developer of Caribou Ridge, and he sold the land to David Nassar who struggled to figure out whether the homes should be designed for full-time residents or second home owners. When Cornerstone Homes learned of the project, Founder Keenan Tompkins visited the sites and was enchanted by the surroundings. He envisioned a community of luxury homes with a ‘mountain living’ feel, where its year-round residents would be an active part of the Nederland community. Keenan put a purchasing plan into place, and now as its developer, he admits that, “It’s been a bit harder to get off the ground than I initially anticipated, with a few roadblocks along the way, but we are finally getting to the point where we have momentum and are building what I envisioned the first time I visited.”

As a third generation builder, Keenan learned the trades working for his father’s general contracting business in Illinois. Shortly after graduating from The University of Illinois with a Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Keenan and his younger brother, Tirion, founded Cornerstone Homes and decided to bring their home building business to Colorado in 2005. Keenan has always had an entrepreneurial spirit and passion for building innovative homes that meet the needs of a range of home buyers.

Keenan owns both Cornerstone Homes and sister company, Colorado Timberframe, a timber frame design and fabrication company. Both companies share a 30,000 sq ft state-of-the-art facility in Lafayette. Cornerstone Homes has traditionally been a high end, luxury custom home builder in the Denver/Boulder metro area, however, within the last five years, Cornerstone has taken on several sustainable new home development projects including Arvada’s Geos Neighborhood, the country’s first energy plus community, and Lafayette’s Silo Neighborhood, a 350+ unit master-planned net-zero community expected to break ground in early 2020.

Through hands-on experience, Keenan realized that sustainability is not only practical and ethical, but it’s economical. “There are so many different options that you can utilize to build a home that reduces our carbon footprint and lowers energy costs. Sustainable building is a no-brainer, really. If the effort and cost is not significant, and it’s the right thing to do for the Earth, then why wouldn’t you? Every project we do, employs sustainable practices. These can be simple things like insulation and windows to create a tight thermal envelope. By reducing energy costs for the homeowners, we are also reducing our dependencies on fossil fuels.”

Over the next two years, Keenan’s team will complete the 34 homes planned for the Caribou Ridge Development. So far, all of the buyers are full-time residents. Many of them have moved to Colorado from out of state and want a mountain living site with the amenities that you would find in a town -- water, sewer, gas, etc. Typically, people are drawn to Caribou for its neighborhood feel, access to the great outdoors, views, and land. Both Keenan and these new residents continually appreciate Colorado for all its beauty, where they are integrated in nature and the greater community. 

You can read more about Keenan, his team, and this development here: http://buildcornerstone.com/communities/#caribou.

(Originally published in the October 17, 2019, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)