The Steamboat Springs real estate and development communities will be paying close attention Friday when 15 luxury condominiums at The Highmark go on the auction block.

Routt County officials are moving ahead with a plan that would create the potential for 300 or more five-acre home sites on land wrapping around the northern and western perimeters of the city of Steamboat Springs.

More than 300 high school students in Steamboat Springs affirmed their strong desire for a gathering place to call their own in a 2009 survey released this winter. And the city’s current fiscal situation could mean that any decision to build a dedicated teen center is years in the future.

Two local nonprofit organizations are seeking city development permits that would allow them to increase their presence in Old Town Steamboat Springs.

“Our job is to make certain that valuations across the county are fair,” – Commissioner Doug Monger

Paul Ralston and Mariana Ishida purchased a building site in Heritage Park that overlooked open ranch land more than two years ago. However, they temporarily put the building on hold as construction prices went up. They didn’t revisit the possibility of building a custom home until early in summer 2009. When they did, they were pleasantly surprised.

January is the month when Realtors take stock and write checks for about $1,800 in order to stay in the game. It’s a modest amount, but with the number of transactions, and thus commissions, dwindling to 467 sales closed through the Multiple Listing Service in 2009, there are signs that some of Steamboat’s roughly 395 Realtors are considering their options.

At $113.41 per square foot, the log-sided home at 250 Hillside Drive likely qualifies as one of the best Routt County real estate buys of 2009. The house measures 6,472 square feet, 5,555 of which are finished (the price per square foot was calculated on only the finished space in the home). A standout design feature is the large turreted roof on one wing.

William Bone, president of the National Auction Group in Gadsen, Ala., said the owners’ intent is to sell one of the 15 condominiums with no minimum price but with reserves on the remaining units.

The storefront at 824 Lincoln Ave. is on the sunny side of the shopping district in downtown Steamboat Springs, and last week, it went under a new five-year lease with an option to purchase.

The depth of the 2009 building slump here was underscored this week when the Routt County Regional Building Department issued a report showing that just eight permits were issued all year for new single-family homes in Steamboat Springs city limits.

When One Steamboat Place opened its doors to guests Saturday, a boutique Steamboat property management company had reason to celebrate.
Robin and Heather Craigen, of Moving Mountains Chalets, have landed contracts to manage two of the whole ownership condominiums at One Steamboat Place including the Black Diamond Penthouse, which is being offered for rent for $2,690 a night for a seven-night stay.

It was open house night in Steamboat Springs on Wednesday, as Realtors took the temperature of holiday visitors to see whether they could turn the merely curious into solid sales leads.

The Atira Group and Edgemont jumped the gun on their New Year’s party this week and celebrated the first closing in the newly completed 40-unit luxury condominium project.

Thanks to a rare winter storm front brewed up by growing sales of condominium intervals, an unexpected $26.7 million sale of mineral rights, and the steady closings of luxury condos put under contract in 2007, the Routt County real estate market in November saw its best month in a year that has tried the perseverance of the industry here.

It’s been a turbulent 2009 for the Yampa Valley Housing Authority, which faced significant financial and staffing challenges in the past 12 months amid a declining real estate market that halted development plans. And despite optimism expressed last week, the Housing Authority’s budget shows more hurdles lie ahead.

Mary Weiss didn’t have to think too long about what to give her tenants for a holiday gift this month. “We have 50-plus tenants, most in one-bedroom units, and we gave them all a $25 gift certificate off their rent,” Weiss said, who is owner of Central Park Management.

The Steamboat Springs real estate market received a qualified boost Monday when the first 13 condominium sales closed at One Steamboat Place for a combined $15.25 million.

The Routt County Board of Commissioners offered a ray of hope last week to 1,155 lot owners in some of the original subdivisions at Stagecoach. The commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to reject a proposal from the Morrison Creek Metropolitan Water and Sanitation District to cap the number of sealed sewage vaults that can be installed on the lots.

The new Wildhorse Gondola isn’t expected to be operational until February; however, the Steamboat Ski & Snowboard School ticket office, the relocated Surefoot ski boot and fitting shop and a new independent ski shop will be open for business the day the ski area opens.

New two-room suites  with mini kitchens are expected to appeal to ski vacationers.

A tour of the local house owned by “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone turns up not a single Emmy, Eric Cartman doll or half-drawn cartoon panel. There are no messes. No signs of Hollywood, parties or all-night production crunches.

The gondola towers rising from Wildhorse Meadows are tangible evidence of the steady progress being made at Wildhorse despite the down economy. But closings on 30-plus condominiums at Trailhead Lodge can be expected to continue at a gradual pace for months to come.

The average price of condos and townhomes has actually grown slightly in 2009 to nearly $700,000. However, the average sales price of single-family homes has dropped from more than $1.2 million in 2008 to about $700,000 this year.

Chances are, locals have driven by the property of longtime Steamboat residents Mike Kortas and his wife, Nina Darlington, many times without fully appreciating what they were looking at. The entire 13 acres is available for $1.8 million or broken into its component parts through Realtor Scott Eggleston.

Steamboat Springs city planners and a regional housing official said last week that rock-bottom bids at a Hayden land auction are not a reflection of Steamboat’s real estate market or need for affordable housing.

"Fractional purchases are made on the basis of frequency of use,” Irish said. “With the high cost of whole ownership, people often look at how often they plan to use a condominium. Many people can’t justify the capital outlay. If they only expect to use it two or three times a year, fractionals look very attractive. You get very high quality and great locations for an amount that makes sense.”

Weiss confirmed that he has developed and manages 40 rental units in the area including Walton Pond Apartments, which house many ski area workers during the season. He recalls 1986, when eight new units at Walton Pond represented the only multifamily building permit for the year.

Unlike actual sales, which often aren’t recorded until a month or more after the contract was signed, pending sales are more indicative of current activity.

“The properties (involved in the foreclosure filings) are personal,” Steamboat Springs Realtor Randall Hannaway said. “360 Village is held by a completely different company with different investors. We’re working very closely with the banks, and he wants to avoid (foreclosure), but it’s unfortunate in this case that he may have to let them go.”

Michelle House and Rene Mattone have taken divergent paths during the past 13 months to realize their dreams of affordable housing in Steamboat Springs. Today, they live in beautiful new condominiums within 600 yards of each other. And although both professional women were prepared a year ago to buy deed-restricted condos that would limit appreciation in their new homes, it hasn’t worked out that way.

Silver Spur was red hot in July 2007, when Rasmussen-Otterman reported that five homes there had gone under contract in a week. The five were on the market an average of five days, and a home Rasmussen had priced at $1 million went under contract before it was listed.

When the two-story condominium in the Val Gardena building at The Trails at Storm Meadows sold for $1.225 million this week, it was swimming against a brisk current in the local market.

City Council relented and offered to let Antares remain in place under its current terms by renewing the lease for six months before Oct. 1. But there has been miscommunication on both sides, and after a disappointing ski season and an even worse summer, LeBrun and Zahradnik no longer see the point in prolonging things.

In addition to fast-tracking the pool, construction crews at Edgemont paved the parking lot and entrance this week.

The developers intended that the price of the lots would allow families to build 1,500 to 1,700-square-foot homes, and obtain 90 percent loans on 30-year fixed mortgages. The hope was that a 1,500-square-foot home could be built there for about $360,000 including land, construction and a budget for appliances and extras.

The year-round angling is what attracted Alpine River Club operator Donny Beaver. Among the investors are Hank Wilton, who is the principal in the proposed 360 Village development west of Steamboat and has other development interests in Steamboat.

The elevators will cost about $35,000 apiece, and although Olsen has taken care to design a point of interest at each landing, in the end they’ll have a hard time competing with the visual impact of the completed four-story staircase.

The Steamboat Springs Planning Commission voted, 4-2, to recommend approval of the annexation ordinance for the long-debated development. Steamboat 700 now moves on to a first reading of an ordinance before Steamboat Springs City Council on Sept. 29, with a second and final reading scheduled for Oct. 13.

The 10,654-square-foot building will be devoted exclusively to the bank’s use. It is being built on a 1-acre triangular lot immediately west of the movie theater. The site originally was anticipated to house a freestanding restaurant when Wildhorse Marketplace came through the planning process in 2003.

Geothermal technology draws heat from the earth using geologic water sources such as a natural hot spring or a high-temperature well to heat a building. Geoexchange, on the other hand doesn’t require a heated water source.

Steamboat luxury home developer Shayne Macher­owski has made a study of the natural light that sculpts the pocket valley where Fish Creek tumbles out of a geologic fault line leading down from the Continental Divide.

The plan is to heat and cool the new building through geoexchange and build the mechanical plant large enough to allow professors to bring their students into the space for practical study.

Kathleen Titus reluctantly has resigned herself to giving up her Earthship in North Routt, which means Realtor Darrin Fryer has a new listing that stands out among the 3,000-plus offerings on the multiple listing service.

A new ski lift in Steamboat typically translates into a very large whirly-bird hauling heavy iron over the Steamboat base area. But there won’t be a need for a helicopter in October when towers for the Wildhorse gondola are set. “I was pushing for a helicopter but everything’s accessible,” Resort Ventures West Director of Sales and Marketing Kerry Shea said. “They can just come in there with cranes.”

A Houston-based development firm that owns Slate Creek Ranch just northwest of the Steamboat Springs Airport is tentatively pursuing a plan to build as many as 235, 5-acre home sites and a 36-hole golf course. The development would occur on 1,150 acres that share a boundary with city limits.

There’s something to be said for buying Routt County land and holding it for the long haul. Especially when the parcel in question is a secluded building site overlooking Soda Creek and an ocean of trees with a glimpse of the ski trails on Storm Peak in the distance.

Stagecoach developer Ji-ang Song left the courthouse with a small victory Tuesday after Routt County commissioners agreed in concept to award him a zone change needed to develop 432 dwelling units just east of Stagecoach Reservoir. Commissioners Nancy Stahoviak and Doug Monger agreed that Song and his development consultants had modified their original plan enough to meet the criteria for a zone change from agriculture and forestry to zoning that allows a master-planned, increased-density community.

Eagle County housing director Alex Potente said virtually all sellers at Miller Ranch affordable housing project in Edwards are getting their asking price. Tori Franks of the county's Eagle County Home Store said the only unit she could think of that sold for less than the maximum asking price was a single-family home that was sold for $410,000 instead of the listed price of $418,000.