Downtown Steamboat Springs

STEAMBOAT PILOT & TODAY

Downtown Steamboat Springs is only about 12 blocks long, but it has just about everything a town could possibly offer.

Spread around this area are a river, a ski hill, baseball fields, a skate park, a college, a rodeo ring, an indoor ice rink, a library, a movie theater, bus stops for the town’s free bus, restaurants and bars that have live entertainment, parks, churches, a railroad, an art gallery, a bike path and cute shops that sell paintings and clothes and ice cream.

It isn’t surprising that living downtown offers the type of lifestyle that many residents want.

Steamboat real estate broker Joan Conroy lived in a house downtown for about 17 years. 

“Living in downtown Steamboat is just incredibly convenient,” she said. “You can walk to downtown shops, the movie theatre or post office, and it’s great for children to walk or ride their bikes to nearby schools.”

One of the biggest advantages of living downtown is the feeling of safety that comes from living in close-knit neighborhoods, where neighbors help keep an eye on each other’s homes.

“It’s that feeling of a community that makes it feel so safe and secure,” Conroy said. “People that come here from the city strive for that feeling of a small town.”

The downtown area has an eclectic mix of home styles. There are homes that date back to Steamboat’s earliest days at the end of the 1800s, and homes that are brand new. There is a range of architectural style, with Victorian homes, log homes, and brightly colored clapboard homes sitting side by side.

Lots are typically small, with most measuring one-tenth to a quarter of an acre, so homes are usually closely spaced. Sizes of homes vary more than lots sizes do: homes range from 1,000 square feet to 6,000 square feet.

Single family homes or units range from about $150,000 to almost $1 million . The median price of downtown homes is about $400,000.

If there are two words that describe downtown, they’d be convenience and community. Children can bike to soccer practice, or walk to Howelsen Hill to ride up to the top of the state’s oldest ski resort and ski down or take the Alpine slide in summer. Although larger grocery stores require a short drive, smaller food stores are within walking distance. Outdoor activities such as skiing, fishing, kayaking, mountain biking and hiking all start down the street from homes in this area. Many residents even walk a few blocks to work.

The sense of community and of neighborhood is also strong downtown, with neighbors feeling a tie to each other and to the town.

Getting a true Steamboat Springs’ experience requires spending at least a little time downtown. Living in this area provides the convenience and sense of community for which many new residents are looking.