June 2005 |
| Breckenridge
News Under construction downtown is the new Breckenridge Welcome Center. The old Bailey building was torn down to reveal an historic log cabin. Now a new Victorian style structure is being rebuilt over it. Once finished it will serve as the main visitor information center as well as centralized ticketing for various events. Also inside will be an interpretive center for local history and the natural environment. The cabin will be fully restored to demonstrate our history in its true surroundings. The environmental exhibits will showcase the fragile ecology and explain the geologic history of The Rocky Mountains, even answering the question, “where did the gold come from?” The center should be open by the end of the year. The
Town of Breckenridge is hosting the Western Governors Association annual
conference June 12-14. Governors of 18 states and three Pacific territories
will attend the conference. The conference will focus on the economy of
the western states, the future of the energy industry and international
trade topics. The Breckenridge Music Festival Our down home 4 th of July celebration Several art festivals Historical tours The Backstage Theatre The Firecracker 50 mountain bike race The Breckenridge Crest Mountain Marathon The 25 th Annual Festival of Film The Oktoberfest …and so much more, hope
to see you a lot this summer. |
| WHY
I LIVE HERE… The biggest open space deal in local history closed Wednesday when the 1,840-acre B&B Mines property in the Golden Horseshoe area fell into local hands. The area is home to a hundred miles of old mining roads and trails, perfect for hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding. A technicality forced the $9 million purchase to close in escrow. The Breckenridge and Summit County open space programs are splitting the cost 50-50. The deal becomes final when a federal judge signs a consent decree hammered out among local, state and federal officials. The Summit County Medical Campus will be breaking ground soon. Half the building will be bought out and occupied by a group of local doctors for office space. The other half will be operated by the county and will house two non-profit health care organizations, the Bristlecone Health Services and Colorado West Mental Health. Two Breckenridge residents have hit on a sweet sounding idea. For about six years the Rawles have been making wind chimes out of discarded ski poles. Sold through local retailers all proceeds are donated to the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center to purchase equipment for their disabled ski and wilderness programs. To date they have raised $23,500. Look for the chimes in these stores and support the BOEC; Christy Sports, Lone Star Sports, Alpine Sports, Colorado Ski and Snowboard, Recycle Ski and Sports. Find more information on the BOEC. |
| SCHOOL
NEWS… The Summit School Board has approved conceptual designs for changes to the middle and high schools. The middle school is a unique design with two “learning communities” each able to accommodate 450, 6-8 graders. The kids would stay in their community for the three years giving them the atmosphere of being in a small school. Teachers would know all the names of kids in their community and kids would be grouped to provide diversity as well as commonality of achievement. The high school is adding a career and technical wing to offer practical training and real world experience in fields such as computer science, health care, culinary arts, business technology and construction technology. In the arts department the high school’s music groups have had a stellar season. The symphonic band and orchestra both received superior ratings at the CHSAA competition, the highest ratings of the day. At the UNC Jazz Festival the SHS Jazz Band and the vocal groups Summit Singers and Peak Performance were also receiving the highest marks possible. Who says art in the schools is dying? |
| LIQUID
SNOW NEWS AND OTHER TIDBITS… A bizarre event caused the death of a 53-year-old man from Boulder May 20. At about 10:30 in the morning, usually the perfect time of day this time of year, a slab of snow 300 feet wide slid 1000 feet down the in-bounds Pallavicini run at A-Basin. The run was open at the time and had been blasted for avalanches that morning. Other skiers reportedly had experienced weird conditions earlier but the danger was not obvious. It appears that the snow had melted above the ground, under the skiing surface, so it was no longer attached. The melting snow percolating down and then running along the ground causes this separation. If the temperature drops low enough at night the snow is refrozen to the ground and becomes safe again. We had unusually warm nights in mid-May that did not allow for refreezing. This was the first death by avalanche in-bounds in over thirty years. The Colorado Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame will induct five new members at their gala on October 22. -Lou Dawson; avid backcountry skier and author is the only person to my knowledge that has skied all 54 of Colorado’s 14’ers. -Dick Eflin; opened Crested Butte ski area on Thanksgiving Day, 1961 with a rope tow and a T-Bar. -George Gillett; bought the Vail and Beaver Creek resorts in 1985 and launched the conversion to high-speed lifts. He was also instrumental in bringing international events to the Vail area. Ski magazine picked him as one of the 100 most influential skiers of all time. -Dick Hauserman; one of the original Vail founders and a major influence in Steamboat’s growth. Dick was in charge of marketing in Vail’s early days and created Steamboat’s cowboy image by bringing in Billy Kidd as spokesman and ski school director. -Ed Lucks; a pioneer in the sport of disabled skiing Ed began by teaching disabled Vietnam veterans at A-Basin in 1966. He moved to Snowmass in ’69 and started the adaptive ski program there, where he taught for 26 years. Congratulations to all the new inductees and thanks for making skiing in America what it is today. For summer snowboarders, otherwise know as skateboarders, there is some exciting news. Two locals are working towards a year round indoor skate park near the high school. They hope to include a place to hang out with movies and music. The plan is being endorsed as a positive move by the local teen drug and alcohol abuse prevention alliances. Evenings would be filled with dance parties. I’ll keep you updated as things progress. Also in the works is a new skate park in Fairplay. It’s scheduled for an August completion. The designers are still taking input from the locals on what they want in their 6000 square foot park. They say it will be their best park ever. Fairplay has been working on grants and donations for several years and is committed to seeing the project completed.
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| TRAVEL
TIPS...ALL THE RAGE~ Fresh out of New Zealand, as seen on “The Amazing Race”, the newest sport you will want to try here is called riverboarding. It’s Boogie Boarding in white water, I kid you not. Wet suit, fins, helmet and a board you are right in the heart of churning, roaring mountain white water storm. To many it would appear insane, I grew up riding Boogie Boards in California so I just booked my first lesson. Look for pictures in the next issue. Interesting that this sport has been popular down under and in Europe for a decade or more. Also interesting is that local riverboarders say they are looked at as oddball by kayakers and rafters. They say it’s much like when snowboarding started twenty some years ago. Despite the perception of the insanity of jumping into a raging river on a foam board those who have tried it say it is both easy to learn and very safe. The best part is you are one with the river, part of the rapids, an intimacy that can’t be found sitting in a watercraft. I first heard about this a year ago and I have been looking forward to trying it ever since. I loved Boogie Boarding, sometimes on waves of fifteen feet or more. I always felt close to the ocean, as if I understood it and if I surrendered to it, it would never hurt me. I envision the river being the same type of friend. Contact Me if you need further tips on where to stay, eat or play. |
| INVESTMENT
OPPORTUNITIES... With construction proceeding on redevelopment projects in Vail and the prospects of developments in Minturn and Edwards, Eagle County is facing an influx of workers, causing a housing crunch. Even when construction workers have completed the projects, the “renaissance” of Vail is anticipated to create an additional 1,000 to 1,500 jobs, continuing the housing shortage. There were 375 real estate transactions in April in Eagle County totaling $226 million, marking a record for transactions and the third-highest dollar volume total. The average price for properties sold in April was $745,834, and the four-month total sales in the county was $608.45 million, nearly one-third higher than 2004. Real estate sales in Eagle County have been setting records for almost two years and with the demand continuing at this unprecedented level, the supply of homes available for sale is dwindling and prices escalating. As of Friday, the list of properties for sale at the Vail Board of Realtors showed 647, or about half the number of properties for sale at this time last year. Just south of Eagle County is Leadville in Lake County. Leadville used to be home to the molybdenum miners of the Climax Mine. In its heyday the mine employed about 3,000 well paid workers. When the price of molybdenum fell from $35/lb to $2.50/lb in the late ‘80s the mine shut down and Leadville was a forgotten place, becoming a predominately bedroom community for hourly wage earners from Summit and Eagle Counties. With the price of molybdenum now back at in the $30ish/lb neighborhood again there is talk of reopening the mine. Up to 500 skilled workers could be on the job within a year. Between the feeding frenzy of Eagle County and the possibility of Climax cranking up again, what do you think will happen to the price of real estate in Lake County? Additionally, I am working with more second homebuyers coming into this area demanding high quality homes. Leadville is only 25 minutes to Copper Mountain and an hour to Vail, Breckenridge and Keystone. This is a wonderful opportunity to have a vacation home in a market that resembled this part of Colorado thirty years ago. This is an opportunity that won’t last; call me now to find out about Lake County property. If a business opportunity is what you seek, consider Park County. Currently over half the population drives 45 minutes to work out of the county. With a skilled and educated population the county is anxious to attract new industries. New infrastructure and incentives are in the works. Call me and let’s discuss how affordable land is in Park County. One area they are looking at is aviation with perhaps the construction of a small airport. Intriguing? Call me. Don’t wait ‘till rates and prices go up further; Contact Me Today! |
| MARKET
CONDITIONS & OTHER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS Ten companies headquartered in Colorado made this year’s FORTUNE 500 list, two more than last year. Making this year’s list: Qwest, 154; TransMontaigne, 193; First Data, 223; Liberty Media, 254; EchoStar, 291; Ball Aerospace, 360; Newmont Mining, 428; Molson Coors Brewing, 447; M.D.C. Holdings, 466; Level 3, 491. Colorado added 14,400 nonfarm jobs in March, accounting for 13% of the national job growth in March. Ninety-one of every 1,000 private-sector workers in Colorado held a job in a high-tech firm in 2003, the highest concentration of tech workers in the nation. The median price of a previously owned home in the Denver metro area hit a record $245,000 in March. Also in March, new home sales nation-wide shot up 12.2% to an annual rate of 1.43 million homes, also a new record. What’s all this got to do with Summit County real estate? The indications are that Colorado’s economy is coming back strong. Much of our market is driven by buyers from the Front Range cities and like I have been predicting for the last year, as Colorado’s economy heats up so will the demand for mountain real estate. Right now our MLS inventory of active residential properties for sale is about 1400. This time last year I believe it was about 1000 more. For the last six months properties have been selling at a far faster rate than new ones have been coming on the market. Consequently, prices are beginning to go up as sellers realize this. If you know what you want you need to be ready to buy right away, because while you are thinking about a particular property there are probably five others looking at it too. Odds are it’s not going to be around for long. The overall apartment vacancy
rate for Colorado at the end of February was 10.4%, down from 11% a year
earlier. Vacancy rates in Grand Junction, Montrose, Aspen, Eagle County,
Glenwood Springs and Summit County were all below 10%. In a previous report
I mentioned that rental properties for seasonal workers is one of the
hottest areas to invest in. As you can see these are now in short supply.
Prices on listings of this type are going up by the day and being sold
just as quickly. As more Front Range people buy second homes in the mountains
these properties will continue to be scarcer. |