Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — The first two of 44 Cabins at Lake Catamount are under construction this month about 11 miles south of Steamboat Springs.

The Catamount Cabins are just one of three elements of the overall Catamount Development. It also includes Catamount Ranches, a golf course development closer to town and the Lake Catamount Homesteads single-family building lots, which range in size from just more than 35 acres up to almost 70 acres.

Tony Walton, a principle in Mason and Morse Steamboat LLC, listing agent for Catamount, said 13 of the 22 cabins included in the first phase of that project are under contract. Prices range from $795,000 to $995,000.

"The stunning thing is that's been off the plans," Walton said. "Our model units are just under construction."

Owners of the cabins will have access to tennis courts and a year-round swimming pool, plus the Outfitters Center with boats, mountain bikes, cross-country skis, snowshoes and fishing gear.

The cabins have three bedrooms with a loft, 3.5 baths and a two-car garage.

Walton agrees that the application of the word "cabins" is somewhat euphemistic when applied to the 2,290-square-foot duplex units situated close to the 530-acre lake. That is, Walton said, until you consider them in the context of the large "cabins" in other regions like the Adirondacks of New York, the shores of Lake Michigan in the Midwest and Lake Tahoe on the Nevada-California border.

The Cabins at Catamount development includes more than the residential homes, Walton said. Also included in the original "planned-unit development" are the lake clubhouse and the outfitters center.

Catamount Ranches, where four homes are under construction, began the momentum for Catamount in Steamboat, Walton said. All of the 25 golf course lots have sold, and some have resold, he added.

Of the 40 lake lots, all but four or five are under contract, Walton said. They ranged in price from about $680,000 to more than $1 million.

Walton said the momentum of Catamount Ranches has contributed to the balance of the project.

"Steamboat has always been kind of a show-me town," Walton said. "You might have had a good reputation here, there and elsewhere, but until you complete a project here, people often withhold judgment. When they do, Steamboat buyers respond. That's what has happened."

Catamount spans 710 acres at Catamount Ranch and 3,200 acres at lake Catamount. A series of conservation easements on the two parcels have been donated to the Yampa Valley Land Trust. The intent is to protect open space for wildlife and ranching from further development in perpetuity.

The owners of Catamount include Tim Mueller, Nick Schoewe and Lyman Orton of Okemo Limited Liability Company, and the development team, which also created the 7,000-acre Cordillera Club and Community west of Beaver Creek.