Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Sixty new luxury home lots are about to come on the market in Steamboat springs and none of them is priced less than $400,000.

Realtor Tony Walton of Mason and Morse Real Estate said about a dozen of the lots in the Sanctuary Filing 5 have been reserved or are under contract. But the lots and corresponding building lots have just been staked for the first time this spring.

"I'm excited because there is not a significant competing project out there this year," Walton said. "These lots have it all southern exposure, absolutely tremendous views and live water with Fish Creek."

The Sanctuary Filing 5 overlooks the back nine of the Sheraton Steamboat Golf Course, and all of the lots carry with them the privilege of purchasing a membership in the mature golf course. The developers are the members of the Country Club Highlands Partnership.

The completion of the subdivision is historic for Steamboat Springs because the developer is completing the long anticipated connection of North Steamboat Boulevard with South Steamboat Boulevard. The new road, paid for by the developers effectively bridges the Fish Creek drainage, and links the north and south sides of Steamboat.

The Sheraton golf course has always been accessed via Mount Werner Road, South Steamboat Boulevard and Clubhouse Drive. But residents of neighboring subdivisions in the Fish Creek Road area couldn't get to the golf course and the Steamboat Ski Area beyond, without driving into downtown Steamboat and heading south on U.S. 40.

Walton said subdivision contractor Native Excavating has completed 80 percent of the western half of the subdivision closest to Mountain View Estates.

The first lots in that portion of the subdivision will begin closing in early June, Walton said, and the contractor will be finished with the work of building and paving roads and installing utilities by July 5. The second half of Filing 5, along the ridge to the east, is due to be turned over to buyers for construction by Oct. 15.

The latest phase of the Sanctuary completes an overall project that began more than five years ago and encompasses a total of 147 lots.

Walton said the difference in prices for the original Sanctuary lots, and the newest lots is indicative of how the top ends of Steamboat residential building lot market has matured.

"Six years ago, the most expensive lot in the sanctuary was $250,000," Walton observed. "I think that's a statement on where the upper end has evolved in this town."

The original lots are on a north facing ridge on the south side of the golf course and are roughly half the size of the lots in filing 5, Walton pointed out.

The most expensive lot in Filing 5 is priced at $675,000 and is just over an acre in size. There are 10 lots priced at $600,000, some of which are almost 1.6 acres in size. The largest lot is 2.08 acres and priced at $425,000.

The smallest lot, at .412 acres, is priced at $500,000. It just happens to border the 17th tee on the golf course.

Walton said demand for luxury home sites in Steamboat is strong enough to overpower the downturn in the nation's economy, and he's sticking to his budgeted plan of selling out the 60 lots by 2003.

"I haven't seen anything in the market, especially on the upper end, that would indicate a significant slowdown," Walton said. "A bigger percentage of the people that can afford these lots are not affected by the economy to the same extent" that less-affluent people are.

Walton said his firm listed the original properties at Lake Catamount, and although these buyers are similar, they're also different.

Catamount buyers were seeking out a private club that offered exceptional privacy, Walton said. Buyers at The Sanctuary will be people interested in more of a neighborhood feel. In many cases, they take reassurance from being on city utilities.

"We're not Starwood in Aspen," Walton said. "But as far as Steamboat goes, this is the closest it gets."