Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — One of the four lots on the long-eyed property at the corner of Oak and Ninth Street came under contract just a few days after it went on the market.

For more than a decade, box houses lining Oak Street have sat largely unattended on the property across from the city's Centennial Hall. The houses -- some that were built in the early part of the 20th century -- had boarded-up windows and doors nailed shut.

The houses were still being rented in the early 1990s. At the back of the property sits a small house that is stilling being used.

Longtime local Mavis Guire owned the houses and for more than a decade refused to sell the four lots.

Guire's father, Herbert Young bought the property in 1920 and she inherited it after he died. In April, Guire passed away.

After she died, Prudential Realtor Annette Hall-Blomquist received the listing for the property. Hall-Blomquist said she could not comment on the property for legal reasons.

Shortly after the Prudential sign went up on the property, the first lot came under contract for $230,000 last week.

The lot, at 934 Oak Street, holds a 2,024-square-foot home, which was built in 1900 and is uninhabitable.

All four of the lots are 0.16 acres. The lot at 928 Oak Street has an 871-square-foot home that was built in 1912 and is listed by the Routt County Assessor's Office as being in fair condition.

Close by is a lot with a 496-square-foot home that is also listed in fair condition and a lot with a 1,680-square-foot home listed in fair condition by the assessor's office.

In the late 1990s, the city of Steamboat Springs had looked into the property to consider purchasing it for employee or affordable housing.

City Public Information Officer Lauren Mooney said at that time a relative of Guire said she was not interested in selling property and was just letting it go.

"At this point that is where it stands," Mooney said a few months before the property was for sale.

The city could not be reached for comment on if they have a renewed interest in the property that sits across the street from Centennial Hall and diagonally from City Hall.

-- To reach Christine Metz call 871-4229 or

e-mail cmetz@steamboatpilot.com