Jay O’Hare/Courtesy
When it opens in February, the Wildhorse Gondola will deliver passengers to a new terminal adjacent to One Steamboat Place.
Wildhorse gondola construction steadily progessing
4 suits for condo sales pending
Sunday, November 8, 2009
At a glance
■ Open to the public beginning in February 2010.
■ Travels 2,000 feet to an upper terminal at One Steamboat Place.
■ Carries 340 people per hour in four groups of two, six-passenger cabins.
■ Pulse gondola stops for unloading when pairs of cabins reach upper and lower terminals.
■ Future option of increasing capacity to 500 passengers per hour.
Steamboat Springs — The gondola towers rising from Wildhorse Meadows are tangible evidence of the steady progress being made at Wildhorse despite the down economy. But closings on 30-plus condominiums at Trailhead Lodge can be expected to continue at a gradual pace for months to come, and company officials acknowledge that four lawsuits for Trailhead contracts are pending in federal court in Denver.
Kerry Shea, Resort Ventures West director of sales and marketing, said this week that officials of Leitner-Poma in Grand Junction expect to be done with their portion of the Wildhorse gondola construction this year, and the goal remains to open the gondola to the public in February 2010.
“Leitner-Poma expects to be done with its portion of the work by the end of the year, but we’ll still have all of the certification and testing to do,” Shea said. “If we can open it to the public sooner, we will, but it looks like we’re on track for February.”
Wildhorse Principal and Chief Financial Officer Brent Pearson confirmed this week that 20 condominiums at Trailhead have closed. Although the growing list of closings builds confidence among contracted buyers, he said, and the completion of the gondola should boost that confidence to a new level, he acknowledged that he expects more than half of the original 63 contracted buyers to close on their units. He said financing each sale and closing it requires working one-on-one with buyers.
“We have two more closings scheduled within the next three days,” Pearson said. “We’re going one by one. Past are the days when you’d close 10 a week. We’d need a staff of 15 to maintain that pace.
“We won’t close all 63 contracts. Some of our buyers have gone into partnerships on a single unit (reducing the overall number of sales), and we’ve had a couple of buyers affected by serious health issues. We’ll be somewhere above 50 percent of the original contracts.”
Pearson said there are four lawsuits for Trailhead contracts pending in U.S. District Court in Denver. Two of the suits involve Trailhead Lodge LLC as the plaintiff seeking specific performance of the contracts and compelling buyers to close, Pearson said. Trailhead Lodge LLC/RP Steamboat Springs LLC is the defendant in two suits in which contracted buyers are seeking to have their contracts voided under terms of the federal Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act.
Documents on file in federal court show that one of the suits against RP Steamboat Springs was filed by a Dallas woman, Judy C. Odom, about the sale of a condominium originally marketed for $1.13 million.
Another suit, involving two rural Steamboat parties, contests the sales contracts of two units. Kristine Bensler had contracted to buy three-bedroom condominium unit 5104, which originally was marketed for $1.675 million, or $1,085 per square foot. Joining her in the suit are her neighbors in Grouse Creek Park, Ann and Harold Noyes. They contracted to buy 1.5-bedroom condominium unit 5109, which was originally marketed at $875,000, or $889 per square foot.
The Bensler/Noyes suit claims that the developers of Trailhead failed to provide adequate and appropriate notification of key dates or information about completion of the condominiums as called for in the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act.
Phone calls to Bensler and the Noyeses were not returned by press time Thursday.
First Tracks notches sales
While the lawsuits work their way through federal court, Wildhorse Meadows continues to see modest progress.
A fourth original affordable buyer bought a modest condominium in First Tracks at Wildhorse for $187,500 this week. And Pearson said six more sales were pending, including some open market purchases.
First Tracks is the result of the city of Steamboat Springs’ former affordable housing requirements. Now, those condominiums, which are not as luxurious as those in Trailhead, are available for purchase with no restrictions on how they appreciate. Buyers have the right to join the club allowing full access to Wildhorse amenities including the fitness club and hot pools.
Pearson remains confident that as First Tracks builds up its sales résumé, more and more buyers will be attracted.
“Just the fact that people are understanding that other people are closing on purchases at Trailhead has helped,” Pearson said. “As the gondola goes up, they start to realize that they will be able to leave their condo, board a gondola and walk over to the ski lifts. What I really believe is going to happen at First Tracks is that there will be an epiphany — ‘this is the best buy at the mountain’ — from my standpoint.”
Comments
brian ferguson 3 years, 6 months ago
steamboats first private lift........yuk.
telebikebird 3 years, 6 months ago
Taken directly from the second paragraph of the article. It's not a private lift...
"Kerry Shea, Resort Ventures West director of sales and marketing, said this week that officials of Leitner-Poma in Grand Junction expect to be done with their portion of the Wildhorse gondola construction this year, and the goal remains to open the gondola to the public in February 2010."
brian ferguson 3 years, 6 months ago
Suppose last I heard ski corp opted out on contributing monitarily to the project,making it a members only lift. Definately hope I'm wrong.
paddlefisher 3 years, 6 months ago
if Ski Corp is not going to help then good luck with those pesky assoc dues..a gondie cable aint cheap wonder if ski corp will maintian it anyone heard
paddlefisher 3 years, 6 months ago
from someone in the know..this gondie is slllllloooooow..2 people per minuite..those trusted realators sold these people a bill of goods...ski corp will maintain the gondola but it aint gunna be cheep..so you folks that bought into thier B.S. good luck a cable for the gondie is at least 300,000 it will be a while and will they have a link to break when a new cable needs to be installed...you can park at the lot ride the shuddle catch the real gondie and be up on the mountian before those at wildhorse even unload..so before you people close the deal ask some questions to see if your realators can answer the facts i have posted...but by God we sold some....your assoc dues will be out rageous going up every year count on it it happened to me
seeuski 3 years, 6 months ago
Stay on the river bro and don't worry about the cable. And I guess properties should just sell themselves.
seeuski 3 years, 6 months ago
Whiner!
paddlefisher 3 years, 6 months ago
lmfao
telebikebird 3 years, 6 months ago
Paddlefisher,
Wow, such negativity and poor grammar. This gondola will carry more than 2 people per minute, I suggest you check with your "In The Know" individual...
340 people per hour, that is more than 2 people a minute. Do the math and then read this article to help you become better informed.
Public gondola going up by Tom Ross
No one is forcing you or anyone to ride this free, public gondola.
Whine all you want; but please stop spreading false truths-
Tubes 3 years, 6 months ago
let's not kid ourselves. this gondola--albeit public--was not meant for you, nor would you want to ride it. you'll be much better off having the shuttle scoop you up, than the hike over to catch this slow 6 person cabin moving in a "pulse." only to then unload and go catch another gondola. and if you chose the gondola, you'd better find five others, or you're in for a painful ride.
and let's make no mistake about it either. this gondola is there for one reason, and one reason only. it's nothing more than a marketing tool for this development--because out of towners looking to buy or rent will fall very hard for this amenity. i would too. but fair enough, whatever it takes sell or rent some units, more power to them. unfortunately, we're gonna have to live with this chintzy setup dangling over mt. werner road.
it's just too bad intrawest couldn't have come up with the dough to chip in on this. because i think it had pootential and could have been done right.
paddlefisher 3 years, 6 months ago
your right at least you did not call me names..just concerned for the buyers mostly..when we bought our first condo the assoc dues were 300 per quarter when we sold it they were 900 per quarter dont want the same thing to happen to them..i guess my in the know person wasnt in the know..roads are slick be safe everyone...go sailors
seeuski 3 years, 6 months ago
paddle, Your previous posts are such that it warranted a response. Why is it your business to condemn something you have no knowledge of and then denigrate hard working Realtors who have to eat and feed their families just like anyone else? Do you think people are so stupid that they do whatever a Realtor tells them? I would venture to guess that the people who buy at Wildhourse have earned their right to make a purchase decision without the anti everything comments from the peanut gallery. And I am sure you won't be overly effected by the view of those gondola cars going up the hill with excited visitors as they peer out at the awesome sites of the valley they are enjoying. On second thought, I'll bet you won't be able to curb your curiosity and may even check it out yourself. Either way your opinions are of no consequence to those people in the scheme of things. Enjoy.
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