By Joanne Kelley, Rocky Mountain News
July 31, 2007

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS - The big ski area here boasts of having “Champagne Powder” on its slopes, but the rest of the resort has been far less refined for years.That’s all starting to change this summer as Steamboat’s well-financed new owner and a host of other developers begin pouring more than half a billion dollars into revamping the mountain, the town and its outskirts.

“We don’t want the delta between our base experience and the rest of Colorado to get any greater,” said Chris Diamond, Steamboat Ski Resort president.

The biggest changes include: long-deferred investments in ski area infrastructure, an overhaul of neglected areas in the downtown business district, and an unusually large number of high-end residential projects happening all at once and all over the place.

Catching up with the likes of Vail and Aspen could take time because Steamboat is among the last of the major areas to bring some polish to its base and town.

“It’s going to make Steamboat more competitive over the next few years,” said former Vail executive Andy Daly, whose Alpine Mountain Ranch & Club is one of Steamboat’s toniest real-estate projects. “Of all the major resorts, Steamboat was the one that had seen very little investment.”

Under former parent American Skiing Co., the ski area made only basic improvements. It even sold off some of its assets. It didn’t have the money for extra upgrades or to fix the flawed design of the beginner area.

But once Canada’s Intrawest bought Steamboat in March, it committed to $16 million in a single summer, more than the former owner invested over a decade.

“There’s a bit of a vision (the new owners) are going to come driving over Rabbit Ears Pass with Wells Fargo trucks,” Diamond said. “But there’s a lot of discipline.”

An urban renewal authority has begun to address the infrastructure issues that have plagued the base area for decades.

In the meantime, Steamboat has been stuck at about 1 million skiers a season, year in and year out. It boasts as many season passholders - roughly 10,000 - as it does residents because it’s a place where “darn near everybody skis,” according to Diamond.

No one expects the area’s character to change radically, even though at times this summer the whole town seems to be one big construction zone.

Steamboat’s long-time push to preserve its ranching heritage sets it apart from other ski areas, which tend to be based near former mining towns, or the forest, or resort areas developed solely for skiing.

The ski town has benefited from an increase in the number of flights serving its vastly improved airport, which until recently featured a dirt parking lot and seasonal flights.

But residents say Steamboat has managed to retain some of the appeal of a much smaller area and town.

There’s still free parking within an easy walk of the lifts. But back-to-back condo developments have added to the sprawl along the main route into town. And finding affordable housing has become more of a challenge.

“Steamboat’s not the funky little place it used to be, but it has maintained its soul,” said John Waldman, who has lived in Steamboat for 27 years.

On a recent sunny day in the waning days of the ski season, a ski school class was filled with so-called “destination skiers” who had made the trip from all over the map - Harpers Ferry, W. Va., Monterey, Calif., and Chicago, among other far-away towns and cities.

“We’re almost purely a destination resort,” said Jon Wade, owner of Colorado Group Realty. “There’s a convergence of things happening but demand for ski condos is helping to drive the boom.”

Steamboat makeover

• The mountain: Steamboat’s new parent company pumps $16 million this summer into regrading the beginner area, moving and installing chairlifts and other much-needed changes at the base of the ski area.

• The town: Aging buildings demolished to make for a variety of mixed-use projects along Lincoln Avenue, the town’s main thoroughfare. Those include the former Westland Mobile Home Park, which will become the Riverwalk, a 230,000-square-foot project along the Yampa River between 3rd and 5th streets.

• The outskirts: On the edge of town, ranches and open land will morph into retreats with luxury homes tucked into the woods and around preserves.

After 2 1/2 years of planning, 10 public meetings, numerous setbacks and countless design changes, One Steamboat Place cleared its final hurdle Tuesday night. The Steamboat Springs City Council gave final approval to the multi-story, resort-style building, a $115 million project of nearly 465,000 square feet that will dynamically alter the base of Steamboat Ski Area. One Steamboat Place will include 80 residential units and nearly 17,000 square feet of commercial space. It will be built on a site adjacent to the ski area’s gondola building, Aprés Ski Way and Mount Werner Circle.

While utility work and sales already have begun, Tuesday’s approval clears the way for construction of the project by Haselden Resort Constructors. One Steamboat Place is scheduled for completion in fall 2009.

“We’re jubilant because we’re going to get underway, and we’re going to make everybody proud in Steamboat,” said David Burden, chief executive officer of Carbondale-based Timbers Resorts.

Burden said he valued the lengthy public approval process, which included extensive public feedback and detailed work with city planning staff.

“I think the project is a much better project. This has been almost a partnership,” Burden said. “It took working with both sides to get it right.”

The City Council voted, 4-0, to approve the project’s final development plan. Councilmen Paul Strong and Ken Brenner were not present for the vote. Councilman Loui Antonucci recused himself from the One Steamboat Place proceedings.

City Council members Karen Post and Towny Anderson raised concerns with the building’s rooflines, shape and scale, but supported One Steamboat Place in the final reckoning. The Steamboat Springs Planning Commission voted, 4-3, last month to recommend final approval of the building to the City Council.

The building’s size was a topic of debate throughout the public process.

“Our goal is that people will experience this building not all at once,” said Robin Schiller of CCY Architects. Schiller cited the variety of building materials to be used in the project, which will include large, sweeping windows and two enclosed bridges connecting the building’s three wings.

“It’s not monolithic. It’s too big to be a simple building,” he said.

Burden noted that One Steamboat Place will be powered entirely with wind power, purchased through renewable energy credits.

“It’s the first of its kind, and it’s one of a kind,” said Jim Schneider, vice president of skier services for Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. “We fully support this project.”

One Steamboat Place is the first of several large-scale projects that will redefine the ski base in Steamboat Springs.

“We are transforming our base area from a 1970s and 1980s base area, into a base area of 2008, 2009 and 2010,” City Council President Pro tem Steve Ivancie said. “It’s way overdue.”

Also Tuesday, the City Council again tabled action on proposed revisions to the city’s vacation home rental ordinance, which regulates homes in residential neighborhoods that are rented to short-term vacationers and sometimes used for private functions.

The council heard substantial public comment and continued its work finalizing changes to the ordinance.

City Council has wrestled with the vacation home rental ordinance for months.

“We are not going to satisfy everybody in this room,” Anderson said. “Our job is to reconcile what is clearly an inherent conflict.”

The City Council directed city staff to implement changes in the ordinance for further discussion, and possible action, July 24.

 By Mike McCollum

Steamboat Springs — The Colorado Group Realty Char-itable Foundation announced Tuesday it has awarded seven grants totaling $10,000 to nonprofit organizations throughout Routt County.

The recipients include Colorado West Mental Health, the Community Agriculture Alliance, Emerald City Opera, Historic Routt County, The Steamboat Springs Youth Orchestra, Yampatika and the Yampa Valley Stream Improvement Charitable Trust.

Yampatika Executive Direc-tor Jen Wright said the $1,000 awarded to the environmental stewardship nonprofit would benefit the organization’s involvement in local schools.

“We provide high-quality, educational programs in Routt and Moffat Counties and the grant will go toward those efforts and will go back to the community in that way,” she said. “We are tremendously grateful for the award, and it will help environmental education in this area.”

Marsha Daughenbaugh, executive director of the Com-munity Agriculture Alliance, said the grant would help increase awareness of the importance of agriculture in Northwest Colorado.

“It will go toward teaching people land stewardship — how to take care of the land — and how to make it most profitable for you while protecting the land itself,” she said.

The foundation was established last year as the charitable arm of Colorado Group Realty. Each time a broker completes a transaction, a donation is made to the foundation. Employees, managers and matching funds from client and public donations also make up the grants.

Keri Rusthoi, artistic director of the Emerald City Opera, said the grant will help produce the opera’s upcoming production of Madame Butterfly.

“We have to raise $250,000 a year to put on an opera,” she said. “This is by no means a drop in the bucket. It’s going to make a huge difference to put on our opera production this year.”

Bart Kounovsky, president of the foundation, said the grants are the first in a continuous effort to support community-based programs.

“There was a consensus here at Colorado Group Realty to find a way we can give back to the community and give back to the organizations that make this community such a special place,” he said. “We are looking at this not as a one-time thing, but an ongoing commitment to a community.”

SAM Magazine – Steamboat, Colo., July 8, 2007 – Steamboat has announced that the northern Colorado resort will aggressively market itself to New York skiers and is putting its money where its mouth is by adding additional airplane seats on direct flights from New York to the ski town. The flights, scheduled for Saturdays, will have the potential to deliver an additional 490 passengers each week.

“Accompanying the fact that New York is the single most lucrative ski market is the fact that it’s the single most expensive media market,” says Andy Wirth, vice president of sales and marketing for the Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp, “but in this case, we felt the financial reward is there.”

And it’s expected that the flights will directly tap into this lucrative market. Unlike flights from other hubs, such as Atlanta, nearly 100 percent of the passengers on the weekly flights will be from New York.