Fairplay – A Denver developer is planning a $100 million project that will nearly double the number of houses in this historic mining town.
Frontier Development Cos. plans to build 300 homes on 78 acres along the South Platte River, southwest of downtown Fairplay. The town had an estimated 385 houses in 2004, according to the State Demography Office.
Long considered one of Colorado’s last Wild West outposts, Fairplay is best known for its Burro Days, which celebrates the town’s mining heritage and culminates with a 29-mile burro race from downtown Fairplay to the 13,000-foot summit of Mosquito Pass.
The town gained modest notoriety when it was depicted in the animated television series “South Park” on Comedy Central. In recent years, it has hosted the South Park Music Festival, which this year brought 150 bands and 40 music industry executives to town.
Fairplay, in Park County, also has evolved into a bedroom community for Breckenridge, which is 23 miles north over Hoosier Pass.
“Breckenridge is pretty pricey, and people are coming over here for their second homes. A lot of the workforce has come over here also,” said Mindy Cahill, Fairplay’s town clerk. “It all adds up to needing more space, and we’re the most economical at this point. There’s still room to grow here.”
And prices, while rising, are still more reasonable than in Summit County. The average sale price in Fairplay and nearby Alma is $253,329, up 7.2 percent from last year, according to the Summit Association of Realtors. In Summit County, the average price increased 16.8 percent last year, to $774,591.
“You can still buy a nice house for $300,000 just 15 miles from Breck, but it’s hard to buy a lot for $300,000 in Breck,” said Rick Allemang, broker/owner of RealEstateColorado.com.
Breckenridge’s dwindling land supply also is pushing developers over the pass and driving up the price of real estate, Allemang said.
Allemang lives in the Placer Valley north of Alma. He owns a 1.1-acre lot next to his home that was valued at $50,000 in January. Today, he said it’s worth closer to $80,000.
At Frontier’s development, called Stone River Ranch, about 70 percent of the homes will be single-family detached, and about 70 percent of them are expected to be purchased as second homes. Prices will start in the low $200,000 range. The development also will include a 3-acre lake, 20 acres of open space and a community lodge.
Frontier also plans to build a child-care center and a bridge across the South Platte River, allowing residents to walk directly to downtown Fairplay.
“There won’t be that much impact on the infrastructure of the town,” said Erik Eiland, president and chief executive of Frontier Development Cos.
In such a high-density setting, how fast the homes sell is anybody’s guess, said Terri Winter, broker associate with United Country Park Real Estate. But with Breckenridge rapidly running out of land to build on, Frontier’s timing could be perfect.
“It’s not exactly what most people come here looking for, which is a cabin in the woods,” she said. “It will sell, but it will probably take a little bit.”
Developers aren’t the only ones who see the potential in Fairplay. The town now boasts a recreation center, a grocery store and a Pizza Hut. A new Sinclair truck stop offers the town’s first Wi-Fi access, and a bowling alley is under construction.
After opening Prather’s Market two years ago, owner James Dean added another 5,000 square feet to the store in May.
“I saw the growth potential in the city, and there isn’t a grocery store in Park County,” Dean said.
Stan Kopunec is trying to line up the financing to build a 52-room Best Western hotel and resort on 26 acres he owns in the center of town.
“From Denver to Buena Vista, there’s no (modern) hotel,” said Kopunec, who owns the American Safari Ranch just outside of Fairplay. “There are a lot of requests for groups to come to the area, but they don’t come because they don’t have decent accommodations.”
Staff writer Margaret Jackson can be reached at 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com.
