Getting your player ready...
Particularly in a market like this, resort developers are listening to people, trying to read what they want and what they can spend. Jim Houston, who has some new resort condos to show you near Winter Park priced from only $99,950, has been listening to all of the 24 families who bought there last year, and can tell you exactly why they did.
“Many of these are people who would normally be paying two times as much for a resort property,” Houston told me over lunch at a trendy grille in Granby, a few minutes from his models at Lodge at Ten-Mile Creek. “It’s different now; they’re more conservative. They still want a place for the family, but in this market they’re much more value conscious.”
The reason they’re picking to do that here in Grand County is not just about price. “The tunnel traffic over to Summit or Vail is just too daunting,” Houston adds. “They have the money to buy in many areas, but they don’t feel at home like they do here. They want to meet other families, and after they ski they want to hang around the firepit and eat s’mores. They don’t get that in Vail.”
“I feel like my family is being pulled apart,” one buyer told Houston’s partner Wayne Trudeau. “During the week, the kids are off to one sports practice after another,” Trudeau told me. “What they need is a weekend place to get away, to be together and do things together.”
At Lodge at Ten-Mile Creek, that family is skiing Winter Park, 20 minutes by shuttle; or, as residents of Granby Ranch, they’re enjoying their season pass at SolVista (five minutes by free shuttle). During summer they get four annual foursomes on the Jack Nicklaus-designed Headwaters Golf Course; and have bike trails, and fly-fishing on Granby Ranch’s lease on the Fraser River; not to mention Granby Reservoir, Rocky Mountain National Park and the grilles and taverns in the area.
Houston will show you “the best value ever” — two furnished model homes, a 1-bedroom and a 3-bedroom, that have gas fireplaces, 9-foot ceilings, granite tile, 5-piece appliances, and loads of closet space, all part of the package. You’ll also see a variety of two-bedroom layouts with nice vaulted spaces (one is $169,000) where you could move in this season. (One Littleton buyer with grandkids said, ‘We’ll take two.'”)
The Lodge at Ten Mile Creek (pet friendly) is right off Highway 40 on the Granby-Winter Park bike trail, with a lighted skating rink set up for broomball (bring your skates and give it a try). HOA fees run from $290-$340/month for everything, including passes and foursomes. From Denver head west one-hour-45-minutes; take 40 past Winter Park, 15 more miles; watch for a right on Village Road (Granby Ranch).
If you go…
WHERE: Lodge at Ten-Mile Creek, Granby Ranch, 1-to-3-bed condos in year-round resort community with SolVista ski area, Jack Nicklaus golf course, bike trails; refreshments this weekend & next. 150 Village Rd. Granby; take U.S. 40 over Berthoud Pass, past Winter Park, 15 more miles to Village Road (entrance to Granby Ranch), right 1 blk
PRICE: From $99,950, 2-bedroom from $169,000
WHEN: Open house today & Sunday 10-5; next weekend, too
PHONE: 970-557-3022
WEB: 10MileCreek.com
Mark Samuelson is president of Samuelson & Associates, a homebuilding/real estate communications firm. You can e-mail him at mark@samuelsonassoc.com.
