Getting your player ready...
Builder Brian Novak built around 300 homes in Breckenridge, Silverthorne and Frisco – condos to customs – before he made a move back to Winter Park, the place he had skied as a kid. Now he’s two-thirds the way through a collection of luxury condos that are walkable to Winter Park taverns like Smokin’ Moe’s Ribhouse and Deno’s Mountain Bistro; get free shuttle service into Zephyr Lift provided by Winter Park Resort; and that have kept selling right through the last years, when buyers were much pickier about ski properties.
Today through Christmas Eve (Winter Park has a 36-inch base, third-best skiing in the state) you can tour Novak’s models at Trailhead Lodges in Winter Park; including a 1-bedroom luxury-appointed unit from $199,000 (in 2006 at the top of the market, prices began at $249,000); as well as three choice 3-bedrooms that overlook the Fraser River as it runs through downtown. That river frontage caught Novak’s eye as he began shopping Grand County in 1999. “I looked at a lot of property down-valley, but kept coming back to this,” he recalls. Talk about serendipity: Old Ski Idlewild, where he and thousands of Front Rangers learned to ski, was just up the hill; restaurants were arriving; and across the street, the town was making over Hideaway Park. Now the park is the town’s centerpiece, site of the Winter Park Music Festival (some owners, he says, brag about having free ‘skyboxes’ on their decks). Along the river, you’ll see a trail that Novak will link north to main Fraser River trail, as he moves to some forested single-family sites (they’ll be from $499,000). Owners can already Nordic ski from here all the way into Fraser. They also have an Owner’s Club you can see today, with year-round pool, spa, fitness center, and WiFi-equipped party room with rock fireplace (some owners prefer to face the club, where they watch their kids in the pool after returning from skiing). But Novak suggests taking a close look at those river views. “I remember how popular the riverfront was in Frisco,” he adds. With eight new sales since April, he has a 3-bedroom facing the river at $480,000; and a 1,270-foot 2-bedroom with a river-view wraparound porch, $419,000. Those and other prices are after a discount Trailhead Lodges offers this season; or you can opt for an alpine furnishing package. Be sure to ask about the extraordinary poly closed-cell foam energy package used; the only Energy-Star-certified new homes in Winter Park. Trailhead Lodges is just behind Hideaway Park in downtown; from I-70 take U.S. 40 west 28 miles and right on Rendezvous Way. WHERE: Trailhead Lodges in downtown Winter Park; new 1-2-3-bed luxury condos, some overlook river; owner’s club, pool; trails, free ski shuttle bus; walk to dining; only Energy Star homes in Winter Park; choice of discount or free alpine furniture package. 900 Trailhead Cir., Winter Park; from I-70 take U.S. 40 west 28 mi., to light beside Hideaway Park; right on Rendezvous Wy, left on Ski Idlewild to entry PRICE: From $199,000; 2-bedroom from $360s
