#Breckenridge, Colorado.
The east end of Granite Street in Frisco bristles with activity these days. Bulldozers bustle through dirt as new condos slowly rise in their wake.
“There’s definitely been more development,” said Jocelyn Mills, community development director for town of Frisco. “The economy has been picking back up, and developers have been calling more. It’s increased in the past couple of years.”
There are currently two new condo units nearing completion, and the town planning commission just approved preliminary plans for a third.
All three will include affordable housing and commercial spaces. Finding affordable housing in Summit can be like finding Sasquatch, but these extra units should lead to more permanent residents in Frisco.
“Generally 65 percent of our housing is second homes,” Mills said. “Of course our second-home owners are important, but so are permanent residents. They help grow our community.”
Condos off Main, located at Fifth and Granite, will include 23 units, seven of them affordable housing units, and more than 2,200 square feet of commercial space. Town Centre Condos, located at Granite and Summit, will have 18 units, including six affordable housing, and about 2,400 square feet of retail. Watertower Place expects to have 35 residential units, including eight affordable, and 1,200 square feet of commercial.
To add to the numbers, Peak One neighborhood will soon begin phase five of its development plan. When completed the neighborhood will have more than 60 affordable housing units.
A glance across the county shows similar growth in other towns.
“Last year we definitely had a bump in residential construction,” said Ryan Hyland, Silverthorne’s town manager. “It was particularly high with single-family units. We saw a big increase last year, and we are on pace to match that this year.”
Interestingly, a lot of Silver- thorne’s growth was also related to affordable housing, including a neighborhood with more than 60 affordable single-family homes.
Down the road in Breckenridge, a development that has been stalled for years is now moving forward. Resort developer Meriweather Cos., located in Boulder, acquired The Shores in June.
“Mountain real estate is no longer purchased by investors — it’s purchased by users,” said Noah Hahn, a partner with Meriweather.
The development is located 2 miles north of downtown Breckenridge along the Blue River. The plan includes 56 three- and four-bedroom homes on an 11-acre parcel.
Even the sleepy town of Blue River, located just south of Breckenridge, is looking forward to a large-scale development on 50 acres of land that will include almost 70 residents units and possibly some commercial.
“I think the general belief is that the economy is starting to rebound,” Hyland said.
And developers are taking advantage.
Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.
