Mt. CB dealing with abandoned developments

“How do we avoid these problems next time?”

In a resort town, the impacts of a challenging economic climate are manifested in a number of ways. Declining sales tax revenues, property values and employment are just a few of those. In Mt. Crested Butte, it’s also apparent when you see the number of construction projects that are either on pause or suspended altogether.

For example, according to Mt. Crested Butte town manager Joe Fitzpatrick, the Andesite Pointe development above the Villas is a suspended project. Nevada Ridge, Wildhorse at Prospect, Outrun Poplar, and Villas at Summit (separate from the Villas) are also in limbo.
As a result, five foundations at Wildhorse remain just that—and partially finished dirtwork at sites like Andesite Pointe affects neighboring developments in more ways than one.
These suspended projects put the town in a tough situation. The developments’ cleanup deposits are rarely enough to cover the cost of repairing drainage issues, and there usually is an infiltration of noxious weeds that happens when disturbed soil is left unlandscaped.
Gary Keiser is president of the Villas homeowners association, and during a recent Town Council meeting (Keiser is also a councilman), he voiced concerns about unfinished construction projects on the mountain.
“Visually it’s an issue, and beyond that Andesite Pointe is creating some other issues at the Villas,” Keiser said. “There are drainage issues—they moved a lot of dirt.” Spring runoff drainage is a big problem at the Villas: water runs down beneath the road and one of the residences. Keiser believes they have a solution to the problem, which entails pumping the water elsewhere.
“We put in a pump to move some water this spring and it significantly reduced the issue for that owner,” Keiser said. “We hope next spring the town will take care of that.
“One of the [Villas] owners is complaining about the noxious weeds, because the seeds get blown over onto other peoples’ property,” Keiser reported. “I was hoping the town could come to spray for weeds.”
Bill Racek, Mt. Crested Butte Community Development director, spoke to the situation. “These projects have been abandoned, so there’s no schedule for restarting them,” he explained. “There are some more nuanced things going on with each individual one.” Racek provided an overview of the state of several suspended projects.
Andesite Pointe, owned by Enclave Partners from Moraga, California, 15 multifamily units in five buildings. Units not started.
“At Andesite, the only thing they did was post a bond and get an excavation permit. We had to use the bond to mitigate drainage issues. On top of that we don’t really have the resources to clean up their site because we had to deal with the drainage issues.”
Villas at Summit, owned by Villas Summit LLC of Little Rock, Arkansas, 88 units total, 46 developed.
“There’s no ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ as far the Villas are concerned. We’re ready to issue a permit to fix the retaining wall.”
Wildhorse at Prospect, owned by Eagle Resort Development of Vail, 46 single family and four duplex sites. Most of the infrastructure is provided. 29 units finished; four single-family foundations and one duplex foundation unfinished.
“No problems in Wildhorse, and no impetus to start Wildhorse again. They have way too much inventory sitting on the ground up there. The foundations are unsightly; neighbors and the ski area are complaining about that.”
Nevada Ridge, owned by Perdon Development from Telluride, seven single-family lots and four duplex sites. Units not started.
“We’ve had preliminary discussion about rebranding that as a timeshare kind of deal. They’ve done a little work on their subdivision this summer, but the subdivision is not completed.” According to Racek, part of the strategy will include adding amenities to make the timeshares more appealing for purchase, including a clubhouse and central reservation/on-site property management provision.”
Outrun Poplar Building, owned by Robert Dudley of Ft. Worth, Texas, eight multifamily units. Construction abandoned during framing.
“The Outrun is an existing condominium complex where an additional building is being added.” There is no indication when this project will be continued, according to Racek.

Looking ahead to the next boom
“We’re kind of in between,” observed Keiser of the current construction situation. “Nobody anticipated this sort of thing happening and now we’re stuck with these. Hopefully, eventually these will be viable projects again. When we get out of it, we need to think about, ‘How do we avoid these problems next time around?’ I don’t have an answer for that right now.”