Mt. CB purchases housing for employees for nearly $1.7M

“I think it’s an investment”

[  By Kendra Walker  ]

This summer the Mt. Crested Butte town council has been in search of more housing units to add to its inventory for current and prospective town employees, and during their August 16 meeting authorized the purchase of a house for $1.3 million and a Three Seasons condo for $370,000. 

Over the past couple months, the council has discussed the town’s need for more housing options for its employees. The town’s 2.9% excise lodging tax goes toward the Mt. Crested Butte housing fund. At the end of 2021, the town’s housing fund balance was $1,450,364. The town is projected to have $2,712,364 by the end of 2022.

“The town having a housing unit in its inventory I think could be very beneficial to town,” said mayor Nicholas Kempin. “If we have an upper-level person that has to go away I fear what that looks like when we try to replace them and play the housing game. I also view it as a way for us to stay competitive with other entities with which we are competing for employees.”

“We also have employees that don’t live up here that would like to,” said town manager Greg Sund. 

“Are we looking for emergency housing or looking to expand employee housing stock?” asked councilmember Alec Lindeman. 

“I think we’re looking for a housing unit or units that give us control in both,” said Kempin. 

Recently, the council was made aware that town manager Sund required new housing. In a memo to the council, he wrote, “It was recently learned that the owner of the condo I am living in does not intend to renew the lease when it expires at the end of October. The explanation given was that one or more of the neighbors informed the owner that they are afraid of our dog. Neither my wife, Elizabeth, nor I were contacted personally about this concern, so I cannot respond to the reasons. I consider Elizabeth and I very responsible dog owners…Since receiving this notice, we have been exploring other housing options of which there are few.”

The council has expressed the desire to purchase housing for current and future town managers, and authorized Sund and the town attorney to negotiate and purchase a single family home within Mt. Crested Butte for town manager housing. On August 16, the council authorized the purchase of a house at 65 Paradise Road for $1.3 million and the sums necessary for closing costs and utility account transfers. 

Earlier this month, the council scrambled for potential housing units for Mt. CB police chief Nate Stepanek. Stepanek has a contract for one of the Homestead affordable housing units but due to delays in the project, the town began seeking other options for him to rent. The town is currently negotiating with the Homestead developer through attorneys on next steps. 

The town put out feelers to the community and received approximately 15 responses from owners who typically short-term rent their places expressing interest in renting long-term to a town employee. Sund explained that the town is still looking into the interest from homeowners converting their STRs to long-term rentals. 

“I think finding a reasonably priced unit is a smarter idea than just leasing something not knowing when the need might arrive,” said councilmember Dwayne Lehnertz. “If we own something, having the flexibility to do whatever we want with it is a lot smarter to be than being handcuffed by the whims of whoever the landlord is.”

Last November, the town purchased an 876-square-foot two-bed, two-bath condo in Elk Ridge II that was originally intended for previous town manager Isa Reeb during the Homestead delay. She chose not to move into it, along with no other town employees at the time, so the town is currently renting the unit to a community member whose lease expires December 31. 

Kempin advocated for purchasing another unit. “I am astonished as anyone about the amount that units cost… the market is crazy,” he said. “But it’s also that market that is causing us this problem that we’re having to deal with. I think it would be good for the town to have a housing unit in its inventory… I think it’s an investment.”

Last month, the town council agreed to authorize Sund to contract to purchase a housing unit within town limits of up to three bedrooms for a maximum amount of $850,000 for the purpose of workforce housing. On August 16, the council authorized the purchase of a Three Seasons condo for $370,000, along with the additional sums necessary as set forth in the contract.