A press release from The Telluride Ski Resort October 26, 2009 announced the opening Gold Hill Chutes 2-5 for the 2009/10 season. The chutes, all above tree line, reminiscent of those found in Alaska or the Alps, are some of the more challenging terrain off Gold Hill with a vertical drop of 1600 vertical feet. This new terrain is accessed by a new snow cat road from the top of Revelation Chair 15 to Gold Hill Chute 10, making the hike achievable for you and me. In the last 3 seasons Telluride has expanded into Black Iron Bowl, Palmyra Peak, Revelation Bowl and Gold Hill Chutes 1-10, culminating in over 400 acres of new terrain. The vertical drop of 4,425 feet, and 3,845 feet lift served is now one of the largest in North America. Through the grape vine we hear that they have also opened up the top of Gold Hill Cute 9 allowing an easier approach to one of the spectacular couloirs for advanced intermediate skiers. As a side note, rumor on the street is that the Forest Service is planning to open 3 or 4 new back country gates allowing access into lower Bear Creek, not for the faint of heart.

Telluride Hosts its first World Cup event. The 2010 Visa U.S. Snowboardcross Cup comes to town Dec. 17-20, 2009. Telluride will be the sole U.S. stop of the LG FIS Snowboard World Cup and will feature an SBX (snowboardcross), PGS (parallel giant slalom) and the newly added Team Snowboardcross competition. It will be the second in a series of five Olympic qualifying events. The heat will be on in the snowboardcross as four athletes race through rollers, jumps and banked turns in an attempt to be the first racer crossing the finish line. U.S. Snowboarding’s men’s SBX roster includes Olympic champion Seth Wescott , snowboarding legend Shaun Palmer (South Lake Tahoe, CA), and Olympic silver medalist Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, VT).

In other news from Telluride Ski Resort, the Dining is Redefined. Allred’s will be offering a new fair of steaks, seafood, chops salads and sides in one of the most scenic dining rooms in North America at the top of the Gondola. Enjoy cocktails and appetizers at the bar or sit down in the new steakhouse atmosphere of the dining room. The European chalet style Alpino Vino opened last year offering fine wines, cheeses, soup and sandwiches is expanding their outdoor seating with a new multi tiered deck. It will have an outdoor wine bar and seating for 50 with dramatic views of the Wilson Range. The Hop Garden, at the base of chair 4, has opened its new outdoor bar and beer garden, offering domestic and international beers, cocktails and a menu to suit the whole family. The Hop Garden serves up some of the best burgers in town, a delight for kids of all ages. The giant yellow umbrella has become “The place to be for après ski” (sounds like the jingle from the famed and missed Leimgruber’s). They’re also introducing their own version of the Mug Club.

The next phase for real estate in Telluride.

  When David Leonhardt wrote in his August 21, 2005 New York Times article “Be warned Mr. Bubble’s Worries Again” (Link #1) and warned us of the housing bubble, most of us in the real estate business were reluctant to accept the bubble theory and its potential consequences. The more euphoric article by Damon Darlin, “Some New Math on Homes; Housing Bubble? What Housing Bubble?“ also published in the New York Times on April 1, 2006 (April Fools?) (Link #2) was a lot more to our liking. The Koolaid we were drinking and sharing with others included:
* Political stability through more families owning their homes, a sound political objective
* Demographics were favorable with a younger population than Europe and strong immigration, a strong demand for homes
* Unprecedented liquidity in the mortgage market because of mortgage backed securities
* Historically low interest rates
* Very creative financing vehicles for anyone that could fog a mirror

  However, when an article surfaced in Fortune Magazine’s November 1, 2006 issue, “Can the Economy Survive the Housing Bust?“ (Link #3), having been born and bread construction, I had to take notice. The National Association of Home Builders Housing Market Index anticipated a very significant down turn in the real estate economy and the author of this article, Jon Birger, drew parallels with previous economic downturns and how this N.A.H.B. index had been a leading indicator in previous downturns. This article was too scary and I, like the investment strategist in the article, tucked it away and did not even share it with my broker associates as I normally do. As eluted to in the article, the S+P 500 dropped to below 700, but this was 2 years plus later after running up to almost 1,600 in November 2007. The severity of the implosion of the National Housing Market and subsequent freezing of liquidity in the Financial Market and grand scale of chaos and mayhem in the Equity Market was unparalleled and unforeseen by most; but now that the sky has fallen, where do we go from here? What has changed from the bubble years? The mantra still is, if more people own their homes, this will be a stabilizing effect on the nation and the economy, interest rates are still low, mortgage backed securities still provide the crucial liquidity and we are still a young and vibrant nation that can pick itself up by the boot straps and move on.
So where are the bright spots? For starters, the National Association of Home Builders Housing Market Index bottomed out last December and January and builder confidence is improving significantly in April and May with the logic being inventories are shrinking; therefore it is just a matter of time before the industry starts moving again. This of course is on the national level. How does this affect Telluride? The second home market usually trails the national economy. The national economy has to be expanding for a significant period before people will sell their shares, take some profit and build or buy a vacation home in the mountains. This is why I anticipate that our traditional second home market will not be leading the charge in our Telluride real estate recovery. 
We will continue to have buyers pick up discounted value properties, but I predict a two prong from the bottom up recovery: the first will be the younger, already local residents that will buy, build, fill in, remodel, etc. to get a part of the American Dream. But the second and, in my opinion, most important segment of our real estate recovery will be the next influx of urban refugees or relocatees from other areas. This is the group that as a community we need to pay the most attention to for many reasons. As we have morphed from a mining community to a tourist community, to a partial second home community with the economy being driven by real estate and construction, we need to facilitate the next phase of the maturing of our wonderful community, a future that is not tied to a particular industry being mining, tourism or construction and real estate.
  The unparalleled quality of life that we locals enjoy has been noticed by our visitors and our future should be focused on economic diversification through attracting young professionals that telecommute and may need to travel a few times a month to east or west coast to conduct meetings. The Telluride Airport expansion / improvement and the potential for the Q400 aircraft will provide safe, reliable and convenient air service in the not to distant future, this is where our focus should be. This will bring more vibrancy to Telluride and should wake up the Mountain Village from its slumber. On a practical note, the inventory of real estate in the Telluride region will not expand for a long time as very few building permits are being issued. The discounts from previous highs are significant and the opportunities for dreams and future lifestyles are here now. As a piece of advice for all my friends in the real estate profession, as Darwin said, “it is not the strong that survive, but the ones most capable of change.“ We have to re-invent ourselves so we can service our clients better. For more Telluride real estate news and opinion, please visit us at http://www.TellurideMLS.com. Thank you.

Sincerely Yours,

Dirk de Pagter

Link #1: Be Warned: Mr. Bubble’s Worried Again
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/business/yourmoney/21real.html?pagewanted=print

Link #2: Some New Math on Homes; Housing Bubble? What Housing Bubble?
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D01E5D71230F932A35757C0A9609C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print

Link #3: Can the economy survive the housing bust?
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/11/13/8393160/index.htm

It is hard to visualize that this once high alpine sheep pasture, which in recent years had been transformed into the Telluride Airport with its signature mid-runway dip, is now again being transformed into a new airport facility with a level runway ready to service the Telluride Region in the 21st century. Any heavy equipment fan, young or old, would be impressed by the amount of iron on the move, migrating from east to west and back, depositing countless tons of material, particularly in the runway dip dreaded by pilots. This 20 plus million dollar improvement to the airport will have a noticeably positive influence on Telluride’s accessibility and convenience in the future for visitors and locals alike. After the completion of the current phase, the airport plans to open in November 2009 with similar air service as last winter season. The main change will come in the summer of 2010, if FAA funding can be procured, when the safety areas are completed and emass material has been installed. At that time the Telluride airport will be able to accommodate the much coveted Q400 aircraft that services many mountain resorts. This aircraft is in use by both Continental and Frontier Airlines. Needless to say, besides becoming more safe and convenient, there will also be a significant economic benefit to the region with this improved facility. Thank you Telluride Airport Board and Manager for your excellent and tireless work to improve air service to our region.

    After many months of preparing documents and obtaining various approvals, the newly remodeled Hotel Columbia filed its condominium hotel plat on March 19, 2009. During the off-seasons and summer of 2008 the Hotel Columbia underwent an extensive remodel. This remodel substantially updated the thirteen year old hotel taking full advantage to open up and utilize all spaces to create more suites and connecting rooms. This new and improved layout is more conducive to the intended condominium hotel use. Condominium hotels are both residences and hotel rooms. A unit owner can make use of their hotel condominium unit as a vacation, second home any time during the year, but when not in residence the unit has to be available for hotel guests to use on a nightly basis.
    This model creates the best of both worlds for owners: a no hassle, full service condominium hotel unit and a more traditional hotel-type use for when they do not use their unit, with the associated income to help defer cost and expenses. For the regular hotel guest, not much will change from the hotel’s historic occupancy pattern; the usual friendly staff will be manning the check in and valet parking. The high standard of service will continue and will now be available for unit owners also.
    On March 25th the first one bedroom, two bath unit with lock-off capability was sold. This unit’s east canyon views, great morning sun and easy ski and town access will be enjoyed by the new owner and family for many years to come, along with the great investment benefits. Please contact us if you would like an information packet or tour of the new Hotel Columbia condominiums. You can also preview under our featured properties listing on this website.

Capella Telluride celebrated its grand opening on February 12th. The long awaited luxury hotel, the first of the Capella brand in the United States, opened with great fanfare, speeches, ribbon cutting, etc. Capella is the latest in luxury accommodations for the Telluride region. Telluride, named the #2 Ski Resort by Conde Nast Magazine, can now rightfully claim this title with the opening of Capella. Like a good wine, Capella took some time (9 years) to complete the approval and construction process. This 100 hotel room, 48 condominium project has matured nicely in its premier Mountain Village location. Capella also features two restaurants, a ballroom, new retail space, underground parking, and an ice rink in a new public plaza. Capella is a wonderful addition to Telluride regional lodging and we wish them the best of luck in these trying economic times.