Floyd Magee & Rob Hunter || RE/MAX Cimarron

Well, not quite. We’re close though, Ouray is the terminus (or beginning) of one of the most scenic drives in the U.S. according to Yahoo.com. The Million Dollar highway is indeed one of the most astounding roadways ever constructed. Never mind that just outside of Ouray heading towards Silverton you’ve got to be really comfortable with your driving abilities. Let’s just say I wouldn’t want my 16 year old (If I had one) driving that road at night! It’s still an absolutely gorgeous drive.

I’ll add one scenic drive to the list: Coming from Montrose in the north down highway 550 towards Ridgway and Ouray one’s breath can be taken away by the sheer majesty of the San Juan and Cimarron mountain ranges. The mountains seem to just spring up from the earth and visually accost you as you make the few last turns coming into Ridgway. Truly a magical vista.

Here’s a quote from the article about the million dollar highway:

…there’s no disputing the fact that the 75-mile stretch of scenic highway known as Million Dollar Highway is a breathtaking journey through the majestic mountain passes of western Colorado. Crossing part of the San Juan Skyway Scenic Byway, and following route U.S. 550 between the old mining towns of Silverton and Ouray, the route’s twists and turns wend high above the Red Mountain Pass – an 11,018-foot-high collapsed volcano whose lava flow was found to contain gold in 1860 – and past the deep Uncompahgre Gorge, into which flow several waterfalls…

Read the full article here (and see the other 9 most scenic drives)

As the snow, at lower elevations, has all but melted away, and the leaves are showing signs of their first buds, I am extremely excited by the bustle of activity returning to our small Colorado mountain town. Having the most snow in over 20 years, and a significant cold snap or two, this years winter is one that will be easy for this local to say good bye to.

In our farewell to winter the spring run off is on most residents minds, especially those close to the Uncompahgre River. With record amounts of snow in the Colorado Rockies all eyes are on the streams, creeks, rivers and reservoirs. In an effort to mitigate potential problems the Town of Ridgway is performing some sediment maintenance on the Uncompahgre River just north of the Rollans Park bridge. A large front loader has been in the river just below the two man made falls removing heaping piles of sediment. It is maintenance that is done regularly, but with more vigor this spring due to the estimated high volume run off. As long as things heat up at a moderate rate things should be fine, but if there is a drastic heat up in a short period we could see some irregular flooding in low lying fields, etc.

In other news, Ridgway could soon have its very own micro-brewery. A gentleman is intending to open one in the old Sherbino Theater across the street from Kate’s Place restaurant. The location is excellent because it is in the heart of the historic business district, and many in the town are very supportive of the plan. It would be a small operation putting out less than two dozen kegs per week, and only serving on certain days. The Town boards seemed optimistic about the plan raising some conditions of parking that will need to be addressed, but it seemed like a minor concern. However, as things go in small mountain towns, I’m am cautiously excited, but won’t toast to it until the first draft is poured.

Like some sick joke I woke up this morning to see 4″ of fresh snow on the driveway with it still coming down at a brisk pace. Sure, the weather reported that it would snow today, but with tempertures yesterday at 60 degrees, you hoped….prayed….just knew they had to be wrong.

This year has been the hardest winter for decades according to many locals. We have had a foot of snow in our front yard since December. Ouray residents have grown used to the snow piles at every street corner that threaten to violate the City’s building height restrictions.

This week it really started to warm up. Temperatures were near 50 degrees most of the week, hitting 60 degrees yesterday. On a drive from Ridgway to Ouray you had to watch out for massive ice cicles that were loosing their grip on the neighborging rock faces. Streams of run off were everywhere. It was that time when you can feel Spring in your bones. Folks are out jogging, or walking their dogs. Ouray even seemed to be brimming with tourists. It’s as if they were all staying in hotels in Durango and as soon as the temperature broke 50 degrees they all came over the pass to visit their favorite shops, or take a dip in the Ouray Hot Springs Pool.

So it was a bit deflating to wake up this morning and see all that fresh snow on the ground. Oh well, if it warms up this week, like it’s suppossed to, the sun will make quick work of it. Then we can go back to digging out the work out suits, grabbing the bikes out of storage, and say good bye to our extra hibernating pounds brought on by this long hard winter. Here comes the sun!!

It looks like the bike system dreamed of by many residents is on the fast track for this summer. A recent article in the current issue of The Ouray County Watch highlights recent developments in the single track bike trail.

It’s so exciting to be hearing about, and watching these projects move forward. It seems like every week lately you hear about another project or initiative that is moving forward that is going to make our County an even better place to call home. You have things like the Dream Catcher Lodge, the bike trail, the local Mountain Market is expanding to double it’s size this year, and on and on…

If you want to learn more about the trail system visit this website:

Ridgway Trail

While the rest of us in the real estate industry here every night on TV that the housing market is in real trouble, America’s ultra affluent are saying…what mess? A recent article in Matrix blog, said that the luxury market is still going strong even with the sub prime mess. Apparently the higher the price tag the stronger the market.

We have certainly seen this in our market. Telluride and Mountain Village broke more records at the end of 2007. Across the board residential real estate in the world class ski town were up. Especially when you got above $2-$3million. One broker who represents some of the very affluent in Telluride commented, “The national media has all the middle class Americans hiding their pennies under their bed. Real estate is still a great investment tool to my clients.”

Read More….

Just when you thought things were getting expensive in Ridgway….take a look at this. Steve Forbes recently sold his Trinchera Ranch for a whopping $175,000,000. That makes Ouray County look pretty affordable! Apparantly it happened last Novemeber and it was purchased by Louis Moore Bacon, a hedge fund manager. The ranch is comprised of 171,400acres and sits 160miles or so south of Denver. It is not to far from the Sangre De Christo mountain range.

Read More….

In other luxury news, what do the new emerging class of wealthy Russians, a 4-story high egg, and $10million dollars have in common?? Watch this video to find out!

Luxury Diva: Egg House

I just recently completed the extensive Institute for Luxury Home Marketing course. Ouray County is becoming more and more of an upper tier luxury home market, and the techniques and tools that I learned from this course will help me set myself apart in the market. I will be posting interesting news on the National and International luxury real estate market here for your enjoyment. Right now is a great time to buy a luxury mountain home in Ouray County so contact me to find out how.

Last night the Ridgway Town Council members voted 5 to 1 to approve the final plat for the new Ridgway Hot Springs Lodge, recently renamed The Dream Catcher Lodge. This is the end of an almost 6 year struggle for the developer Adam Dubroff and his family. I passed Mr. Dubroff’s wife in the hall after the decision and she obviously emotional.

During public comment most of the comments were in support of the development. The comments that came in to disallow the hotel were mainly because residents didn’t like the design, mass and scale of the new buildings. Dubroff’s architect provided proof that the design was within the Adirondack style seen throughout much of Colorado’s resort communities. The only questions from Town Councilwere centered around availability of “hot water springs”, and access easements from the Colorado Department of Transportation.

The big question now will be does the developer have the money to do the project. One associate I was talking with stated that “Dubroff doesn’t have the horsepower to pull it off. He’s going to be looking to sell it now.” That may be the case. Either way it is now a much more entitled piece of dirt right at the intersection of two major Colorado State highways, one leading to world class resort Telluride. More than one developer is going to be eyeing the piece to bring a much needed attraction to our beautiful little town.

“We have arrived”, says Brad Willett with Cornerstone Colorado at our quarterly Telluride Association of Realtors general members meeting this morning. Mr. Willett went on to talk about how the project was something everyone dreamed about for the last few years, but now it is a reality.

Cornerstone is an exclusive picturesque golf resort that is about so much more than golfing. Residents will have everything from a golf clubhouse and main club house at the development, to The Mountain Club located in Mountain Village. The parcels out at the project range from small, mountain core, lots of .27-.46acre lots located directly adjacent to the future Cornerstone Lodge, to 130+acre homesteads. Lots around the Lodge range from $300-$400K, with the large ranch homestead sites going for $1,980,000 and beyond.

The development is still working out the details with the recent litigation initiated by John Kuijvenhoven, the local Ouray County resident who sold the over 6000acres to Cornerstone. Willett says that the details of the lawsuit “are not changing the way we are doing business. We are still marketing and selling lots, and you could close on one today.”

I have visited the development a few times and can concur that it is an incredible opportunity for a select few. A product like this isn’t available anywhere else in the region. If you would like to learn more about the opportunity give me a call or email today.

In other news tonight is the big night for Adam Dubroff and the Dream Catcher Lodge. Mr. Dubroff goes before Town Council to see if his conditional approval from Ridgway Planning and Zoning will be approved. There are many conditions on the approval, but this could be huge step in the right direction for the Town of Ridgway’s financial future.

This story was forwarded to me from some good friends who own a second home in Log Hill Village Subdivision. Over the last few years the Ouray Ice Climbing Festival is becoming one of the most internationally attended and challenging events in the world. Competitors and tourists come from all over the world to watch some of extremely challenging ice climbing, and take in the unique City of Ouray experience. Here’s an excerpt:

Ouray is the ice-climbing capital of the U.S. Climbers first frequented the area in the 1970s, lured by blue ribbons of frozen waterfalls dripping down canyons in the San Juan Mountains. In 1994 a few enterprising locals had the idea to string PVC pipe and showerheads along the top of a gorge above town and create their own ice. The result was the Ouray Ice Park, where every winter a mile of the canyon is draped in curtains of frozen water.

“Ouray,” writes guidebook author Cameron M. Burns, “makes one believe God is an ice climber.”

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

If you are interested in the area and want to learn more contact me and I can send you the latest real estate market report. It’s a great time to buy in one of the most beautiful places in the world!

Floyd Magee, RE/MAX Cimarron Realty/ floydmagee@remax.net /cell:970-729-0543

If there is one thing that Adam Dubroff, the developer for the Ridgway Hot Springs PUD, knows it is that Town of Ridgway Planning and Zoning meetings can be difficult. Last night was no exception.

Dubroff has been trying to get approval for this 100+room Hotel and Hot Springs development for somewhere near 5 years. Last night was supposed to be the final-final plat meeting. Once again though he met significant resistance. To the credit of P&Z it was not unwarranted. Dubroff had significantly changed the architectural design of the two 18,000sqft+ buildings. They were more monolithic and architecturally simple than his proposed design presented 3 years ago.

Emotions from P&Z were heated right from the start. Particularly frustration was delivered by Ellen Jensen and John Pryor. “This (pointing to a one dimensional drawing from three years ago) is not this!”, said Pryor. The council went on to reference four letters written to the editor by the public demonstrating disapproval for Dubroff’s eleventh hour change.

Dubroff’s argument was that when he made the proposal for the structure, he had requested a 35′ mid roof line limit. At that time P&Z approved a 35′ “top of the ridge-line” limit. That meant that Dubroff had to significantly lower his elevations. “I had to lower the pitches, but it’s still the same building”, said Dubroff. A comment not well received by most council members. “I don’t buy that”, said council-member Pat Willits.

Comments from the public were also very passionate. Ed Folga, of Willowcreek Floral, said “The businesses in this town are hurting. A 100 room hot springs resort would bring a lot of people walking up and down our streets.” Other comments portrayed a feeling of nit picking the developer.

However, at about 11:45pm, everyone had come back around to what looked like an amazing compromise. P&Z members requested a short list of relatively inexpensive design changes, and Dubroff made some concessions as well. When council members mentioned that Dubroff should ask for another month continuance, he said “The financing of this project is at critical stage. A continuance would have significant negative impacts.” Planning and Zoning compromised and gave Dubroff, and his development team, 7 days to come back with the changes. They will have a special session next Thursday and if all requested changes have been made Dubroff should get his Final Plat.

There are still other conditions that will have to be resolved. The access to the project will need to be negotiated between Dubroff and Ridgway Real Estate Corporation. Also, not the least of items, Dubroff will have to demonstrate financial ability to complete the project.

Ridgway could be one week away from completing a long and hard fought process. I hope that the springs gets it’s approval and look forward to benefits of Ridgway’s incredible small business owners.

If you would like more information on this project or any of the beautiful real estate in Ouray County don’t hesitate to contact me at floydmagee@remax.net