Teddy Errico's Telluride Tales

A major Telluride Mountain Village core hotel project that proposes adding 40 short-term hotel rooms to the town’s lodging mix, over 20,000 square feet of commercial space, and other public benefits gained an important approval when the Mountain Village DRB voted 5-0 to approve the sketch Planned Unit Development plan for the project. This proposed hotel is located on what is now a parking lot between the Westermere and Shirana buildings and would also encroach, as is permitted in Mountain Village, on town-owned open space. The applicant has also proposed 38 larger “lodge units” that can be made up of a two-room space plus a mezzanine, up to two separate bathrooms, and separate kitchen facilities. These additional units could be sold as real estate.

The approval marks the third step in a five-step PUD approval process that in Mountain Village (and elsewhere) provides for tradeoffs of public benefits in exchange for zoning variances. The applicant must now submit a final PUD plan that will go before both the DRB and council for their separate and final approvals.

The Telluride Visitors Center and Tourism Board has moved its offices to a larger and more convenient location, 666 West Colorado Avenue above Clarks Market. To contact the Visitors Center call 1-888-605-2578 or go to www.visittelluride.com

The property where the old visitors center was located will be sold and removed. Then additional parking for the neighboring condominiums will be available and easier traffic flow attained from turns on Davis Street.

Real Estate sales in San Miguel County Colorado(Telluride Region) were solid in June, but unfortunately slightly off the June 2009 pace. In June of 2009 we saw 26 sales at $26.9 million, while in June of 2010, the number of transactions were flat, but dollar volume was $1.2 million lower.

The silver lining in this data for June, is that June 2010 Telluride Real Estate Sales were far higher than June 2008, which only saw $10.6 million in volume over 24 sales. We are still far ahead, year to date over 2009 numbers (by 89% in dollar volume and 45% in number of sales) and closing in on 2008 data.(only off by just approximately 4% in dollar volume and 11% in number of sales)

Activity seems to picking up in July. Call 970-728-5959 or e-mail Teddy Errico at Teddy@TeddyErrico.com for a specific property or market analysis.

Five months after a fire destroyed Telluride’s oldest and most iconic restaurant, Baked In Telluride is trying to rebuild on the same site. On Wednesday the Historic and Architectural Review Commission (HARC) will consider final approval of an application to reproduce the historic building that stood at 127 South Fir Street. If one reproduces the appearance and size of an original structure, there should not be any major obstacles to HARC’s approval of the application. There would be no real estate development attached to this project, such as penthouse condominiums or additional residential property.

Open since 1976, Baked in Telluride, one of the town’s largest employers, supplied a variety of bagels and breads from challah to sprouted wheat to retail outlets in the region as well as providing their own restaurant operation providing affordable bagels, donuts, pizza, sandwiches and much more.

No timetable for opening the new bakery has been set.

The idea of a large hotel and affordable housing project at the entrance to the town of Mountain Village is being discussed by Mountain Village Town Council this Thursday, starting with a site walk.

Located on a five acre site at the intersection of Arizona Street and Mountain Village Boulevard and developed by Randy Edwards and Monarch Development, this project faces many hurdles including a change in zoning, residential opposition and wetlands.

Design calls for 50,000-60,000 square feet of rentable hotel space and 70-100 rental employee units. None of the development would be sold as Real Estate for an individual end user. Developers are hopeful for a flag management like Hilton, Starwood, Marriott or Hyatt to fill a niche below the Peaks and Capella at Telluride.

Stay Tuned for updates.