With temperatures sizzling in Denver, this is a great day to drive over Berthoud Pass (high in Winter Park today, 76 F) and see those new, bright, very private ProngHorn townhomes and the new prices that go with them: From as low as $419,900, with views of the back ranges, trails and amenities, a free shuttle to the lifts during winter, just five minutes from Winter Park’s shops, bars and dining.

Rendezvous is making that move because buyers are back in the market, taking advantage of deals that would never have been possible two years ago. “Grand County offers the best values in the mountains, super accessible for Front Range families,” says Keith Neale, president of Colonnade Communities, who saw 27 new homes go under contract since last fall, eating up practically all inventory. “These plans are the most popular we’ve ever offered, and now they’re at much lower prices.”

That $419,900 delivers a big mountain home, 1,500 square feet with a main-floor master and finished walk-out space (most have a 2-car garage). Meanwhile, Rendezvous can show you something for even less money, for unbelievable size and luxury.

Colonnade has a BigHorn 5-bedroom custom home, 4,215 feet plus 2-car garage, with clerestory windows that glimpse the aspens, three master suites for you and guests, designer kitchen, view of Byers Peak, and furnishings/provisions including linens and tableware. It was priced originally at $1.6 million; but you can buy a quarter-share at only $399,000. “It’s a perfect alternative for a family that won’t use a home more than three months a year total,” says Silvio DeBartolomeis, vice president at Koelbel and Company, Rendezvous’ developer. He’ll take a $2,000 deposit to hold a quarter-reservation while Colonnade packages your ownership.

You’ll also see private Mary’s Pond, where I saw a 14-inch trout leap this week; the Fraser River wandering nearby; picnic area/trails leading to the National Forest beyond, and the historic Cozens Ranch Museum beside Rendezvous’ Discovery Center, where the family can tour an original Pony Express site. Take I-70 west past Idaho Springs to U.S. 40; then west 28 miles, through downtown Winter Park, another half mile to the Discovery Center on right, look for the Rendezvous moose.
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WHERE: Ranch-style townhomes with finished walk-out lower levels & attached garages at Rendezvous, resort community in Winter Park. Quarter-shares on new luxury custom home. Take I-70 west past Idaho Springs to U.S. 40; west on 40 28 mi. to Winter Park; continue through downtown, another half mi. to Discovery Center, look for the moose.

PRICE: From $419,900; luxury-home quarters $399,000
WHEN: Today and daily, 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.
PHONE: 970-726-8200 WEB: RendezvousColorado.com

Realtor Joan Pratt with RE/MAX PRofessionals can show you five houses ranging from $750,000 down to $560,000; just a tad over the half-million mark that’s a rough dividing line between buyer’s and seller’s markets now. “Properties are selling at a faster rate than a year ago,” says Pratt, who lives in and specializes in Bell Mountain Ranch.

All have lots 2.5 acres or larger, and good views. Four miles south of Castle Rock’s shopping district, Bell Mountain Ranch was built out at 305 properties, some ranging to horse properties at 35 acres. Pratt went to contract last month on one property that sold at $75,000 above its listing price, and has a number of sales this year.

“Bell Mountain Ranch is helped out not just by views, but by the fact that we have community water, not wells,” Pratt says. “When people see it, they’re swept away, particularly at prices you’re seeing now.”

Residents have 27 miles of trails, a ten-acre park that’s the setting for community barbecues and events, a 40-acre equestrian center, over 1,000 acres of open space, and something that earns lots of safety points: a million-dollar underpass on Bell Mountain Parkway that avoids crossing the Union Pacific tracks from Colorado Springs. “Many recent sales are out-of-state buyers,” Pratt noted. “If you’re from California, Texas or North Carolina, this just looks like what you expect the Denver suburbs to be.”

Such as 4628 Starfire Circ. at $650,000 -– a walkout ranch with 4,588 feet, four bedrooms and a 3-car garage on a 3.34-acre site. Built in 2000, it has 66 trees and a stocked trout pond. With the high quality of infrastructure, taxes ran $7,894…but its HOA fee was just $450 for the year. Others homes are at 4587 High Spring ($560,000); 1238 Riva Rose Cir. ($600,000), and at 3741 Serenade and 4704 Starfire, both $750,000. To visit, take I-25 south to Exit 181, Plum Creek Pkwy, east under the freeway to Wilcox, then right (south) down the Frontage Road, 4 miles to Bell Mountain Parkway. For the Starfire listings, turn right on Bell Mountain Dr., then left on Old Gate for a half mile.
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WHERE: Five homes on acreage in Bell Mountain Ranch, custom community, Castle Rock. 4628 Starfire Circ., Castle Rock; take frontage road south from Plum Creek Pkwy, 4 mi. to Bell Mountain Pkwy; right on Bell Mountain Dr., left on Old Gate.

PRICE: From $560,000 to $750,000
WHEN: By Appointment
PHONE: 303-704-8224 WEB: www.JoanPratt.com

Watching the kids ski at Sol Vista, homeowners gather for wine-n-cheese at Base Camp One; including Tony and Lisa Nolan, left; developer Greg Finch, center, and his daughter Amy and wife Sharon to the right.

Last week the Nolans were back with their young kids to see their place at Base Camp One, by the lifts at Sol Vista in Granby Ranch, 15 miles beyond Winter Park. “I had no idea this was here,” Lisa Nolan said, spending their first weekend skiing at Sol Vista, where the condo is set to close this week. “It just makes so much sense.”

Skiers know Sol Vista as a ‘boutique’ ski area; but they may NOT know how appealing this looks to families, after a total makeover: new terrain park with jumps and rails to keep teens advancing in the sport; a top-rated ski school; and remodeled base lodge. “If the kids are happy, everybody’s happy,” says Greg Finch, president of Dundee Resort Development, as we lunched in Seven Trails Grille…a popular spot in the evening, too, while kids gather outdoors for ‘disco tubing.’

Next door, is Base Camp One, with architecture to match anything you’ll see in Summit County; big hearth room…attractive units priced impossibly low. …Starting with a 2-bedroom/2-bath condo, a short glide from the lifts–lavish kitchen, fireplace, around 1,100 sq. ft. It was $404,000 when the project opened for pre-sales; but you can have it in time to ski this year from $242,000…16 ski day-passes included.

You can see a choice of 1-to-3 bedroom units, 40% off to the next six buyers. What you WON’T see are features that will lure you back to Granby Ranch in summer: three miles of private trout lease; and Headwaters Golf Course (with a Jack Nicklaus makeover). “You buy somewhere else, and that’s all you have, a ski-condo,” said Tony Nolan. His wife is the golfer; he prefers mountain biking…and gets a trail park here that drew the U.S. National Downhill Championship in 2009.
One-bedrooms start under $200,000. A 3-bedroom at $407,000 is $270,000 off…with 16 rounds of golf and 30% off the trout lease, plus access to a guest condo (stop in for wine-n-cheese Saturday afternoon). This is a laid-back mountain with a laid-back sales approach. “They’re low key,” said Tony Nolan. “If it’s right for your family, you’ll know it.” You can experience the entire package now…finished condos and all. Call or email sales@granbyranch.com for info or to arrange an overnight; or drop in, 15 miles past Winter Park to Village Road.
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WHERE: Base Camp One at Granby Ranch, 40% off next 6 purchases of 1-to-3-bed ski-in/out condos beside Sol Vista; ski/golf/fishing membership included. 300 Base Camp Cir., Granby; take U.S. 40 west from I-70 43 mi. (15 mi. past Winter Park) to Village Rd., right 2 mi. to ski area, Mountain Preview Cntr on left

PRICE: From under $200,000
WHEN: Daily 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
PHONE: 888-850-4615 toll free WEB: BaseCampLiving.com

New Fraser Valley Recreation Center opens Dec. 18, with resort-style pool, climbing wall.

“The center will allow people to consider Winter Park in an entirely new light,” says, Dan O’Connell, president of the Fraser Metropolitan Recreation District’s Board of Directors. “When going on vacation, many times it’s kids that drive the decision on where you go, even if the parents pay for it. To have an attraction as fun as this is a great thing.”

In addition to its pools, gym, suspended running track, well equipped fitness area and other facilities, the Center will offer drop-in day care for younger children. Voters approved construction in a 2007 bond referendum; however, recreation district staff under Director Scott Ledin greatly extended the reach of the budget by obtaining grants for additional components from other public and private sources.
“The added funds have taken the project from a good concept into an amenity that will solidly enhance Grand County’s reputation as a vacation destination,” said Silvio DeBartolomeis, vice president for sales at Koelbel and Company, developer of the 1,100-acre Rendezvous master-planned resort community across Highway 40 from the new center.
The Rendezvous Foundation, supported by sales of cabins, townhomes and custom home sites at Rendezvous, provided an additional $100,000 to the project last summer, earmarked for the 35-foot climbing wall…with rock-like water stains, three automatic belay devices, a bouldering area, and a padded landing area below. Then, after Rendezvous made 20 sales of new homes over the summer, the Foundation targeted the project with an additional $40,000 toward an ultraviolet light purifier for the pool areas, with their ‘lazy river’ channel and 25-yard lap pool with deep end. The purifier will give kids and other users a swimming experience with less chlorine in the eyes.
Additional grants allowed for sauna, steam room, and for height to be added to the water slide. “It’s incredible that we were able to add another ten feet,” noted O’Connell, adding that kids are likely to be highly appreciative of the added drop. The center’s “soft opening” to the public is set for Friday, Dec. 18th. A formal event weekend is scheduled for late January. More information is at FraserValleyRec.org.
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One of the things to be had at bargain prices this spring are views…such as one you can get from a semi-custom home above the 14th fairway at Plum Creek Golf & Country Club in Castle Rock: Devils’ Head Peak in the Rampart Range (a great 3-hour family climb) so close you can touch it…Mount Evans and Long’s Peak to the north.

Bob Brown of RE/MAX Alliance 3000 shows off a bank-owned semi-custom home with a view over Plum Creek Golf Course.

No. 1074 Whitekirk Place has all of that, plus 3,316 feet of finished space and a deck, over an unfinished walk-out…for $499,950. That’s down from $525,000, where it was last month…down even further from around $697,000 when the builder sold it in 2007.

“It ought to be $600,000,” Realtor Bob Brown with Re/Max Alliance 3000, who has the listing for a California bank, told me during a walk-thru Tuesday.
The plan is a classic 2-story bridge plan with lots of brick on the front; entry between formal rooms, with a big study beyond, opening to a wide kitchen-family area. There are four bedrooms up…one of them a guest suite with private bath, the other two on a hall bath. Across the bridge is a luxury master with a fireplace, separate his-her vanities, a big walk-in closet, and more of the golf course below.

Not just the house but the club itself is a value right now, according to Brown, a former president of the Colorado Association of Realtors, with enough years in the business to have seen other booms and busts. Plum Creek’s associate golf membership initiation, regularly $1,500, goes for $750 as a special now; and the city of Castle Rock…just 46,000 people…has just picked up another 700 acres of open space for its amenity package.

“How could you find a better time and opportunity to be part of a community like this?” Brown asked, noting that he and other agents are seeing multiple offers on listings in the lowest ranges. “It’s the best lot on the block,” he added. No. 1074 is at the top of Emerald Drive in Plum Creek. Take Plum Creek Boulevard south from Plum Creek Parkway a mile to Emerald, then up the hill ¾-mile to Diamond Head and right.
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