— June 2014 — Welcome to Summer!
Every year Aspen’s off season gets just a little shorter. Ecofest was an event held downtown in Aspen this weekend. The Food and Wine Classic will be June 20-22, just 2 weekends away. Then we have Jazz Aspen, Ideas Festival, 4th of July and the list goes on. See ASPENCHAMBER.ORG to see all of the events
MARKET UPDATE
As of mid-May the percentage of Sale-price to List-price was 92%. Average days on Market for real estate was 297. We have 619 active listings between Snowmass, Aspen and Basalt, down from 727, same time 2013. The 12 month average sold price per square foot rose for Aspen Condos and Basalt Homes and Condos. In Snowmass, as well as all properties priced at $7.5 million and above, prices had not appreciated. Our dollar volume for May was up over $100,000,000 from 2013 and that was with fewer transactions. In Aspen, Snowmass, Basalt, Carbondale and Glenwood Springs we are still down between 10% and 30% in value, from 2008, our peak.
Call me for information regarding a specific neighborhood you would like to know about.
HIGHLIGHTS IN OUR VALLEY
ASPEN is providing Lodge-Incentives. It has not been formalized, but they are working on the possibility of four-story lodges, relaxation of affordable housing requirements and increased allowance for free-market residential units. The reason behind the City Council’s leniency is due to Aspen’s short-term bed base having declined by 27%. It is one of their top goals to create a program aimed at reversing that trend.
SKI CO has broken ground on a major redevelopment of the Buttermilk Ski Area’s base area, a two year project that includes a new, $10 million state of the art children’s center and changes to the parking lot. Increased snowmaking capacity and a new 8,690 square foot skier-services building are also part of the project.
SNOWMASS VILLAGE is hosting public meetings to discuss the future of Base Village development. Besides revising ideas for the Base Village master plan, the Snowmass Village Town Council voted to extend a moratorium on retail and medical marijuana shops until March , 2017.
BASALT TOWN COUNCIL on the other hand moved forward with rules designed to allow the sale of recreational marijuana.
CARBONDALE is turning their busiest intersection from a light to a roundabout, but don’t expect construction at the corner of Highway 133 and Main St. to be finished until November.
GLENWOOD SPRINGS CITY COUNCIL agreed to sign on to Pitkin County’s letter asking the Bureau of Land Management to cancel 25 oil and gas leases in Thompson Divide. The Aspen Skiing Co.’s employee-funded Environment Foundation released four grants totaling $55,000 to Wilderness Workshop, Thompson Divide Coalition, Western Environmental Law Center and High Country News in an attempt to thwart impacts from natural gas drilling in the region.