In anticipation of the upcoming winter snow gently piling on Breckenridge’s Main Street, there is no denying that Breckenridge is one of the most magical ski resort towns in the world. It has the vibrancy of Vail and Aspen, without the price tag of those resorts, making Breckenridge more accessible to all people who love the mountains. As a private equity real estate company, Breckenridge is near the top of the most desirable resort towns in which to invest. It has the big three: 1) driving distance to a major metropolitan area, 2) an excellent family oriented ski mountain owned by Vail Resorts, and 3) a well run government with plenty of financial resources to reinvest into the community.
Breckenridge Ski Resort boasted over 1,750,000 skier visits in 2010. This is no surprise given that the Denver front range megalopolis consists of a population of 4.3 million people and is as close as 72 miles to Breckenridge. The front range area includes as far south as Pueblo CO, and north to Cheyenne, WY, with Denver, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins making up the lion’s share of people.
Additionally, Denver International Airport is the largest international airport in the United States by land size. So far this year, January-March 2011, Denver International Airport is the ninth busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic with 12,873,681 passengers. Those are the kinds of numbers that make real estate work!!
Vail Resorts (NYSE: MTN) runs Breckenridge and three other ski resorts in Colorado, as well as two in Lake Tahoe and a summer resort in Wyoming. Vail Resorts Development Company (VRDC) is the wholly owned real estate development company that Vail Resorts uses to develop all of its company-owned real estate, which includes several projects slated for Breckenridge. One in particular is the Breckenridge Gondola Lot Master Plan, which calls for several parking lots, a hotel, and retail. This is a project that has been on hold for a few years, but once completed, will provide tremendous opportunity for the north side of Breckenridge.
Established in 1859, the historic town of Breckenridge is a home rule municipality that is the county seat of Summit County, Colorado. With an operating budget of $21 million, the town is now sitting on $18 million in a reserve savings account. That is very healthy considering most towns are scrambling to balance their recession battered budgets. This puts them in the cat bird seat to withstand another downturn or re-invest into the town.
While all this seems rosy, we are noticing that the commercial real estate market is lagging and still suffering from the last few years of recession. Opportunities to buy real estate at a discount direct from owners or banks are evident. Resort Realty Capital is currently evaluating several opportunities to profit from these market conditions. If you would like to learn more, please contact us.
Darren Nakos, CCIM
Resort Realty Capital
111 Main Street
Frisco, CO 80443-0630
(720)-663-1430
THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION FOR INVESTMENT – THIS INQUIRY IS TO FIND OUT IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN RECEIVING ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. NEITHER RESORT REALTY CAPITAL, LLC, IT’S AFFILIATES AND REPRESENTATIVES MAKE ANY REPRESENTATION REGARDING THE RISKS OF INVESTING IN COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT YOUR OWN PROFESSIONALS TO MAKE THE DETERMINATION AND ASSESS THE RISK OF INVESTING. AS WITH ANY INVESTMENTS, THERE ARE INHERENT RISKS AND NO GUARANTIES OF RETURNS. PLEASE CONSULT WITH YOUR OWN PROFESSIONALS IN DETERMINING THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH INVESTING IN COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE.