Aspen Peak - Niche Media - Aspen living at its peak
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/601986
Aspen Peak Publisher Alex Halperin and brokers Gary Feldman, Maureen Stapleton, and Brian Hazen discuss Aspen's real estate landscape. Broker Maureen Stapleton is the first to arrive at the pre-dinner cocktail hour at the swanky-chic Cache Cache bar. Realtors Gary Feldman and Maureen Stapleton greet one another as they enter the French foodie hot spot. photography by c2 photography Classical French eatery Cache Cache (205 S. Mill St., Ste. 106, 970-925-3835; cachecache.com) played host to a real estate roundtable discussion between some of town's top authorities, among them three longtime real estate brokers, a devel- oper, and an architect. Together, they discussed the current boom in the local real estate market, the shifting popularity of Aspen communities—from Red Mountain to Starwood, the Downtown core to Mountain Valley—as well as the impact of land-use codes and the effcacy of the employee housing pro- gram. Despite disagreements and different points of view, one thing was made abundantly clear: the future of Aspen development is in the hands of those who love their mountain home. Growing Up and Out from billionaire's row to building codes, town's top experts discuss the latest real estate trends and hot-button topics driving aspen's (nonstop) development. by damien alexander williamson continued on page 184 Aspen Peak: What are your thoughts on where the Aspen market currently stands? Maureen Stapleton: The market feels good. And things are hot here in the core, Red Mountain, the West End. Some of the outlying areas like Woody Creek and Snowmass Village are still struggling a little bit, but pricing is getting so high in Aspen that buyers are starting to look elsewhere. Brian Hazen: I have a different take. There are a lot of areas that are not hot. [The amount we show], that activity drops by 60 or 70 percent outside the city limits. In Starwood, there are 19 listings—an all-time high in my opinion, which belies the fact that Aspen's hot. The West End was really strong this summer, but it's not that strong right now. There were 12 listings in June—there are now 26. What drives the shift in which side of town is hot at the moment? BH: I think sometimes we're our own worse enemies. We tell sellers that a certain area is hot, so they jack up the price, and vice versa. Gary Feldman: The only markets that seem to stand out and are always hot are Red Mountain and Willoughby Way. Ryan Elston: [Willoughby Way] is not a market, that's an address. GF: It's billionaire's row. BH: But even Red Mountain is not always hot. Two or three years ago, not much product moved. That's the ParticiPants: RyAn ElSton — partner/Broker, aspen associates Realty group GARy FEldMAn — Broker, aspen Snowmass Sotheby's international Realty BRiAn HAzEn — Broker associate, coldwell Banker Mason Morse Real estate Bill PoSS — architect and Founder, poss architecture + planning MAuREEn StAPlEton — Broker, aspen Snowmass Sotheby's international Realty 182 aspenpeak-magazine.com hAUTE PROPERTY Estatements