County approves sale of Gypsum’s Stratton Flats
EAGLE, Colorado – The “reset” button has been hit on the Stratton Flats housing project in Gypsum. If it works this time, Eagle County may yet get a $4.5 million loan repaid.
The Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved a new developer, the Pauls Corporation of Denver, for the Stratton Flats project.
The county loaned money to the project in early 2008, exacting appreciation caps on 100 units in exchange. The money was to be repaid when all the 300-plus homes had sold.
The project stalled almost before it began, due largely to the current economic slump.
Then the Pauls Group got involved. The Denver-area company, which has developed property in the Denver Tech Center, had already purchased the unbuilt lots at the Sky Legend subdivision at Cotton Ranch in Gypsum several months ago. Company owners saw an opportunity at Stratton Flats, but with a few conditions.
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The biggest of those conditions was getting rid of the county’s strict appreciation caps. Now, only about 100 units at Stratton Flats will be subject to the town of Gypsum’s restrictions, which don’t include appreciation caps, but do require buyers to be full-time, employed residents.
Another major change will be how the units are built. When planning to build a new development at the peak of a real estate boom, the original Stratton Flats developers planned to have major parts of most of the buildings built at factory in Denver, then trucked to Gypsum.
Pauls Group representative Brian Pauls said the new plan is to build the buildings entirely on-site.
But, Pauls said, construction is unlikely to begin before the spring of 2011, with a marketing campaign starting over the coming winter.
“We believe in this market,” Pauls said. “We have confidence in the area, and that we can maximize our value there.”
Business Editor Scott N. Miller can be reached at 970-748-2930 or smiller@vaildaily.com.
