Chat with Danny Mulcahy of Steamboat 700 LLC

Chat with Danny Mulcahy of Steamboat 700 LLC
August 3, 2007
SteamboatPilot/TODAY

Danny Mulcahy is the project manager for Steamboat 700 LLC, which has purchased the 540-acre Brown property west of Steamboat Springs with plans for new housing development that will be annexed into the city.
sstanford: Welcome to our chat today with Danny Mulcahy of Steamboat 700 LLC. Thanks for joining us Danny. Are you ready to go?
Danny Mulcahy: Yes, I am ready to go

sstanford: Steamboat 700 held a gathering last week to gather feedback on its conceptual plans for the property west of Steamboat Springs. What was the overriding feedback you received at the gathering?
Danny Mulcahy: Overall it was very good. I was happy with the attendence. It was very insightful and it was exactly the type of feedback we were looking for. People definetly feel strongly about it

corduroy: Does Steamboat 700 plan to allow residents to purchase lots for building? Why or why not?
Danny Mulcahy: Most people wanted to know when and how to buy lots. There was a sense of urgency, people want some housing altermnatives

sstanford: Your plans include a "village center" that would include retail development. Explain what a village center is and the types of commercial development you see working in the west Steamboat area.
Danny Mulcahy: We do expect there to be indivdual lots sales. We are hoping to have some larger developments to help accomodate attainability.
Moderator: I may have gotten ahead of you a little bit ... do you want to answer the question about the Village center now? Here it is again: Your plans include a "village center" that would include retail development. Explain what a village center is and the types of commercial development you see working in the west Steamboat area.
Danny Mulcahy: We are planning a mixed use town center that incorporates retail, office and housing. The retail is directed at supporting West Steamboat only.
Moderator: How soon might we see a grocery store?
Danny Mulcahy: A grocery store was the single most requested amenity at the open house. The distributors and grocery stores will have to do their own market demand study to determine when they would want to open. They have to have enough roof tops for it to be viable.

sstanford: Suppose everything goes exactly as you plan. Describe the build-out on the Steamboat 700 property. In other words, how many house over how many years?
Danny Mulcahy: The projected build out timeline is between 12 and 15 years on a best case scenario and could possible be extended to 20+ years. We expect nearly 2000 units of every product type to include condos, townhomes, duplexs, single family detached. The WSSAP projects 1100 to 2600 units.

sstanford: Steamboat 700 will have to build 20 percent deed-restricted affordable housing. You have said Steamboat 700 is ready to embrace that requirement. What are your thoughts on such deed-restricted housing?
Danny Mulcahy: We intend to meet the City's affordable housing requirements, deed restrictions are one tool to accomplish long term affordability others may be investigated. We want a long term plan that truly benefits the community.

sstanford: Using today's dollars, give me a size and price range of the free-market housing you expect to be built in the area.
Danny Mulcahy: We are still investigating the pricing, we are not fully aware aware of all our cost. We have designed a majority of our single family housing lots to be 4,500 to 8,000 sqft lots to make our market rate housing more attainable.

sstanford: There are those who fear Steamboat 700 will flood the market with housing and depress existing Steamboat prices. Others see Steamboat 700 as the answer to a lack of housing inventory. They believe the market can absorb the new inventory without a negative impact on prices. What do you think Steamboat 700's impact will be?
Danny Mulcahy: I don't think our project will affect the pricing downtown or at the base area at all and because we are not projecting very many 1/3 acre lots the pricing in Silver spur, heritage, and Steamboat two should actually go up. By increasing the supply, prices will likely stabilize for a period of time but we shouldn't negatively effect current values.

sstanford: Many people are very concerned about future traffic and bottlenecking from the Steamboat 700 site. With likely more than 1,000 homes projected for the site, how are you addressing traffic concerns?
Danny Mulcahy: This is definitely a sensitive subject for our project and for the community at large. It was another of the big issues at our open house. The City is making progress by conducting the regional access study which is on going today. We have had multiple discussiions with the City and County about this issue. Regardless of our project the community and the city needs to make some hard decisions. Traffic is the ultimate constraint on our projects mix of housing and commercial. We are are working diligently to assist the city and county with resolving the traffic issues. Diane Mitsch-Bush and Jim Weber are actively involved with the major groups in the region to get Routt county on the map for road way improvements.
Moderator: That concludes our chat for today. Danny, thanks for your time.
Danny Mulcahy: Thank you for your time and for inviting me to particpate. Please feel free to contact me at anytime if you have questions or concerns. 970-846-2192