Inn at Steamboat - Perfect for Front Range Buyers

Late-’60s hotel to get luxe treatment
Inn at Steamboat sold for $3.65M
By Tom Ross (Contact) Steamboat Pilot / TODAY
Sunday, January 20, 2008


Steamboat Springs — Development partners Dave Thorp and Scott Rotermund have plans to remodel a modest hotel south of Walton Creek Road to give it the feel of a classic ski lodge.

Rotermund and Thorp, who recently collaborated on the Airport Garages project at Yampa Valley Regional Airport, closed this week on the purchase of the 34-room Inn at Steamboat on Columbine Drive. The bought the property from Glen Zabel for $3.65 million.

The inn came with a four-year-old city approval to build a 10-unit condominium building on the site of the existing inn. Rotermund said he and Thorp intend to build the new condominiums. They also intend to convert the inn to a condominium/hotel and sell the units.

The partners signed a management contract with Steamboat Resorts this week, and the remodeling project is already under way.

Their target market, Thorp said, comprises Colorado couples who want to escape to Steamboat for long weekends.

“The ideal buyer is from the Front Range, wants to eat breakfast in the inn, eat lunch at the (ski) hill and go out to dinner,” Thorp said.

Zabel said he purchased the inn in October 2002 from Tom Miller-Freutel. The hotel originally was built by the Roy family in the late 1960s, Zabel said. It was one of only a handful of buildings south of the Steamboat Ski Area through the mid-1970s.

Zabel completed extensive remodeling to the inn within the past five years — it’s modern, attractive, comfortable and clean. However, the new owners want to raise the small hotel rooms to the level of luxury.

“We’ll spend $15,000 to $20,000 on each room in upgrades,” Rotermund said. “For example, we’re purchasing pillow-top Neiman Marcus beds that cost $4,500.”

Each room will get flat panel TVs and marble countertops and tile tub surrounds in the bathrooms.

The 320-square-foot rooms will be marketed for $166,900. There are a small number of suites also available.

The Inn at Steamboat has amenities that include an outdoor pool and hot tub, a breakfast room and a lounge with a wood-burning fireplace.

Thorp and Rotermund plan to install wood floors in the lounge, convert the game room into an exercise room, and convert the current office into a business center that will augment the wireless connections throughout the property.

Thorp, who has his real estate license with Colorado Group Realty, is the listing agent for the Inn at Steamboat. He plans to take reservations up until Feb. 15. They intend to deliver the remodeled units by June 1.

“You’re going to get product within four or five months,” Rotermund said.