Steamboat Springs — The sale of Steve and Mary Brown's property west of Steamboat Springs, seen by many as the catalyst for development in the West of Steamboat Springs Area Plan, has closed.

Steamboat 700 LLC purchased the 540 acres just west of the city for $24.6 million.

The property makes up a good portion of the land in the WSSAP. The master plan was updated last summer and outlines how the property should be developed to accommodate growth in Steamboat.

In addition to the 540 acres the developers are calling Steamboat West, the developers also have an adjoining 160-acre piece of land under contract. The 700 acres account for about 80 percent of the land in the WSSAP, which envisions between 1,100 and 2,600 homes.

The principal owners of Steamboat 700 LLC are Mark L. Fine with Mark L. Fine Associates, Jim Zeiter of Insight Realty Holdings, and Danny Mulcahy of DM Hollo Management. The developers previously worked together on projects in the Las Vegas area. Mulcahy is now based in Steamboat and will be the Steamboat West project manager.

The deal closed Monday, and was recorded in the Routt County Clerk's Office Tuesday afternoon.

The Steamboat 700 developers have begun preliminary planning and market analysis for Steamboat West, Mulcahy said.

"The immediate need is affordable housing, and that's likely to be the first phase of the project," Mulcahy said. "Our property is likely the best solution for affordable housing.

The WSSAP plan requires 20 percent of the housing meet affordable-housing requirements. Mulcahy said he has hired a firm that specializes in affordable housing to consult.

"There is a need for the entire range of housing in this market : rental, attainable and market rate," Mulcahy said.

Mulcahy said it would likely be two years before housing is built, but the timing largely depends on the city. The property would have to be annexed into city limits before it is developed.

"We have to develop something that will work today and be flexible in the future," Mulcahy said. "We're not coming in here with any grandiose plans of a Marabou or a Catamount."

Essentially they are doing "neighborhood development," Mulcahy said.

The Steamboat 700 developers have designed and built master planned communities in Nevada, including Summerlin and Green Valley. Their experience includes mixed-use projects, office buildings, business parks, industrial warehouses and retail centers.

Mulcahy said he began negotiating for the Brown property in October, 2005. As soon as the deal was finalized, Mulcahy began meeting with community leaders about Steamboat West.

"For the next 18 months, I will be meeting with nearly everyone in the community," Mulcahy said.

Steamboat 700 also took out a full-page ad in today's Steamboat Today to publish

"An open letter to the Steam-

boat Springs Community."

"Right now we're telling people who we are," Mulcahy said.

Routt County Commissioner Diane Mitsch Bush said the purchase of the Brown property was good news.

"Routt County is very interested in collaborating with the new owners, and we look forward to working with them," she said.