The Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Trucks began delivering red bricks with softened corners Thursday that will soon give The Olympian, at Fifth and Yampa streets in downtown Steamboat Springs, a period look.

“The masons just pulled up to the project,” developer Paul Franklin said. “The tumbled red bricks will blend into downtown like the building has been here forever.”

The building will occupy a previously vacant lot across the street from the Fifth Street Bridge and the gateway to the historic Howelsen Ski Area. It includes four commercial spaces on both streets and 23 residential units above.

Listing broker Tom Wilson of Prudential Steamboat Realty said all four commercial spaces are under contract for purchase with hard deposits.

Jerry and Vail Kozatch will relocate their home accessories and furnishing store, Ambiente, into a shop at Fifth Street and the alley, Wilson said.

The anchor tenant at the

corner of the building will be an undisclosed fishing business that also will occupy an adjacent commercial frontage. The fourth commercial tenant is weighing several business opportunities, Franklin said.

Among the 23 residential units, three are deed-restricted affordable units, which have yet to be released, Franklin said. Five of 20 market-rate homes are under contract.

Franklin is optimistic that the completion of the building’s exterior will motivate more buyers.

He thinks his four-story project has the advantage of being situated at the highest elevation on Yampa Street. To take advantage of the views, he said, many of the condos have 9-foot windows. And on the fourth floor, there are windows that measure 12 feet in height.

The architect is Steamboat-based Vertical Arts. The general contractor is Wadman Corp. of Ogden, Utah.

Franklin said he came to know of the Ogden contractor through business partner Jon Peddie.

Peddie used Wadman to build a project in Ogden in which Franklin had a small stake, he said. And Peddie, in turn, has a small stake in The Olympian.

One of the reasons for going with Wadman was to gain access to a group of subcontractors not already fully engaged in neighboring downtown projects under construction such as Alpenglow, Howelsen Place and The Victoria, Franklin said.

Residential units at The Olympian vary in price from $650,000 to $2 million. However, most of the units are the more expensive three-bedroom and three-bedroom plus den floor plans, Franklin said.