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Spec home offers views, luxury

Tamera Manzanares

— When Realtor and developer Ken Gold was approached to undertake a spec home project in Steamboat in the fall of 2002, he was hesitant.

Gold, who has built spec homes in the area since 1995, wasn’t confident in the real estate market at the time.

But when investor friends Anne and Compton Cramer of Florida decided to purchase Gold’s favorite lakefront lot on Lake Catamount, the opportunity to build a spec home on the property was too good to pass up.



Nearly two years later, the 6,600-square-foot Lakeside Lodge is almost complete and available to the discriminating buyer looking for what Gold classifies as one of the most unique and desirable places to live in Steamboat, if not the western United States.

“You can be in the postcard picture or you can be looking at it, as you would with this property,” Gold said while describing the 35-acre lot, which is among six buildable lots on the private lake and one of the few where it was possible to build a home only 50 feet from the water’s edge.



Located on the north side of the lake, the home offers views across the water of the mountains and Pleasant Valley which, coupled with its close proximity to the ski area, make it a rare and highly appealing property, Gold said.

The location of the property, priced at almost $5 million, is so ideal that Gold is optimistic it will sell this summer.

About two to three homes priced at and above that amount typically sell each year in Steamboat, he said.

The future owners of the property, which is one 36 lots in the Lake Catamount development, will be eligible for a membership to the Lake Catamount Club, golf course and lake facilities.

As owner of RE/MAX Steamboat, Gold began initiating luxury spec home projects in the mid-1990s when he realized affluent buyers were leaving Steamboat to purchase large high-end homes in Vail and other resorts.

The experience of building 15 spec homes has come with an understanding of the details that buyers — in this case, those willing to pay $4,995,000 — are looking for.

“You’re building it to a standard that a person who typically is very discriminating is going to look at and say, ‘This is something I would have done myself,” Gold said.

While designing the Lakeside Lodge, Ken Gold and wife, Patty Gold, aimed to capture the large-timber tradition of the classic eastern lake lodges with some Rocky Mountain influences.

The home, designed in conjunction with Steamboat Architectural Associates principal Bill Rangitsch and built by general contractor Tom Burton of 3 Peaks Construction, has five bedrooms, six full bathrooms, two half bathrooms, an office, gourmet kitchen and great room looking out over the water.

The lodge-style architecture features hand-hewn Douglas fir beams and hand-scraped cedar plank siding. Stone masons meticulously fit chiseled moss rocks together for a “dry stacked” look in the rock columns, walls and four fireplaces.

The interior design, orchestrated by Slifer Design of Vail, includes slate, travertine and granite, as well as knotty alder trim and doors.

To highlight one of the home’s best features — its location and views — the Golds made sure every room has a large window or door opening to the water.

Scheduled for completion in the next five weeks, the home is nearly ready for new owners to add their personal style in carpeting, paint and other accents, Ken Gold said.

“I’ve put together what I think is the perfect canvas for someone to put their personal stamp on it,” he said.

For more information or to schedule a showing, call Ken Gold at 879-7169.

— To reach Tamera Manzanares call 871-4204

or e-mail tmanzanares@steamboatpilot.com


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