Breckenridge Texan

By Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan

A new housing development on the west side of town is one step closer to reality after the Breckenridge Industrial Foundation closed on a deal with Kyle Colafrancesco, managing partner with Breckenridge Capital, on Monday, May 20.

The site for the housing development is located on North Dairy Street, a 16-acre property that was cleared by the BIF late last year.

Kyle Colafrancesco, right, looks over the site for a new housing development with Kevin Simmons with the Breckenridge Industrial Foundation, center, and David Miller with the Breckenridge Economic Development Corp., as well as Bishop Colafrancesco, front left, Kyle’s son. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

“Our goal is to get just over 90 houses, hopefully around 100,” Colafrancesco said Monday afternoon as he visited the site with Kevin Simmons with the BIF and David Miller, executive director of the Breckenridge Economic Development Corporation. “Our goal is to deliver a really nice brand new home … that would that would compete with the existing home sales market. So, that price point we’re going to hope is between $250,000 and $285,000.”

The property includes a flat area that backs up to a hill. Colafrancesco said they’re working with engineers to determine how far up the hill homes can be built. A pond will be built on the site for drainage, he said.

“We’ve begun engineering and planning work. We think we can finalize that in the summer and have a presentation packet for the City by Fall and go to construction immediately after that,” he said. “We have another builder partner that’s very interested in Breckenridge. They like this market.”

In the BEDC’s semi-annual report presented to the Breckenridge City Commission on May 7, Miller said that “(t)he construction is essential for growth and for the incremental increase it will ignite in (Breckenridge’s) housing market values. This one development could contribute more than $20 million dollars in housing within the next five years.”

That increase could then help lower property tax rates, according to the report. “On top of lowering taxes, it could increase new home sales prices from around $115/(square foot) ($172,500 for a 1,500 square foot home) to $160/sf ($240,000 for a 1,500 square foot home). A new home in neighboring cities are currently at a base of about $180/sf. This disparity in price is part of what inhibits big developments from choosing Breckenridge to build. Increasing our sales prices for new homes will more easily draw new developments for their profitability,” Miller’s report stated.

Additionally, in the report, Miller detailed other housing projects that the BEDC has been working on. For example, the BEDC assisted a developer in purchasing the Ridgecrest Apartments, which had been in foreclosure due to the lack of cash flow, according to the report. The plan is for the apartments, which are located on Medina Court, just north of the Higginbotham Bartlett store, to be remodeled and possibly have new rental units built on the property.

“There are 26 vacant units in the existing structure that we are hoping will come online this year,” Miller said in the report.

The BEDC is also working with the City of Breckenridge to help pay for the cost of the demolition of condemned structures that are conveyed to the city. “The presence of substandard and distressed housing remains one of the key factors of marketing Breckenridge as a place to set down roots. … If we can continue to beautify our housing, we will see newer and nicer housing come in,” the report states.

Cutline, top photo: The Breckenridge Industrial Foundation and Breckenridge Capital closed on a deal for the site of a new housing development on the west side of town on Monday. Pictured from left are Bishop Colafrancesco; Kyle Colafrancesco, managing partner with Breckenridge Capital; Kevin Simmons with the Breckenridge Industrial Foundation;  and David Miller with the Breckenridge Economic Development Corp. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)