The future of Summit County continues to shine bright: The Town of Silverthorne has added plans to further develop the town’s core by expanding current building developments to include additional housing and aid in the employee housing shortage.
Earlier this month, the Town of Silverthorne approved and announced plans for a new housing development site called Fourth Street North, including eight buildings. The new Silverthorne real estate additions will include:
- One multifamily housing unit
- Four mixed-used commercial buildings
- One small hotel
- One small commercial plaza
- One parking garage
The housing units will comprise roughly 132 bedrooms reserved for Summit County employees only. The units will include two-, three- and four-bedroom options, and each unit will be rented “by the bedroom” so that occupants will be billed individually for rent and utilities.
This move will ensure that all occupants are local workers and will likely provide a more convenient and ideal situation for new employees moving to Summit County from outside the area. As most locals know, the requirement to find roommates to secure a lease can prove to be an additional challenge on top of a housing market that already has scarce options.
The Town of Silverthorne has a plan to make these units accessible as far as affordability goes as well. According to a recent Summit Daily article about the Fourth Street North project, the aim is to rent out 60 percent of the beds at a rate equal to Summit County’s 60 percent area-median-income threshold. The 2021 60 percent area-median-income requirement for one-bedrooms was $1,009.50. The remaining bedrooms will be rented out at the prevailing market rate.
As for the parking garage, there will be plenty of spaces for Fourth Street North residents. Development plans include three parking levels for 190 spots (in addition to on-street parking for each mixed-used building in the project). All said and done, the Fourth Street North development will provide 404 parking spaces!
Exciting bonus: Fourth Street North development plans also entail a 65-foot rock-climbing wall on one side of the parking garage! While the rock wall is tentative, Development Executive Tim Fredregill envisions it serving multiple purposes, including recreation for locals and group bookings. Fredregill has also said that the rock wall would have the ability to be dismantled and replaced with something like a mural.
The Town of Silverthorne was founded in 1967 to accommodate employees building the I-70 tunnel and the Dillon Dam. As a result, unlike other Summit County towns, Silverthorne lacks a traditional or historic downtown area, which is why the town has partnered with developers to complete major projects that will continue to revitalize the downtown core.
The days of Silverthorne being a “pass-through” location on the commute to other mountain towns are quickly diminishing and will soon be a thing of the past. By continuing to create an authentic downtown, Silverthorne is blossoming into a proper mountain town and community, much like Breckenridge. Silverthorne is a true town with a strong community of families and a great place to live. If you’re interested in Silverthorne homes and real estate options, call us today.
