On April 29, MBA student teams from the University of Colorado and University of Denver virtually competed in the NAIOP 19th Annual Rocky Mountain Real Estate Challenge presented by Land Title Guarantee Company – a real world, development competition featuring the Dowd Junction site, sponsored by the Town of Minturn – a 15-acre site nestled between Vail and Beaver Creek in Eagle County that will provides excellent access along I-70 that will act as a gateway to the town of Minturn. The Marigold Partners team from the CU Leeds School of Business was ultimately selected for their creative development plan “Meadow Station.”
This years event was hosted by Stacy Stout, founding principal of BRANDiac Strategies. Architectural resources included OZ Architecture, Stantec, Anderson Mason Dale Architects, Tryba Architects, Studio Architecture, and Kephart.
For the first time in challenge history, the featured project site was outside of the greater Denver metro area, providing new challenges for student competitors to work through.
Marigold Partners established pillars aligned with the community goals of Minturn: Authentic Engagement, Natural Environment, Green Initiative, and Attainable Housing.
Marigold Partners described its development as, “History reborn as an outdoor mecca where both locals and welcomed visitors can gather with mutual appreciation for the outdoors, eclectic art, and authentic small town community.”
The development team envisioned Meadow Station benefitting the town and residents with the incorporation of 172 units of workforce housing, mixed-use retail including a 12,000-square-foot grocery store, a tiny home glamping experience, recreational access, and a multi-modal transit center to serve the workforce housing and retail foot traffic.
As the master developer, Marigold Partners divided the 170,000-square-foot useable site into three parcels, each with their own debt financing, aiming to have a single equity partner for the entire site and the public improvements funded via a metro district and PIF.
Judges comments about the winning project, Meadow Station, included, “The winner tonight took place making to a new and funky level, balancing an holistic approach to creating a gateway to Minturn.”
