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Alpine Fax
Billie | 19 January 2006
Thursday, January 19, 2006
SILVERTREE SOLD?
One of Snowmass Village’s oldest and largest properties, the 260-room Silvertree Hotel, the 160-room Wildwood Lodge and the Snowmass Conference Center, is under contract for sale to a group of local investors, including Basalt developers Jim Light and Jim Chaffin. The investors have recently purchased the Snowmass Center and much of the Snowmass Mall.
-Aspen Times, 01.19.06
NO MORE LOS DOS
This weekend a legendary Glenwood restaurant, Los Desperados, will close. For 30 years, the restaurant has operated in West Glenwood under the ownership of Jim Griffin and management of Rudy Lallier. What is next for the business is unknown.
-GS Post-Independent, 01.19.06
DENVER: BEST BARGAIN
Discount-travel Web site Hotwire.com ranked Denver the nation’s top bargain destination, according to a survey released Wednesday. The reasons? Low-cost accommodations, affordable attractions like the Denver Zoo and easy access to natural attractions.
-Denver Post, 01.19.06
SOUTHWEST: ANOTHER DIA GATE
Southwest Airlines will lease a third gate at Denver International Airport starting March 1, a solid indication that the low-cost carrier plans to add nonstop flights at DIA.
-Rocky Mountain News, 01.19.06
SOUTHWEST: PROFIT AGAIN
Southwest Airlines posted its 58th-consecutive quarterly profit for the October-December period, leading to its 33rd annual profit. Southwest also announced it will expand its fleet, increasing capacity by 7%, on top of an 11% annual increase in 2004.
-USA Today, 01.19.06
MARKETS DOWN FOR 4TH DAY
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell Wednesday for the fourth consecutive session on news of disappointing results from Intel and Yahoo. It is still up 1.3% for 2006, after being up 3% for the year on Jan. 11.
-Wall Street Journal, 01.19.06
AIRPORT PARKING REDO
The governing board of the Walker Field Airport in Grand Junction extended the airport’s agreement with Republic Parking to operate the lot for five more years, with an additional five-year extension possible. Republic Parking will install $67,000 of new equipment, including new entrance- and exit-lane gates, ticket dispensers and credit card machines.
-GJ Daily Sentinel, 01.19.06
MORRISON GOING TO MANCOS
Grand Junction Police Chief Greg Morrison, who resigned in December after about four years as chief, has agreed to serve as interim town marshal for the town of Mancos while it conducts a search for someone to permanently fill the position. Morrison will receive $350 a day for his duties in Mancos.
-GJ Daily Sentinel, 01.19.06
ESKELSON: 41 YEARS AS CORONER
Dr. David Eskelson has decided not to run for re-election as the Rio Blanco County Coroner, ending 41 years of service as coroner, one of the longest tenures of elected service in the state’s history. Dr. Eskelson came to Meeker in 1963 and served as one of the town’s physicians until he retired in 1990.
-Rio Blanco Times Herald, 01.19.06
USFS-VR LAND SWAP DONE
The U.S. Forest Service has completed a deal with Vail Resorts to swap 475 acres of land at Vassar Meadows south of Eagle for 5.13 acres of land that will allow Vail Resorts to redevelop the “Front Door” project at the base of the Vista Bahn. Vail Resorts plans to build 13 timeshares and other development in the $75 million Front Door project.
-Vail Daily, 01.18.06
MORE ALTA LAKES DISCUSSION
The San Miguel County commissioners met Wednesday in a work session with developers of a proposed project by Silver Mountain Industries to build 71 homes, a 50-room lodge and 50 cabins on 300 acres at Alta Lake. Some of the cabins are in an area of the county’s High Country Zone District and commissioners have requested additional hearings Feb. 13 with county officials and the towns of Telluride and Mountain Village.
-Telluride Daily Planet, 01.19.06
DURANGO: WATER CONCESSIONS
The city of Durango has agreed to subordinate its recreational water rights, if their RICD application is granted for a proposed kayak course, to the needs of existing upstream users who don’t have a court-ordered right to water and the city also appears willing to allow certain future water requests for water from upstream users in an attempt to ease concerns over its RICD application.
-Durango Herald, 01.19.06
BACKCOUNTRY MEETING
Officials from Arapahoe Basin and the U.S. Forest Service will hold a site visit and discussion Friday on A-Basin’s plans for Montezuma Bowl and other backcountry access issues. A-Basin and the Forest Service are considering adding a chairlift to expand terrain at Montezuma Bowl by 325 acres.
-Summit Daily, 01.18.06
AIRBUS VS. BOEING
Airbus, the European plane-maker, announced this week it had booked 1,055 orders in 2005, a record, and it marked the fifth consecutive year Airbus annual sales topped rival Boeing. Boeing recorded 1,002 sales, also a record, or 49% of the market, but because Boeing had more sales of larger aircraft, it had 55% of the market as measured by dollar value. The total value of the orders for both companies was estimated at US$201 billion. Boeing had 235 orders for its new 787 aircraft, while Airbus had 172 for its rival A350.
-International Herald Tribune, 01.17.06
SINGAPORE: NEW MARKETS
The real estate arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corp. (GIC RE) plans to spend “hundreds of millions of dollars” expanding its real estate investments in India and Brazil, to offset its asset portfolio in the U.S. market, which is starting to see a slowdown. GIC RE has more than 140 assets in more than 30 countries and also plans to invest in more residential assets in China. In India the net yield on office property is 11%, while in Brazil, luxury home sales have soared 76% over the past two years in Sao Paolo.
-Singapore Straits Times, 01.18.06
MOM & POP SHOPS
By conservative estimates, India’s retail business is US$250 billion, the world’s 8th largest:
-More than 95% of retail sales are in mom & pop shops;
-There are more than 12 million mom & pop shops in India;
-There are no Wal-Marts, the government bars foreigners from owning retail businesses.
-Wall Street Journal, 01.18.06
