Just off Highway 160 in South Fork, this commercial property, which once housed Wolf Creek Sports, Apline Cyclery and Frank Excavating, now sits completely vacant.

SOUTH FORK — Long accustomed to a bright outlook and increasing prices, June 2009 finds a lot of empty buildings in South Fork and land that has no immediate prospect of being the site of new construction.

A prominent realtor in town expressed frustration with speculators who have driven up (and expected) prices for empty lots that are not realistic, and effectively delayed, rather than encouraged business development and construction in the area.

Beau Meyer, owner of a local realty firm, conceded that his viewpoint, summarized above, would probably irritate some who hold cards in the future of South Fork, but he calls for them to stop waiting for vast amounts of funds enriching them, and start the process helping to get buildings to go up and enable local-based business to operate with prospects of future profitability.  

Meyer e-mails, “I have a few thoughts concerning the current state of commercial property in South Fork.  As phone calls have continued to come into my office very few of them have entailed any interest in commercial property leaving me pondering the concept of why commercial property isn’t moving.”

“South Fork has seen a large upswing in property values over the past ten years, and is now experiencing a market correction.  Residential and vacant lots sales are often driven by emotional frivolity and the desire to own property in the mountains.  Commercial property will often avoid this tendency, because things have to pencil out and dollars and cents make or break a commercial deal. Unfortunately, too much hype has crept into such property driving prices to a point that will not allow business owners a chance to make properties cash flow (adequately) with incredibly high prices.”

Meyer summarizes, “The good news is this market downturn will help drive prices back down by forcing sellers to be realistic about their prices.  The truth is our town has felt the ramifications of speculators  looking for a quick dollar, and now we need to fill the community with landowners willing to invest (here) and build structures (i.e. capital improvements) that will contribute to the long-term viability of our community.  I am optimistic that this will be a true blessing for the South Fork area and this is a cleansing that is long overdue.”

Another South Fork realtor, who will not be named here out of respect for her hard work in selling local properties, noted, “Right now I’m making about 25 cents an hour at my job, things do not look real good right now.”

A different town investor, Keith Nichols of Golden Trout Investment, now owns an empty complex at the center of South Fork that had three businesses occupying it in 2008.  

Wolf Creek Sports is currently shut down, Alpine Cyclery  has moved two miles east to the outskirts of South Fork on highway 160, and Franke Excavating has moved its office that formerly-used space in the complex to near a Century 21 office on the southeast side of that same road.  Needless to say, while a good portion of the complex is available for rent, Nichols did not mention the prospect of selling.

Wolf Creek Sports may be reopened closer to winter strictly as a ski-equipment shop, Nichols noted.  

For the overall health of the commercial property market, he says that he does not see significant building for about two years, after which improvement is certainly more likely, he adds.

He cautioned that the ultimate fate of the presently idle inventory of the sports shop is up to “Frosty” Helmsheer, who currently has oversight of it.

It would be nice to say that South Fork building and business has escaped the national recession, but that and other reasons have severely impacted the town.  

Another example of the downturn has been the closing of the Wolf Creek Lodge on the southern edge of town on Highway 160, and the absence of a restaurant operation next to the shutdown motel, unlike the brief attempt to have a replacement for Nacho’s Restaurant which shut down their South Fork operation during July 2008.