It all started the day we arrived. Although Unique Homes journeyed to Stowe, Vermont, from a warmer climate, our visit the first weekend of December ushered in winter. Two weeks later, as I write this, it still hasn’t stopped snowing. Seriously. The Stowe email that just arrived is announcing five feet of “near-daily” December snow, mid-winter conditions, and 103 inches this season so far (more than 300 inches in the seasonal norm).
Skiing here at Spruce Peak and Mt. Mansfield, Vermont’s highest peak, doesn’t disappoint. Its rich world-class ski history started with the New Deal’s Civilian Conservation Corps cutting trails in 1933. But as we discovered, winter sports are just the tip of the mountain of reasons to look at Stowe.
“During warmer months, Spruce Peak is filled with festivals, events on our green, farmers markets in the Village Center, and concerts,” said Sam Gaines, Spruce Peak at Stowe’s vice president and director of real estate. “With hiking trails, mountain biking trails, zip lines, treetop adventure courses and 36 holes of golf, there is no summer destination quite like Stowe, and Spruce Peak is at the center of it all.”
A 10,000 square-foot ice skating rink anchors Village Center
While other developments must create a sense of place, Spruce Peak at Stowe benefits from an authentic character already present in the classic 200-year-old village of Stowe. This allows developers greater freedom to focus on fine design details at the $500 million resort development, which began in 2003. We arrived just a few months after the completion of the Rockwellian $90 million Village Center.
“When we began this project, we envisioned creating the East’s answer to Deer Valley, Aspen or Beaver Creek,” Gaines said.
Of the over 2,000 acres at Spruce Peak, only 35 acres will be used for residential development, and only 400 dwellings are permitted. For such a small footprint, the variety of real estate is astounding. From slopeside single-family homesites (one of which now has an HGTV Dream Home), to the 19 Club Residences that sold out late last year in 6 weeks for $42 million, to the 34 Mountain Cabins that sold out in phases from 2004 to 2015, to condominiums in the Stowe Mountain Lodge (2003), to one-eighth fractional ownership opportunities in the Front Four Private Residence Club, the price points and styles vary greatly.
The newest offerings are 18 four-bedroom Village Townhomes, 2,100-square-foot triplex units with direct access to the slopes, golf and Village Center. It was no surprise to learn that about half of them are already sold.
