Olympus Real Estate Group and its affiliate companies develop and own commercial real estate, including Office, Multi-family, Hospitality, Mixed-Use and Senior Living in Texas, Florida, California, New Mexico and Colorado…
— ‘LinkedIn.com’ page for Texas-based developer David Dronet
Thanks to considerable organizational work by the Pagosa Springs Area Chamber of Commerce and sponsorship by local businesses, another entertaining Colorfest weekend has floated gracefully up up and away… into history. Events included the annual ‘Passport to Pagosa’ wine tasting event in Town Park, the ever-more-popular ‘Bands & Brews’ shindig, also in Town Park, and two hot air balloon rally events — one, downtown near the Springs Resort on Saturday morning and the other, uptown near the Wyndham timeshare complex on Sunday morning.
As I pulled into the parking lot at Pagosa Peak Open School early Sunday morning, to do some routine playground maintenance, I noticed a number of balloonist vehicles gathered near the now-vacant ‘Family Dollar’ store. A moment later, I heard an airplane — presumably headed for Stevens Field — and looked up to see a large white helium balloon drifting westerly, high above the Walmart store.
Apparently, the balloonists had just released a trial balloon to see which way the wind was blowing, and how fast. That’s extremely useful information for a hot air balloonist, I’m sure, since the balloon is totally at the mercy of the wind, once it leaves the ground.
A couple of years ago (also while doing routine playground maintenance at Pagosa Peak Open School) I watched a Colorfest hot air balloonist nearly crash into the vehicles parked in the Walmart parking lot. The rapidly-falling balloon narrowly avoided dozens of vehicles, to come to a rough landing in a nearby vacant lot. I barely had time to pull out my cell phone and snap a photo…
When I began this editorial series two weeks ago, we had recently seen two businessmen — local developer Jack Searle and Texas-based developer David Dronet — send up a series of trial balloons, to see which way the government-subsidy winds are blowing in Pagosa Springs. Those trial balloons had consisted of meetings with various community leaders to pitch a proposed $79.7 million tax refund scheme which Mr. Searle and Mr. Dronet claimed would make possible an extensive development on 27 acres of perpetually vacant travertine meadow adjacent to the Springs Resort.
The vacant property is owned by Mr. Searle. The development of the vacant property, however, is being planned primarily by Mr. Dronet, who has presented himself as the new owner of the Springs Resort, while maintaining the headquarters for his business operations in San Antonio, Texas.
Oddly enough, the trial balloon most crucial to the success of this scheme — at least, its success as a benefit to the overall Pagosa Springs community — has never been released. That would be a feasibility study. A marketing study. A study showing that Pagosa Springs actually has a demand for the hundreds of buildings proposed by Mr. Dronet, and a study showing that Pagosa Springs can actually provide the hundreds of employees that would be required to work in the dozens of (low-paid?) commercial operations proposed by Mr. Dronet.
We know that Pagosa already has several developed subdivisions which have been sitting mostly vacant for 12 years or longer.
We know that a shortage of housing has driven up real estate prices and rental rates significantly over the past five years.
We know that existing, successful businesses are struggling to find employees, and we can easily surmise that a dozen more government-subsidized ‘hospitality industry’ operations would only make the problem worse.
We know a few things about our community, and some of the things we know give us concern for the future. But people who live in, for example, New Braunfels, Texas, might not understand our community, its culture, or its economy. One particular person who resides in New Braunfels — near San Antonio — has been playing an important role in an attempt to get our Pagosa Springs Town Council to create an ‘Urban Renewal’ area surrounding and including the Springs Resort.
“David Dronet has spent the last twenty years focused on creating value through the development and re-positioning of real estate. Drawing on his career-long entrepreneurial experience and professional background in finance, Mr. Dronet has repeatedly found success through his ability to identify opportunities and build strategic partnerships that are uniquely positioned to capitalize on those opportunities…”
As I mentioned on Friday in Part Nine, I am confused about who really owns the Springs Resort. The County Assessor has the property owner listed as “EPR Springs Holdings LLC” and the 2018 EPR Annual Report states:
On June 22, 2018, we acquired a recreation-anchored lodging property located in Pagosa Springs, Colorado for approximately $36.4 million. The property is a natural hot springs resort and spa on approximately eight acres and is subject to a long-term, triple-net lease.
But on the website for Olympus Real Estate Group — the New Braunfels company for which David Dronet is a ‘managing partner’ — we find an suggestion that the Springs Resort is owned by the Olympus Real Estate Group.
We also find, the the lower right corner, a button that links to a project called “Springs Plaza”. This is a large development project (‘large’ in terms of our rural town’s history) for which Mr. Dronet has been sending up trial balloons, to see if the small-town politicians in Pagosa Springs are willing to give away $79.7 million in future tax revenues to help Mr. Dronet develop some problematic vacant land.
Or alternately, to help Mr. Dronet and Mr. Searle flip some property, at a handsome profit.
Almost all the other properties shown on the Olympus Real Estate Group webpage are “Élan” assisted living facilities in Texas, Florida and New Mexico. “Élan Westpointe.” “Élan Spanish Springs.” “Élan Buena Vista.” “Élan South Park Meadows.” “Élan Santa Monica.” “Élan Corpus Christi.”
But ethe ownership of these “Élan” projects is a bit confusing, because these properties are also listed as part of the “Portfolio” for an Albuquerque-based company called Titan Development. Mr. Dronet does not appear on the ‘partners and staff’ page for Titan Development.
A Daily Post reader suggested last week that the reason I’m confused about real estate ownership is that I don’t understand ‘Real Estate Investment Trusts.’ A REIT is a particular type of publicly-traded company that allows multiple investors to pool their money to purchase and profit from real estate purchases, sales, and operations. I suppose if you put your money into a REIT, you could claim that you “own” a fancy resort in Pagosa Springs, even if that ownership is actually shared between a dozen corporations and individuals.
But my Daily Post reader is correct. I don’t understand REITs. I don’t understand a lot of things.
So I worry about what is hidden or unclear.
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.