Renovated miners’ cabins jewels in soaring market

LAFAYETTE – With new home prices in Boulder County going through the stratosphere, refurbished older properties are providing charming dwellings and spacious lots at competitive prices.

Doug Conarroe, a former newspaper editor turned rehabilitation contractor who runs his own business, Capital Hill LLC in Lafayette, said the market for recycled properties in the older sections of the east county town is hot.

“I started doing these as a hobby, and the demand for them has kept me going. I take homes that are going to be moved or demolished and fix them up. The allure of these properties is that they sit on larger city lots and provide nice, remodeled old houses,” he said.

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Conarroe specializes in renovating small, single-story miner’s cabins that date back to 1904, when the Union Pacific Railroad Co. platted the first subdivision in Lafayette. He acquires most of the cabins for free.

According to Mike Scott, owner of Realty Executives in Lafayette and a former Lafayette City Council member, Conarroe’s renovated houses are as good as new and appeal to people who grew up in older homes.

“They sell themselves immediately,” Scott said. “They are popular with people who like older neighborhoods and lots with big old trees. When you walk in they are basically brand new and feature some nice elements.

“(Conarroe) is a purist. He’s not putting down vinyl flooring. He preserves the old wood floors and even uses metal gutters on the roofs. Most of the houses in Old Town are not refurbished, but I think his are more desirable. These kinds of older homes compete extremely well with new homes in the market.”

Conarroe’s homes sell for $140 per square foot, or about $224,000 for a 1,600-square-foot house. Scott said other homes in the area in similar condition go for as much as $160 per square foot. In July, the median, or midpoint price for a new single-family home in Lafayette, was $243,700, as compared to $347,200 in July of 1999, according to data provided by the Boulder County assessor.

“I know of a 1,300-square-foot home in the area that sold for $235,000, and it wasn’t near the quality that his are,” Scott said. “Another 900-square-foot property here recently sold for $160,000. These (renovated cabins) are nice homes for the money.”

Scott said the average price of a home in Lafayette, as per data from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), is $291,308. He estimated the price of a new home in the city’s Indian Peaks development at about $375,000.

Features in the renovated homes include roomy kitchens, studies, abundant natural wood, lots of light, new wiring, new drywall, new insulation, new plumbing, new roofs, new bathrooms and new paint. Conarroe sometimes adds square footage to the smallish cabins, increasing their size from 800 square feet to between 1,200 and 1,600 square feet. The homes sit on lots that are 50 feet wide and 140 feet long.

“I usually put in a good sized master bedroom and higher ceilings. Miner’s cabins were originally very simple with no ornamentation. Mining companies built them and mass produced them for the miners. They are well-built structures, which is why they can be recycled,” Conarroe said

Miner’s cabins are prevalent in the First Union neighborhood in the Old Town section of Lafayette. Many of the structures were moved from their original sites near the five coal mines that operated in Lafayette in the first part of the century.

“This will be the 11th house I’ve done,” Conarroe said of his most recent project. “I plan on doing maybe two a year from now on. I won’t become a millionaire, but I really enjoy doing these. I figure it’s cheaper than therapy.”