Mountain Town Brokerage Slifer Smith & Frampton Expands Into Denver Market

Slifer Smith & Frampton Real Estate (SSF) – the leading independent brokerage firm serving Colorado’s resort communities throughout the mountains for nearly six decades – announced its expansion of their general brokerage services to the Denver metro area. The company, which recorded $3.6 billion in sales volume in 2020, will infuse substantial capital, as well as the resources of its network of 250+ brokers and 100+ support staff throughout its mountain town locations, to its Denver-based brokerage services with the goal of building the top boutique brokerage in the Denver metro area. The company has tapped real estate veteran Brad Arnold to lead the Denver expansion as Executive Vice President and Managing Broker.

Brad Arnold

“Our saying around here is that we’re just getting started. With plans to continue growing, it only seemed natural to take that growth to the Front Range – an area where we already have many clients, so we know how they live, what they need, and what they want,” says John Pfeiffer, president and employing broker of SSF. In fact, last year nearly half of the firm’s buyers in Summit County and more than 20 percent of buyers in Eagle county hailed from the Front Range.

“I couldn’t have done a mountain purchase without a local expert,” said Melody Harris, a Front Range resident who recently acquired a home in the Vail Valley. “My broker truly helped me get the full understanding of the various products and communities in Vail. Once we found our property, she also helped the transaction go smoothly, even giving me a great referral list for all the local help I will need. I truly couldn’t have done it without her.”

Until now, SSF’s broker activity in Denver has primarily been comprised of sales for East West Partners projects, SSF’s parent company, including Riverfront Park, The Coloradan, Buckley Row in Lowry and The Landmark in Greenwood Village. While these have been some of the most successful residential real estate development projects in Denver totaling in excess of $765M in sales, the company’s vision is to transform the brokerage – and ultimately the boutique brokerage landscape in Denver – by bringing its mountain town real estate expertise to those in the Front Range.

“Over the next few years, we look to have a team of 30 to 40 brokers and offices in as many as five key areas across Denver including Cherry Creek, Cherry Hills, Greenwood Village and Boulder,” says Arnold. “And I want to add that these areas are also the places we call home, since we truly believe that to understand what makes a place great is to immerse ourselves in those communities – and we do. We’re in business where we’ve put down roots, where we play, where we work, where we live.”

Aside from its track record of decades of success in the mountains, SSF brings another unique differentiator to the Denver market. The company is a founding member and partial owner in the recently launched Forbes Global Properties, a new consumer marketplace that connects buyers directly to the world’s finest homes, as well as the brokers that represent them. SSF is one of the first real estate firms in the world selected for this invitation-only consortium and the only one in Colorado.

“Slifer Smith & Frampton’s most unique offering is our network – from our connection to the epicenter of Denver at Union Station, to the most prestigious resort communities across Colorado, including Eagle County, Summit County and the Roaring Fork Valley, to the global platform now offered by Forbes Global Properties,” said Arnold.

The company was founded in 1962 by Rod Slifer, the first licensed broker in Vail. In 1986, Harry Frampton and Mark Smith formed East West Partners, the major force of the development of Beaver Creek Resort and which has since developed some of the world’s top resort and urban communities, hotels and office buildings, including Union Station’s Transit Hub. The two partners opened Frampton Smith Real Estate, concentrating on the newly formed Beaver Creek market.  In 1994 they merged with Rod Slifer, forming the full-service real estate company of Slifer Smith & Frampton Real Estate. In 2000, East West Partners’ Riverfront Park neighborhood broke ground, for which Slifer Smith & Frampton served as broker, creating an entirely new neighborhood and selling more than 2,000 homes. In 2004, the company expanded into Breckenridge and Keystone and in 2019, acquired the boutique luxury brokerage firm Palladium Properties, allowing for expansion into Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley. Today, SSF is the No. 1 independent brokerage in the Roaring Fork Valley and the No. 1 brokerage in the Vail Valley and Summit County.

“Over the last 60 years, we have grown organically across Colorado, starting with a small project or resort development and eventually becoming a pillar of the larger community and real estate market in that area,” said Harry Frampton, Managing Partner of Slifer Smith & Frampton Real Estate.

To learn more, visit slifersmithandframpton.com.