Steve Virostek is the son of a builder and has spent his entire career in real estate development. James Fangmeyer is skilled at sourcing impactful deals and active in property management.

In forming Triumph Development, relationship-building and community engagement were the foundation of Triumph’s operating philosophy. That philosophy quickly gained traction in Vail in 2005 when Virostek and Fangmeyer expanded Triumph Development from its headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland into the resort real estate market in Vail. Their first project was the demolition and redevelopment of a dated condominium building, The Willows. Engaging existing homeowners, adjacent neighbors, and the Vail community, Triumph was able to gain unanimous Vail Town Council approval for the redevelopment and deliver new homes that complemented Vail’s Front Door project. The Willows brought new life to a dated condominium association and sold new homes for some of the highest values in Vail at the time. The consensus-building approach was a win-win-win for the Town, the building owners and Triumph, and solidified the company’s reputation as a valued community partner in real estate development.

“As a new member of the Triumph team, The Willows was the first project that I saw from concept to completion,” says Michael O’Connor, who serves as Triumph’s COO, and lives in Edwards with his family. “This was also the project where we met Mike Foster who was the architect for the building.” Virostek and Fangmeyer realized how important O’Connor’s and Foster’s passion for the mountains and the Vail Valley was to Triumph’s core philosophy and that ultimately led to the opportunity for O’Connor and Foster to lead Triumph’s western development operations.

“At Triumph, we develop land, construct buildings, manage properties, and broker transactions,” explains Virostek, who provides hands-on development expertise including deal sourcing, negotiation, design oversight, project entitlement, and construction management. “However, the relationships we build with our clients, our partners, and the communities are more important to us than bricks and mortar.”

With team members living and working in mountain communities, Triumph recognized and understood the housing crisis and made the bold decision to dedicate their expertise to help solve the problem.

“This lack of housing – and the stress that it presents to our residents, businesses, and local organizations – is the single biggest threat faced by each community,” says O’Connor. “Public-private partnerships building attainable homes are the solution that will allow local employers to find and retain employees, families to create new neighborhoods and resort communities to thrive with long-term residents. It is this balance of the social, economic, and community benefits that have our team excited to be in integral part of helping solve our region’s workforce housing crisis.”

Triumph has been a leader in workforce housing development on the Western Slope since 2016. It has led the successful development of eight separate attainable housing communities valued at more than $220 million. These projects include a mix of both rental and for-sale housing that have been built in a variety of locations including Colorado’s Vail, Glenwood Springs, Grand Junction, Estes Park, Mountain Village, and Truckee, Calif. Five of these projects have been public-private partnerships that were built in conjunction with the local municipality – Vail (two), Mountain Village (two) and Truckee.

Having completed 32 for-sale townhomes developed in a public-private-partnership with the Town of Vail, the bustling Chamonix Community, followed by the Residences at Main Vail in 2023 that delivered a 100% deed-restricted, for-rent, residential development including a mix of 72 one- and two-bedroom apartments, Triumph was tapped for the redevelopment of Timber Ridge in West Vail. Construction is currently under way on a whopping 302 for-sale homes with move-in dates scheduled for 2026. Home types range from studios to four bedrooms. With no price appreciation caps, the deed-restricted condominiums only require that each home be occupied by at least one full-time employee of an Eagle County business as their primary residence - that can be the homeowner or person renting that residence.

O’Connor highlights that the generously-sized modular homes are being built with both local businesses and individuals or families in mind, with current pricing 15-24% below comparable Vail home sales over the past two years. “Homeownership in resort towns is not simply about building houses to us – it is the realization of dreams and hard work, and a welcome, safe retreat from the day-to-day.”

Understanding the unique challenges to developing in the mountains, Triumph has evolved its development company among the four principals - creative deal structuring, architecture, entitlement, finance, and development management – to ensure that no detail is missed.

“We take a hands-on approach to development with direct, daily oversite of each project from at least one principal,” says Foster.

Virostek adds: “When you come to Triumph with a project, you can be confident we will honor your vision and see it through to completion. We are listeners, problem-solvers, and consensus builders. It is these traits that enable us to keep an open mind, to see opportunities that others may miss, and to create outcomes that benefit all those involved. We have a proven history of identifying unique development opportunities, consensus-building, and turning clients into friends.

“But what we are most proud of is that we have done this without once wavering from the values on which we’ve built our company - because when all is said and done, we want to be remembered more for the way we do business than for the business we do.”

To learn more about Triumph and Timber Ridge Village purchase options, go to the project website at TimberRidgeVail.com/Contact, or email TimberRidge@triumphdev.com.