via Mile High CRE

Published on February 16, 2021

Slifer Smith & Frampton Real Estate (SSF) – a brokerage firm in Colorado serving resort communities throughout the mountains for nearly six decades – has expanded 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, to its Denver-based brokerage services with the goal of building the top boutique brokerage in the Denver metro area. The company has tapped Brad Arnold to lead the Denver expansion as executive vice president and managing broker.

Until now, Slifer Smith & Frampton’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 $765 million in sales, the company’s vision is to transform the brokerage – and ultimately the boutique brokerage landscape in Denver.

“We hope to recruit 10 high-profile brokers this year and open fully remodeled offices in both Riverfront Park, where we started in 2000, and at The Coloradan in the heart of Union Station,” said Brad Arnold, executive vice president and manager broker of Slifer Smith & Frampton in Denver. “In 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.”

Aside from a track record of decades of success in the mountains, Slifer Smith & Frampton 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, to the global platform now offered by Forbes Global Properties,” said Arnold. “SSF has done an amazing job leveraging our network to attract the best brokers in the mountains and we believe SSF Denver will quickly become the place where the city’s top real estate professionals want to work. This business is 100% about people – and having great humans, that happen to also be great brokers is the key to ensuring Slifer Smith & Frampton will be the first-to-mind brokerage for clients looking to list, sell and buy real estate in the Denver metro area.”

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, Slifer Smith & Frampton 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. “After the success of The Coloradan and its $242 million in sales volume, we recognized there is an opportunity to grow and really establish SSF as a leading boutique brokerage in the Denver market.”