Exclusive | Billionaires custom-built homes in this new mountain hot spot to get away from pretentious Aspen, Vail, Park City and Telluride

Forget Aspen.Forget Vail.

The ultra-wealthy have found a Colorado mountain town where they can ski all day and never once get recognized — and they’re pouring more than $1 billion into developing it further.Steamboat Springs, long dismissed as the family-friendly, unpretentious cousin of Colorado’s marquee resorts, has quietly become the destination serious money is choosing instead. Discovery Land Company — a luxury international developer helmed by George Clooney’s best friend Mike Meldman (who also co-founded Casamigos tequila) — is among the names planting flags there.It’s known for luxury projects in other areas such Hawaii, Dubai and Scotland.The high-gloss Auberge Collection confirmed in March that its first Steamboat project, the Stockman, will break ground this year at the base of the ski area, a nine-story building with 59 hotel rooms and 95 residences, including 13 rooftop “Barn” units with double-height ceilings.

Residential sales launched this summer through a Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices team with prices ranging from $1.6 million to $19 millionRoughly 20 minutes away, Discovery Land Company is pushing forward with Stagecoach Mountain Ranch, a private ski community that would include its own mountain, a high-speed gondola and homesites starting around $3 million.The project remains in the planning and approval phase with Routt County.Chris Paoli, managing partner of the Agency Steamboat, said the turning point came about five years ago, when hospitality group Alterra Mountain Company started pouring money into the Steamboat Springs resort itself.“That spurred our first luxury hotel property coming to the mountain in the O’Barrish-Stockman project,” Paoli told The Post, adding that two or three other major projects are rising alongside it at the base area, “which in total is about a billion dollars worth of development happening up there.”And deep-pocketed buyers really want in.

and the proof is in the numbers.A new m...