With progress on three buildings, Base Village focus shifts to entrance
by Madeleine Osberger, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Three new buildings in the $600 million Snowmass Base Village are meeting their construction deadlines and are on track for substantial completion by October 2018, according to the manager of the project at the base of Snowmass Ski Area.
Andy Gunion, who heads the undertaking for the partnership of Aspen Skiing Co., KSL Capital and East West Partners, appeared before members of the local real estate community last week. He said that with the new 99- or 100-unit Limelight, which also includes 11 for-sale condo units; the boutique, three-residence Lumin building; and the town-owned Discovery Center all well under way, the focus can expand to the two fake-front buildings at the resort’s entrance. Long known as buildings 7 and 8, the duo are now being marketed under the name “One Snowmass.”
The Snowmass Village Town Council will today begin reviewing the architectural plans for the One Snowmass buildings, which are being designed by the Denver firm 4240 Architects, in a regular meeting that starts at 3:55 p.m.
“The applicant is proposing to change the architectural style from what they refer to as ‘Anderson Ranch rustic’ to a more contemporary architectural style, consistent with iconic midcentury ski architecture,” community development director Julie Ann Woods wrote in a staff memo to council.
Proposed between the two buildings are 41 free-market residences, four employee residences, an arrival center, a 6,000-square-foot medical clinic and four retail stores. The prior approval had one small retail space in building 7 and none in building 8. The new owners envision substantially more retail and restaurant operations, as they have repeatedly stated the desire to boost the ski-area base’s liveliness.
Courtesy image
Specific changes, including square footage, employee generation and parking for the two buildings, will be reviewed in a subsequent minor PUD amendment to the application, according to town staff. The amendment process for the buildings was a condition of approval tied to a 2015 ordinance. It allowed an extension of vested development rights for Base Village and also mandated construction milestones tied to specific dates. Substantial completion of the Base Village core by next October is one of those milestones.
The residential units in One Snowmass would be a mix of three-, four- and five-bedrooms; Building 7, which houses the entrance to the Base Village parking garage, would be completed first, said John Calhoun, vice president of sales and marketing for Snowmass Base Village. Included in the building plans is a 2,000-square-foot fitness center, according to Gunion. A rooftop infinity-style pool is also envisioned in this next development phase.
According to the project summary, commercial square footage in the buildings is proposed to rise from 1,798 square feet to 2,381 square feet. Retail and restaurant space is to increase from 825 square feet to 6,513 square feet, while the residential component will drop from 125,446 square feet to 122,551 square feet.
All told the project, which is now approved at 139,532 square feet, is proposed to increase to 142,374 square feet
“As a gateway to the village and access to the transit center, building 7 should architecturally reflect its use,” according to design guidelines provided by the new partnership. “The drop-off and transit center access through building 7 should have a grand entrance with easy-to-read signage.”
Building 8 will be complementary in architectural design to the adjacent space “but should reflect its primary residential use,” the guidelines state. “Articulation of feature roofs is encouraged as long as they enhance and don’t distract from the design concept.”
Gunion said during last week’s meeting that “substantial completion is scheduled for October.”
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