by Madeleine Osberger, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Pending purchase of Limelight lot ‘protected’ from Sunrise/Related suitAspen Skiing Co. is feeling more confident about developing a Limelight hotel in Snowmass Village following a recent unanimous approval by the town council to move up the phasing of its 10-unit luxury Fanny Hill Cabins project, which is seen as the hotel’s financial driver.
“We are moving forward at risk to further the drawing package for the Limelight in anticipation of a spring 2017 construction start, assuming all of the other stars align,” Don Schuster, SkiCo’s vice president of hospitality, said by email on Thursday.
“We were encouraged by the 5-0 approval of the second reading of the Fanny Hill ordinance as well,” Schuster continued.
Last week, he told council that SkiCo was spending between $200,000 and $250,000 per month on design development for the Limelight in Snowmass, despite not having final assurances about the Fanny Hill Cabins phasing request. That changed on April 4, when council approved the change in phasing that was tied to the 2004 Base Village approval. Initially, construction on the cabins could not go forward until the hotel and other buildings were completed, but with council’s decision, the cabins and the Limelight can go forward concurrently.
The passage of time between the original approval and now, as well as the ownership changes, bolstered Schuster’s contention as to why the phasing condition should be removed. Council and town staff agreed in granting the final approval, which followed a January 11 preliminary decision.
Senior planner for the town, Jim Wahlstrom, said the change will provide more consistency with the project’s development agreement with the town.
“Phase 2B went away and we combined phases 1 and 2B.” Wahlstrom said.
He also noted that earlier this year, six members of the public had submitted letters to the town opposing the phasing change, in general because the move was seen as taking away some of the town and community’s leverage to prod completion of the long-stalled Base Village project. The last building finished in the base area was the Viceroy hotel in 2008.
While SkiCo maintains that there are still some hurdles standing in the way of it developing a Limelight in Snowmass Village, Schuster also said the company remains under contract with master developer Related Colorado “to keep moving forward with the purchase of Lot 2 in Base Village” where the 102-room Limelight would be built.
SkiCo already owns the property where the Fanny Hill Cabins are proposed, which is located across Wood Road from the Crestwood condominiums. That’s one of the few parcels it didn’t sell to the Related WestPac partnership during the 2007 sale of the Base Village assets.
Each side wants assurances
In December, Aspen Skiing Co.‘s CEO Mike Kaplan publicly shared his concerns about Base Village’s future and the Snowmass Limelight in particular. His comments came in the wake of collapsed agreements between Related and Sunrise Company and later, between Related and East West Partners.
Among the uncertainties Kaplan cited was the look of the front door to the Snowmass Ski Area. Sunrise had developed a plan and drawings for Lot 3, which included redeveloping the two, very visible faux front buildings on Wood Road.
The future of the resort’s entrance was further highlighted by a February lawsuit between Sunrise and Related Colorado over a cancelled contract.
Schuster recently reassured elected officials that the Sunrise versus Related’s LLC, Snowmass Acquisition Company, over Lot 3, has no bearing on its potential purchase of the Limelight lot.
“We’ve protected ourselves in this situation and have a valid contract to move forward,” with the purchase of Lot 2, he said.
In an attempt to show SkiCo’s further commitment, Schuster said the company had also invested in designs and would be funding half of the construction costs for the Base Village plaza that will front the hotel and which would be used for activities ranging from ice skating to concerts, a summertime farmer’s market and a venue for weddings.
Whether or not the SkiCo or a successor decides to build a hotel on the Limelight site, both that project and the luxury cabins are linked by a certificate of occupancy, as per Ordinance 2, series of 2016, which council passed last week.
It reads, “No building permit shall be issued for the FHC Project until the Aspen Skiing Company or one of its affiliates has substantially commenced construction … by July 1, 2017 on Building 5 … in time to be completed by November 1, 2018.”
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