Snowmass Village, Colorado: Today, Erik Cavarra discusses the new Snowmass Hotel.
Questions: In one note, you have to give credit to Schuster and the Aspen Skiing Company for wanting to move forward and complete the project they once started within Base Village, but the question is, why would the Town allow a new Hotel and not require the Ski Co or Related to contribute to the infastructure of the Base Village? Snowmass does not need any new hotel rooms, they need to finish developing the land and finalzing certain pedestrian access points to the Village, first. The Second Phase of the Viceroy Hotel will be added soon, and the question is, can Snowmass sustain (2) new hotels? With the finalization of the Westin last year, what happens to the other Condo Rental Properties and the rental markets? Growth is good for the Town and the Economy, but it needs to be added with the continuance of scaled infrastructure. The Vitality of Snowmass doesn’t rest with the addition of “rooms”, it rests in finishing the Base Village area: water features, walk-ways, an arrival Center with “real” Windows, Trees, etc. Adding a new Hotel without holding the Developers to the fire and petitioning for a Final Approved Village first, is like a squirrel collecting nuts with no place to store them…it just doesn’t make any sense. With the continuance of only rental “rooms”, or “hot beds” as Intrawest once called them, trails the looming mistake of Base Village.
Company is set to buy land but is abandoning original condo plan
Citing that the years-long stalling of Base Village development is damaging its brand, the Aspen Skiing Co. has formally asked the town of Snowmass to expedite approval to build a Limelight hotel on a lot it intends to buy.
“The unfinished condition in Base Village is damaging our brand, our customers are losing patience, and local businesses and taxing districts are struggling,” reads a Sept. 24 memo from SkiCo president Mike Kaplan to town officials. “Acting now allows for a December 2015 completion, while waiting further only deepens the hole we will collectively need to climb out of.”
SkiCo has finalized a letter of intent with Base Village owner Related Co. to buy lot 2, on which the ski company originally had received approval several years ago to build 57 free-market condominiums in a five-story structure known as “building 5.” The lot also encompasses sites for buildings 4 and 9, where SkiCo is requesting additional changes to original approvals.
On the building 5 site, SkiCo now wants to build a 103-room Limelight hotel, similar to the one it owns and operates in Aspen on Monarch Street. Also included in the Limelight in Snowmass would be 18 free-market condos on the top floor and three employee housing units on site.
At the same time, SkiCo wants to resurrect its plan from several years ago to build 10 Fanny Hill townhomes and an employee housing unit.
“We are not asking for any changes on that,” said Don Schuster, SkiCo’s vice president of hospitality development. “We really need to move forward with this because that is the economic engine that makes a hotel work there.”
In Schuster and Kaplan’s memo to the town, they noted the fact that building a hotel in Base Village is a significant financial risk with very slim return margins. They are requesting a review process that can be completed by April so construction can begin in the summer.
SkiCo is asking for a “minor PUD,” also known as a “planned unit development” rather than a “major PUD” review, the latter of which requires more detail, like sketch plans and mass and scale components.
SkiCo officials argued their case to town planners in August, suggesting that the new proposal is within the same footprint, is roughly the same size and has fewer rooms. Only the use is changing, from condos to lodging, therefore a minor review is sufficient, they contend.
But the town’s acting community development director, Mark Kittle, decided the process falls under a major PUD amendment. As suggested by town staff, SkiCo is appealing that decision and will discuss the matter with Snowmass Town Council on Monday.
“Adding a sketch plan component to the major PUD process only adds time and cost to both the town and the applicant and delays this project enough to make it unviable,” the memo reads.
Also in the reconfigured plan is a change in use of building 4 where SkiCo originally planned and was approved to build four free-market condos and have six food and beverage or retail spaces on the first floor.
Now SkiCo plans to combine the commercial space on the first floor to house a permanent location for its ski and snowboard store, Four Mountain Sports.
“[SkiCo] needs to expand its current rental ski, board and bike operations in Base Village to reduce the hassle factor for guests and to sustain growth of summer operations,” reads the memo.
SkiCo also wants to attach the hotel to building 8, on a separate lot owned by Related, so guests can have a ski-in-ski-out access.
As for building 9, SkiCo originally had planned to build log cabins but now wants to make the land available for event space.
The hotel would be 100,000 square feet, which is what was originally approved for the 57 condos, according to Schuster. By comparison, the Limelight in Aspen is 100,000 square feet with 126 rooms.
SkiCo is still planning on a 57-space parking garage, which also was part of the original approval.
It’s been four years since the Base Village development project stalled due to recession-bred construction financing issues and SkiCo is eager to move it forward.
“We are trying to be the catalyst for change,” Schuster said. “It’s very important to move forward quickly.”
That is in the hands of Town Council, which would have make a policy change in how the new development proposal will be reviewed.
“It is our assertion that the town does not lose any authority in its review process by allowing this to be processed as a minor PUD,” reads the memo.
SkiCo has several reasons for the proposed changes, which are laid out point by point in the memo to town officials.
“Base Village bed base needs to be built out to support year-round visitation, and attract enough destination business to drive sustainable levels of sales and spending in the town particularly to drive summer growth,” the memo states.
Schuster, in an interview Tuesday, said SkiCo has plans to create more on-mountain activities in the summer at Snowmass.
“This helps us to become more motivated to get something going on the mountain side of things,” he said.
The memo also points out that Base Village and the Snowmass visitor experience is currently “incomplete and suffering from uncertainty.”
“An immediate commitment to completing the upper half of the plaza and a positive commitment to investing in Snowmass will provide the stimulus necessary to create confidence in the market and the village overall,” the memo says.
Schuster argues that because there is no significant change in the overall footprint in terms of square footage for development and only minor exterior alterations are planned on the buildings, it ought to be considered as a change in use.
SkiCo’s plans have been stymied by the problems incurred by Related during the recession, and as a private company, it is more nimble to change plans midstream.
“We are ready, willing and able,” Schuster said, noting that the town council had originally wanted a hotel in Base Village.
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