Base Village developers shooting for fall 2019 finish
Snowmass Sun
The second phase of Snowmass Base Village — the largest ski area currently under development in North America — is expected to go vertical next month.
In mid-January, the Snowmass Town Council approved the developers’ request to extend the deadline to complete Buildings 7 and 8 until March 1, 2020. The previous deadline to construct the buildings, marketed together as “One Snowmass,” was summer 2019.
While the developers were granted an extension until spring of 2020, East West Managing Partner Andy Gunion said the goal is to complete One Snowmass in the fall of 2019.
With the first phase of development — including the Limelight Hotel, the plaza area, the Lumin condominiums and the community-use-designated Building 6 — on track for a Nov. 1 opening, completion of One Snowmass will advance the $600 million project.
East West officials Feb. 6 held a media update at their Base Village office detailing the buildings’ progress via a replica of the development.
John Calhoun, East West vice president of sales and marketing, led the presentation alongside Gunion. One benefit to the lack of snow this season, Calhoun joked, is the developers’ and contractors’ ability to progress with construction.
The Limelight, which developers and the town hope will serve as “Snowmass’ living room,” consists of 99 rooms and 11 residence units that went on the market for sale in mid-January. The Limelight also will include an indoor and outdoor lounge and restaurant, a fitness center, hot tubs and a five-story climbing wall open to the public.
The Snowmass Mountain Club, a private club with skier amenities, also will be a part of the hotel.
Another key component to the project, the plaza will feature an ice-skating rink in the winter and lawn space for concerts, events, pick-up games and fire pits in the summer.
The Lumin, or Building 4, will be a small residential condo building with a Four Mountain Sports ski and snowboard shop. The Snowmass Town Council is still determining what will occupy Building 6, which the developers will grant to the town upon its completion.
Snowmass Nexus, a partnership between Grassroots TV and Colorado Audio Visual and Design, is the current frontrunner to take over the 8,701-square-foot structure that is intended to create vitality in the village.
Nexus’ plans for the space include a “community-based live event, broadcast and digital arts center,” as well as a food and beverage portion, which local businesses such as Aspen Brewing Co. and Mawa’s Kitchen have expressed interest in assuming.
Members of the Town Council, however, still want to see the Ziegler Reservoir findings and Snowmass Discovery concept included in the building in some capacity.
“The main conversation when we started this was not about the bricks and the sticks, but what holds people in a village, what sort of captures their attention, what do they want to do these days,” Calhoun said at the Feb. 6 update. “And I think a lot of ski villages in this country would love to go back to zero and start again.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the One Snowmass project is the second phase of the $600 million development.
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