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Limelite negotiating with Snowflake

Eben Harrell

The owners of one of Aspen’s venerable ski lodges is negotiating to take over a neighboring hotel as part of “a long-term effort to secure financial success.”The Limelite Lodge, a 72-room hotel on the corner of East Cooper Avenue and Monarch Street, just west of Wagner Park, is potentially days away from purchasing its neighbor, the Snowflake Inn. The 38-unit Snowflake has been on the market for several years.The purchase would be the latest of many expansions for the Limelite, which began as a three-room establishment with a restaurant and nightclub in the 1950s. Its current owners purchased the adjacent nine-room Deep Powder Lodge in 1998, adding it to the 63 rooms at the Limelite.The potential acquisition of the Snowflake is part of a long-term plan to ensure the Limelite’s success, said Dale Paas, whose family has operated the lodge since 1964.”We’re trying to reposition ourselves so we can remain comfortable financially,” Paas said. “It’s part of a long-term plan that we will outline in the next month or so. It would be premature to discuss it now.”Paas said the Limelite must secure a loan before the purchase can go through. He declined to comment on what would happen to the Snowflake Inn and its employees after the sale. A spokesman at the Snowflake Inn declined to comment.The Limelite is north of the vacant Aspen Manor lodge, which fronts Durant Avenue. Plans to redevelop that site with the Dancing Bear Lodge won city approval in 2003, though the project has not yet moved forward.The Dancing Bear would be a three-story building with a rooftop gazebo, blocking views of Aspen Mountain from the Limelite.During the Aspen City Council’s review of the Dancing Bear, Paas predicted the size and mass of the building would negatively affect the Limelite’s ability to rent rooms.Developers of the Dancing Bear ultimately removed a floor from their planned building in order to win City Council support.Staff writer Janet Urquhart contributed to this report. Eben Harrell’s e-mail address is eharrell@aspentimes.com