Snowmass Center sells for $16 million
The Aspen Times
Snowmass Sun file |
The pending sale of the Snowmass Center closed March 31 for a price of $16 million.
Housing the town’s only grocery store and post office, two restaurants and some other shops and offices, the Snowmass Center is the primary functional commercial node in Snowmass Village. Owned by an affiliate of Related Cos., which also owns Base Village and much of the commercial space on the Snowmass Village Mall, it has been purchased by an affiliate of Eastwood Developments LLC, which locally owns and manages a majority of the real estate at Aspen Highlands’ base.
Negotiations have been ongoing for several months. Tenants received notification that the building was under contract in November.
Jordan Sarick, principal of Eastwood Developments, said Monday that after months of due diligence, he’s pleased the company can finally “get its arms around” the actual operations of the building.
“Only now can we really dive into it,” he said.
Sarick and Eastwood have had success with bringing other developments to life, such as at Highlands, where the base area struggled for some time but now has 100 percent occupancy of its commercial spaces. The company will set to work on finding tenants for the Snowmass Center’s current empty spaces. As of now, Sarick said he doesn’t know whether Eastwood will seek to redevelop the 37-year-old building.
Related Colorado will continue to keep its offices in the center, albeit as a tenant and not an affiliate of the building’s owner, said Craig Monzio, vice president of development. Releasing the Snowmass Center is in keeping with the company’s renewed focus on Base Village, he said.
Related tried to shed Base Village, as well, but sale negotiations with Vail Valley-based East West Partners fell through in December. Last fall, Related’s property-management arm, Snowmass Hospitality, released all of its non-Base Village contracts. And earlier this year, it listed its Snowmass Mall assets with commercial real estate firm Newmark Grubb Knight Frank.
Related won conditional town approval on new plans for Base Village in December. No vertical construction will take place in 2016, but work on two roundabouts associated with the project will start soon.
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