What is next for Snowmass Village?
Mike Kaplan, the CEO of Aspen Skiing Company, met with Snowmass Village Town Council for their biannual meeting. On-mountain plans, skier visits and other updates were on the agenda, but the largest item of business is the future of Base Village, the partially built one million-square-foot development.
Aspen Skiing Company and developer Intrawest Corp. sold the land and development rights in 2007 for $169 million to Related WestPac, a New York based development company. The first phase of Base Village was completed in December and included 90 condos and a dozen businesses. Then the credit crisis hit and halted construction mid-way for two buildings and future phases of the eventual 600-condo project. Now, Related WestPac has over $110 million in debt and six buildings in Snowmass Village that are being held as collateral and foreclosure proceedings are beginning, according to the foreclosure information for Pitkin County.
Related WestPac and SkiCo officials have not said anything specific in regards to the continuation of the development of Base Village at Snowmass Village. “We’re in talks with Related, and with associated parties on how to get this jump-started again,” Mike Kaplan said. “In the long term I’m confident something is going to happen.”
Kaplan explained on Monday that SkiCo has a “vested interest” in completing the arrival center, among other buildings, to improve skier visits to Snowmass Village. Looking at the projects that are completed, including the new Viceory Hotel scheduled to open this winter, Kaplan said it’s important to remember the many on-mountain improvements Snowmass has already received because of Base Village, including new lifts on the mountain, new kid’s center and new restaurants. In Kaplan’s opinion, these improvements have already generated a good amount of excitement which should only increase with the opening of the Viceroy.
