Real Estate In The News February 2021
ASPEN Aspen Club Construction to Restart RH (formerly known as Restoration Hardware) shared plans to invest $105 A dormant construction site for million in Aspen real estate — including more than three years, the Aspen the addition of a two-story downtown Club is poised in 2021 to restart its storefront, two restaurants, multiple townhome, athletic club remodel and residences and a boutique hotel, bath employee housing project, the Aspen house and spa at the site of the nowDaily News reported. Development defunct Crystal Palace, the Aspen partner Revere Capital — which is Daily News reported. Construction among the creditors of the Aspen has already begun on the projects and Club’s former owners — said it would should be completed by 2022. work to complete the unfinished club and spa building at 1450 Ute Ave., 20 RH will open an interior storefront, condominiums that could be sold with which it refers to as a gallery, in a new up to 160 fractional shares and 12 building at the corner of Galena and employee housing units. In January, Cooper, across from Paradise Bakery. the property sold in foreclosure for Also, a recent teardown, the site at $52,588,499 to GPIF Aspen Club, a 300 E. Hyman — formerly home to the limited liability company which had historic, iconic Crystal Palace — will been pursuing the foreclosure. be home to RH’s guest suites on the main level, a bathhouse and spa in the Restoration Hardware to Invest $105 lower level and another restaurant and Million Into Aspen Development private pool on the rooftop. The RH Residences at the historic Boomerang Luxury home furnishings company Lodge — which Hunt purchased in June
ASPEN
of 2018 for $10 million — will include up to five fully furnished four-bedroom custom homes. Another RH Residence will resurrect on Red Mountain. The fully furnished six-bedroom home will offer terraces and an infinity pool. Housing, Wheeler Benefit from Real Estate Sales Free-market and commercial property sales totaling $1.8 billion within Aspen city limits last year resulted in $17.6 million in real estate sales tax collections for the city’s housing program and another $9.5 million for its downtown performing-arts venue, the Aspen Times reported. The city requires buyers of property within Aspen — which doesn’t include Castle Creek Road, McLain Flats, Old Snowmass, Red Mountain, Redstone, Starwood, Woody Creek, and other surrounding, unincorporated residential areas in Pitkin County — to pay the voter-approved 1.5% real estate transfer tax upon closing.
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Steep Trail Near Pitkin Jail to Flatten Out, A Little Aspen City Council agreed to make modifications to the infamously steep Jail Trail that connects Rio Grande Park to Main Street, a project that will cost nearly $600,000, the Aspen Times reported. The 278-foot-long path, which runs in between the county jail and the Rio Grande building, is currently at a 12% grade. That will be changed to 7.5%, which is not ADA compliant but due to the constraints in the area that is as good as it can get. The trail will get ripped up anyway because Pitkin County is required to replace the storm water system within the corridor as part of its permit for the courthouse and jail remodel. The county and city entered into an intergovernmental agreement and divied up the costs, with the city on the hook for $490,000 for the trail improvements and the county paying $101,000 for its portion of the work.
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SNOWMASS
Electric Pass Lodge Units Go on Sale The new 53-unit Electric Pass Lodge in Snowmass’s Base Village will be 100% powered by renewable energy utilizing cutting-edge technology and design, the Aspen Daily News reported. Reservations opened in January for the two- and three-bedroom ski-in/ski-out residential properties located across from the Viceroy Snowmass. East West Partners is developing the $600-million Base Village project at the bottom of the Snowmass ski area.
The residences are described as being Scandinavian inspired using more natural light, using the sun for warmth, opening up the windows, having fresh air and a connection to the outdoors. Prices for the residences start at $1.4 million and each owner will have access to a range of private amenities including Zoom rooms, a health club, a lounge, courtyard, ski locker room, storage and underground parking. The energy will come from a combination of energy produced by a solar array on the roof of the building and from off-site renewable resources provided by Holy Cross.
SNOWMASS
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Marijuana Tax to Be Used for Mental fund, the monies (along with revenue Health from the Pitkin County tobacco tax) will be allocated to a reserve account. The Snowmass Village officials plan to use intent to use marijuana sales tax revenue last year’s revenue from a marijuana to support mental health services sales tax to support community mental mirrors a program already in place with health services in the future, the Aspen the Pitkin County tobacco tax that voters Times reported. Initially a ballot question approved in 2019. The ballot measure approving the sales tax did not specify included provisions to use the revenue where the funds would go. for mental health and substance abuse prevention programs in addition to tax Instead of placing all of the marijuana collection, licensing and enforcement tax into the town’s multipurpose general initiatives.
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BASALT
Sales Tax Up in Basalt
Basalt Council Gives Nod to Sportsplex
A preliminary year-end sales tax report shows sales tax revenue increased 14.3% over 2019, the Aspen Times reported. The December sales tax report, which reflects actual sales in November, was up 8%. Basalt will reap more than $7 million in sales tax revenue for 2020. The town ended up collecting about $200,000 more than anticipated for its general fund. A separate sales tax dedicated for use for parks, open space and trails reaped about $90,000 more than forecast.
A privately funded sportsplex received a preliminary nod from Crown Mountain Park’s board of directors in January, the Aspen Times reported. The sportsplex was proposed by Sheldon Wolitski, a business executive who recently relocated to the Roaring Fork Valley. The main components of his 90,000-square-foot sportsplex include a hockey arena, covered turf and a recreation facility, built on land leased from Eagle County. Eagle County owns the 124-acre park and open space site, which is adjoined by
BASALT
vacant U.S. Forest Service land. In addition to being the landlord, the county commissioners would have to approve changes to the existing land-use approvals. Part of River Smoothed Out for Safer Passage Work currently underway in the Roaring Fork River between old town Basalt and Willits will make for a smoother ride for boaters beginning this spring, the Aspen Times reported. The project, with an estimated price tag of $935,000, requires a temporary cofferdam during construction
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across much of the river’s channel, with heavy machinery in the exposed river bed. It will create two new “grade-control” structures to replace a weir that was used to channel water toward a diversion for the Robinson Ditch. That weir created a difficult passage for boaters that was often referred to as Anderson Falls. Instead of that steep drop with no clear passage around or through, the project has been designed by Carbondale-based River Restoration to create a gradual riffle drop between the grade-control structures.
CARBONDALE
Sopris Shopping Center Redevelopment Displaces Nine Businesses
Ragged Mountain Sports and El Pollo Rico.
The Sopris Shopping Center will be redeveloped, eliminating Sopris Self Storage, and replacing it with a modern, three-story building, the Aspen Daily News reported. Nine tenants will have to find new homes as part of the redevelopment. The western portion of the property, if subdivision is approved, retains 10,370 square feet of commercial space, compared with the existing building’s 29,896 square feet of commercial. Moreover, 76 new rental units would join Carbondale’s housing inventory, divided between two new buildings proposed by Loge Properties.
Garfield County gave another financial boost to the Aspen Valley Land Trust’s efforts to secure a 141-acre Carbondalearea ranch that would maintain its agricultural use and preserve natural riverfront habitat, the Glenwood Springs Post Independent reported. County commissioners released $200,000 from the county’s Conservation Trust Fund to go toward the $8.5 million campaign to purchase and protect the Coffman Ranch, located 3 miles east of Carbondale.
This western portion, acquired from Stein Properties, LP, is in addition to Loge Properties’ mixed-use development just south across Colorado Avenue, where 27 residential units and 3,000 square feet of commercial space are under construction adjacent to the roundabout. The tenants finding new homes include Ming’s Cafe,
Ranch Moves Closer to Conservation
Once the deal is closed, the plan is to maintain the property as a working ranch, but with public access to about threequarters of a mile of Roaring Fork River frontage and opportunities for outdoor education uses. AVLT secured a $2.5 million Great Outdoors Colorado grant last June to go toward the land conservation effort and is moving closer to the final goal of $8.5 million. Busy Intersection Gets Financial Boost for Underpass
GLENWOOD SPRINGS
Busy Intersection Gets Financial Boost service from 27th Street to downtown for Underpass Glenwood, and the resumption of local bus service along the Highway 6 & 24. TheRoaringForkTransportationAuthority board has agreed to make up the funding Glenwood Springs City Council moved difference for a planned underpass at forward the plan to prioritize the 27th Street in Glenwood Springs to better pedestrian underpass at 27th Street service the South Glenwood bus station, and South Glen/Colorado Highway 82. the Glenwood Springs Post Independent More than $2 million was still needed reported. Those delayed improvements to complete the $10.1 million crossing, had amounted to approximately which was approved by City Council in $700,000 per year. They included the August to improve safety at the busy proposed extension of Bus Rapid Transit intersection.
PITKIN COUNTY
Real Estate Sales Top $3 Billion in 2020 limited showings and traffic. But as the pandemic bore down, interest in 2020 was a record-setting year Aspen-area property went up. Aspen posting more than $3.1 billion in total alone ended the year with more than property sales volume in Pitkin County $2.5 billion in residential sales and due largely to a surge in demand for Snowmass with $575 million. Nine local home ownership because of the residential sales eclipsed the $25 pandemic, the Aspen Times reported. million mark in 2020. And for all of In May alone, the city of Aspen’s real 2020, 29 properties sold for more than estate transfer tax collections were $20 million. down 86% from May 2019 because of
PITKIN COUNTY
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total also reflected flights by Delta Air Lines, which suspended its Aspen United Airlines and American Airlines service in mid-2020. scaled back their January flight schedules into ASE when they realized The total number of passengers flown that demand wasn’t as strong as they into ASE in December was 39,974 — a had previously predicted, the Aspen 38.4% decrease compared with the same Daily News reported. But officials are month last year. Comparatively, the hoping loosening restrictions will bring Transportation Safety Administration more visitors. reported a decrease of 62.4% in Looking at the winter numbers, domestic air travel for December. combined, United and American Flight loads generally ran about 50% in scheduled 592 commercial flights to December, meaning half the seats on Aspen in December, a decrease of the average commercial flight to Aspen 14.7%, compared with 694 flights in were filled. In December 2019, about December 2019. However, last year’s 75% of available seats to ASE were filled. Airport Decreasing Flights, for Now