A look at the Lift 1A area at the base of Aspen Mountain on Monday afternoon. The bottom terminal and surrounding buildings were included in the sale to Norway Island LLC for $10 million. (David Krause / The Aspen Times)
The partners in the proposed Gorsuch Haus purchased about 2 acres of land at the base of Aspen Mountain last week, but don’t expect groundbreaking on the hotel any time soon, according to a spokesman for the group.
Norway Island LLC purchased the land for $10 million from Aspen Skiing Co., according to a special warranty deed filed with the Pitkin County Clerk and Recorder. The property sale included the existing lower terminal for Lift 1A and the surrounding buildings as well as vacant land farther up the slope.
Aspen’s elected officials decided Monday to do away with a lodge incentive in the land-use code that allows developers to provide fewer affordable-housing units if their project utilizes land efficiently and provides rooms under 600 square feet.
The lodge unit density and size incentive currently allows required mitigation to be reduced from 65% to low as 10% in some circumstances.
It was added to the code in 2007 when Aspen City Council was attempting to address the loss of lodge rooms and encouraging more lodging development, since many of Aspen’s post-war era ski lodges had been redeveloped into more expensive accommodations, second homes, or affordable housing.
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Skiers ride the Shadow Mountain Lift on Aspen Mountain on Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
The land use applications for roughly 320,000 square feet of commercial development at the base of Aspen Mountain’s west side were conditionally approved last month, and now vesting rights have begun for the developers behind what’s known as the Lift One project.
Jeff Gorsuch and his partners, who plan to build an 81-room hotel, and Michael and Aaron Brown, who plan to build a 107,000-square-foot timeshare lodge, hotel and private residences, have five years from Dec. 24 to apply for a building permit.