People walk by the now officially closed Tatanka on restaurant row in downtown Aspen on Friday, April 30, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
It appears that the effects of the pandemic have only made Aspen’s commercial real estate scene even more desirable than it has been in recent years.
Downtown Aspen has one retail space available for summer occupancy, according to Angi Wang, a broker at Setterfield & Bright.
She and fellow broker Karen Setterfield said they haven’t seen this kind of demand ever.
“It’s stronger than it’s ever been, and I’ve been doing this for 30 years,” Setterfield said. “Everyone wants Aspen. … We are out of spaces, and we have unlimited demand for retail spaces.”
The interior of the Crêperieâs new outdoor âchalet.â PHOTO BY RACHEL BOCK
This fall, chef C. Barclay Dodge envisioned Bosqâs winterized patio overlooking the Mill Street pedestrian mall: a glass-enclosed, modern structure built around a tall tree, its upper branches poking above a skylight in the lattice ceiling. Here, according to plans drawn by local design firm Rowland+Broughton, guests would enjoy a safe, socially distanced dining experience, shielded from snow and cold yet converging with nature. Bosq, manifested.
âWe scrapped that whole idea five days ago,â Dodge told me one week before Thanksgiving. The elevated cost of running utility lines outside, it turned out, did not match the potential benefit of seating additional diners in compliance with ever-tightening coronavirus regulations. (At 600-square-feet indoors, Bosq can accommodate just 12 people under Coloradoâs 25-percent capacity rule for restaura