Elevated Returns submitted a land use application to the town of Snowmass Village to redevelop the Viewline Resort Snowmass, Wildwood Snowmass Lodge and the Snowmass Conference Center into a Ritz-Carlton property.
The Aspen-Snowmass-based hospitality investment and management firm submitted the plan for a pre-sketch application in January, nearly a year after Elevated Snowmass LLC acquired the complex for $143,997,116. According to the redevelopment proposal, the firm wants to “activate the property for recreation purposes, commercial development, tourism and economic development, while remaining family focused and community oriented.”
Elevated Returns Founder and CEO Stephane De Baets said he’s looking forward to redeveloping an aging area of the town. De Baets, through affiliate entities, is the controlling owner of the St. Regis Aspen Resort and the full owner of Redstone Castle.
“I think Snowmass’ West Village is very aging in terms of infrastructure … and it’s time to look at the future and to build an infrastructure that can carry what I believe is the best ski resort in North America for the next muti-decades,” De Baets said.
A pre-sketch review is a voluntary first step of the town’s land use review. The project’s team will meet with the town’s planning commission and town council to review the project before reapplying for the land use entitlement process.
The proposed project would consolidate the three separate properties into one. It proposes six buildings with an updated hotel, fractional units, workforce housing and opportunities for a mix of commercial spaces. The Ritz-Carlton, under Marriott, will be the future operator.
It would include 150 guest rooms, 62 fractional units, 80 workforce housing units and 180 parking spaces, largely underground. The existing property has 407 guest rooms between both the Viewline and Wildwood, eight workforce housing units and 25 parking spaces.
The guest rooms would vary from two-, three- and four-bedroom options and focused on providing improved room quality, larger rooms and higher occupancy rates than currently exist. The fractional units would be available to other guests when not in use by the owners.
The workforce housing units are anticipated to be individual units rather than dormitory style.
The buildings would step up the hill and are anticipated to be four to eight stories above grade.
Elevated Returns said in the application that the project is “an opportunity to address long-standing access and infrastructure challenges while creating a place the community can be proud of and guests look to return to year after year.”
The proposed redevelopment would include some conference spaces and maintain the ski frontage in hopes of improving pedestrian and skier circulation with food, beverage and retail options.
The planning commission and Snowmass Village Town Council will review the pre-sketch application in a joint meeting on March 16.