At a presentation at Elk Camp Restaurant this week, Mike Kaplan, president and CEO of SkiCo, told the crowd he is relieved that the much-delayed Base Village development is now underway. Developers East West Partners are working to build a new plaza, a Limelight Hotel and commercial and residential properties by a Nov. 1, 2018 deadline.
While East West has also overseen development in Vail and Beaver Creek, project manager Andy Gunion said Snowmass Base Village will have a character all of its own.
“(Those resorts have) this late 90s early 2000s alpine architecture that, there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just that you can be in any ski resort anywhere when you’re there,” said Gunion. “So we are trying to create something unique and identifiable and iconic for Snowmass, that when you see these images and architecture that you know immediately ‘That's Snowmass.’”
SkiCo and the tourism department are also riding the wave of construction by adding summer adventure activities on the mountain, and by hyping up the 50th anniversary of the Snowmass Ski Area.