There seems to be a bit of a divide between the town of Snowmass Village and the developer’s visions for a day lodge in Base Village. And Base Village could lose a potential tenant as a result of that divergence.
Base Village developer Related WestPac is trying to rent out the last few retail spaces intended to be open by this winter in the new base area. They’ve negotiated a lease with Aspen-based Performance Sports, which is planned to occupy a portion of a large space originally intended to be operated by the Aspen Skiing Co. as a day lodge.
The 6,400-square-foot ground floor space in Capitol Peak Lodge — right behind the children’s center on the plaza — was designated in Base Village approvals as one large restaurant space plus a bar, with “ancillary” retail uses permitted in the hope that it would be like old-fashioned ski lodges: A big cafeteria-style eatery where skiers could also buy lift tickets, lip balm or a hat.
The configuration of the space has changed somewhat since the approvals, as has the phasing of some of the surrounding spaces, and SkiCo no longer feels it can operate the entire space. It already has approvals to operate most of the space as Sneaky’s Tavern, which will have an indoor and outdoor bar and will take the place of the Cirque as the SkiCo’s base-area restaurant. SkiCo will not be operating the Cirque this winter.
Performance Sports, a retail ski and clothing shop, wants 1,300 square feet of that space, provided there is a clear separation between the retail and food and beverage operations.
But the Snowmass Village Town Council on Monday leaned toward the conclusion that walls and closed doors would violate the commercial covenants attached to the Base Village approvals for the day lodge.
“Since the old Timbermill closed, there’s no place for people to go for a quick lunch or coffee,” Councilman Arnie Mordkin wrote in e-mailed comments read at Monday’s meeting. “We tried to require a space like that in Base Village. We could not require a specific operation, but we tried to define the space. ... Another shop should not be allowed into this space to destroy the covenant we spent so much time crafting.”
Related WestPac officials argued that Base Village will have 600 seats in several other eating and drinking establishments to choose from this winter, and they specifically looked for an appropriate “ski-related facility” for the carved-out, leftover space they inherited from SkiCo.
Related WestPac’s Pat Smith told the council he doesn’t think Performance would accept the space if it could not have a door separating it from a food operation, due primarily to odor and security concerns.
“That space would be vacant,” he said.
The council, reluctant to part with the traditional day lodge notion, in the end agreed to allow the door, but mandated that it be left open during business hours.
lutz@aspendailynews.com