Aspen’s Holiday House, an affordable housing site for Aspen Skiing Co. employees on Hopkins Avenue that was nearly destroyed by a fire last fall, was demolished Friday, making way for a new structure that will be nearly identical to the old building, Aspen Skiing Co. officials said yesterday.
The new building will contain 25 housing units, one fewer than the structure gutted by fire in early November, but with the same footprint, SkiCo spokesman Jeff Hanle said. While the previous units were all two bedrooms, the SkiCo might make some of the apartments larger one bedrooms, potentially to “make it a little more livable,” Hanle said.
The new structure will also use “modular” construction, meaning the building will be built in individual modules off site, trucked into Aspen, then stacked one on top of the other.
“There will be no months of pounding nails,” Hanle noted.
The Holiday House was a flashpoint of controversy a few years ago for the Paepcke Park neighborhood when SkiCo sought to replace the old Holiday House with a new structure that would add another 10-15 beds. Opposition from the neighbors to the added density led SkiCo to pull the redevelopment application while it was still before the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission.
SkiCo then came back with plans to remodel the existing structure, maintaining the same density, and began work last summer with hopes of having the housing ready for the winter season. The fire struck the building during the construction process. Although the adjacent Holiday House annex was not severely damaged in the fire, both Holiday House buildings and their 60-some beds were unavailable to ease the winter housing crunch.
The current rebuild, since it is not accounting for any new growth, did not require City Council or Planning and Zoning Commission approval. But Phyllis Bronson, a neighbor of the project, said she still has concerns about neighborhood impacts, such as how many parking permits residents of the Holiday House will be granted. She also said she was frustrated that she received notice that the building would be demolished only days before work began.
“We as neighbors have a right to be concerned,” she said, noting that she welcomes “appropriate” employee housing, where people can “live gracefully and not live in a firetrap.”
Hanle said SkiCo has done its part to let neighbors know what’s going on, inviting them to a meeting early this week to discuss the project.
“There’s no secret agendas and we’re not trying to hide anything,” Hanle said. “I think everyone has known all along once the building burned that we would take it down at some point.”
The Holiday House, a former ski lodge before it was purchased for housing by the SkiCo, has historically seen high-density use, and its central location makes it ideal for employees who will be able to walk or take the bus to work, Hanle said.
“It’s not something new what we are doing on this space,” Hanle said. “We feel what we’re doing is a valuable service to the community.”
curtis@aspendailynews.com
