Slow But Steady Progress For Lift One Corridor Project

Nothing is happening on the surface with the Lift One Corridor Project at the base of Aspen Mountain but behind the scenes the Lift One Lodge and Gorsuch Haus keep grinding through the city of Aspen’s review.

The city building department has provided a first round of comments to the owners of the Lift One Lodge on a building permit application that was submitted in spring 2023, according to Jennifer Phelan, development manager in the city of Aspen’s asset management department. City officials anticipate a response to address those points, she said. 

Michael Brown, part of the ownership group of Lift One Lodge, declined comment Thursday.

Meanwhile, the city planning staff is undertaking an administrative review of “minor changes” proposed by Aspen City Holdings LLC on the Gorsuch Haus hotel, according to city planning director Ben Anderson. “It’s very close to being completed,” he said.

The changes will be incorporated into the approval documents and drawings for the 81-room hotel. 

“Most of it is internal to the building — back of house functioning, primarily — and some very minor exterior architectural changes,” Anderson said in a prior interview. “If one were not intimately involved in the details of the project previously, these are not changes that one would notice.”

He re-emphasized that point on Thursday. “I think they were completely appropriate for an administrative review,” he said.

Once those changes are approved, Aspen City Holdings would be in position to file its application for a building permit. The Gorsuch Haus received final technical approvals from the Aspen Planning and Zoning Commission in December 2020. It has vested rights for five years. A building permit application must be submitted in time for the city staff to deem it complete prior to Dec. 24, 2025, according to city officials.

Lift One Lodge and the Gorsuch Haus are two of the primary components of the broader Lift One Lodge Project, a complex mishmash that includes property owned by Aspen Skiing Co., the city of Aspen and facilities for Aspen Historical Society.

The Lift One Lodge will feature 52 hotel rooms and one suite; 11 timeshare units with a total of 51 lodging keys; a parking garage with 76 spaces for the lodge and 50 for the public; relocation and restoration of the Skiers Chalet Steakhouse as a restaurant and bar; 16,125 square feet of commercial space; and six free-market residential units.

A new Lift 1 would be extended downhill to a base adjacent to Dean Street and there would be a 60-foot ski-way to provide access through the development to the lift. The Skiers Chalet Lodge would be converted to skier services, a ski museum and public lockers.

The Gorsuch Haus land as well as approvals for an 81-room hotel were purchased by the Oko Group, an international real estate development firm headed by Vladislav Doronin, for $76.25 million in March 2022. The project includes four free-market multifamily units, one affordable housing unit, underground parking with 56 spaces, a restaurant and bar and hotel amenity space.

Gorsuch Haus has been represented by Aspen planning firm BendonAdams.

Lift One Lodge’s facilities will be at the western base of Aspen Mountain. Gorsuch Haus would be farther up the slope.

Gorsuch Haus is a smaller project than Lift One Lodge but still a complex one, Anderson said. He was uncertain how long it would take for the building department to deem the Gorsuch Haus building application complete.

Once construction begins, it will be a massive undertaking with two primary buildings and a new chairlift.

“This is going to be a big project,” Anderson said. “It’s probably the most significant construction project Aspen has ever seen.”

By: Scott Condon I Aspen Daily News I May 31, 2024