[UPDATED 8/7/13]: A lawsuit filed on July 25th is claiming that the owners of the Lift One Lodge on South Aspen Street, slopeside at Aspen Mountain behind the old 1A double chair, are planning to sell it in the next several weeks for an alleged $24 million. The Aspen Daily News reported that the lawsuit was filed by a couple from Marin County, David and Susan Cummings, who complain that Lift One owners Jim Light and Jim Chaffin owe them money for a bad land deal in North Carolina and seek to position themselves to collect their debts if and when Lift One is sold. A developer associated with Lift One said that Light and Chaffin are merely fundraising to finish a project they've had approval for for years, which would build 84 new hotel rooms at the base of Aspen Mountain. The Cummings withdrew their lawsuit a day later.
Lift One is at the center of Aspen's wholesale attempt to encourage new mid-scale hotel projects in a town where private homes and condos fetch far higher prices for developers than retail or lodging do, and in an zoning and regulation environment that many describe as onerous. The Lodge at Aspen Mountain across the street went bankrupt during its years-long attempt to build a new hotel, and Lift One's owners had to downsize their project from 113,000 square feet to 77,000 to gain approval in 2011; the model shown in the above video depicts that updated plan, with a corridor between the two buildings for skiers to make their way back into town, along with space for a surface lift to bring them up to the double chair, which the developers may or may not pursue. They now have until 2016 to pull a building permit for the project.
· Lawsuit claims Lift One Lodge property is up for sale [Aspen Daily News]
· Lift One Condos
Loading comments...