Aspen, Colorado: Today, Erik Cavarra features the newest Hotel/Lodge Acquisition in Aspen.
Operators of two local hotels have acquired the Mountain House bed and breakfast out of bankruptcy, and are appealing to the Aspen city government for more incentives to keep the property a lodge.
Michael Brown, who along with brother Aaron and their group HayMax Capital, owns the Molly Gibson Lodge and Hotel Aspen, acknowledged that a tear down in favor of residential is a possibility for the Mountain House.
“We’ve evaluated several different scenarios,” Michael Brown said.
The new owners also could renovate the property and keep it as a lodge, he noted. But for that to happen, Michael Brown said the city would need to offer compelling commercial incentives, as well as a streamlined review process.
Chris Council/Aspen Daily News
City Council has identified creating incentives to encourage the preservation and renovation of small lodges as a major policy goal. Over the summer, the city’s planning office came up with a range of options, from minor tweaks to the current land-use approval system to radical departures from the often arduous rules.
Council members favored pursuing breaks on development fees, but stopped short of supporting a loosening of zoning rules related to height and mass.
Michael Brown said the city would likely have to implement the most drastic incentives to keep the Mountain House in the lodging business.
“If the intention is to preserve the lodging bed base, the city needs to be bold,” he said, adding that he is not necessarily looking for height and mass bonuses. “There are so many issues with the code and so many ways they could make adjustments.”
Brown declined to specify what incentives his group is looking for. He said he’s unsure whether the Mountain House can be run profitably as a lodge. However, he said his experience in running other small lodges in town means he is as likely as anyone to keep the hotel up and running.
The existing staff of the Hotel Aspen and Molly Gibson Lodge will assist in the operations of the Mountain House this winter with Jeff Bay, general manager of the Hotel Aspen and Molly Gibson Lodge, overseeing management of all three hotels, according to a press release.
The lodge’s previous owners paid $7.9 million for the property in 2007. When that group filed for bankruptcy in late March, they staved off a scheduled foreclosure auction on the courthouse steps. Prior to the foreclosure sale, the bank had set a minimum bid amount of $5.5 million.
Brown also is in the midst of a city development review for a plan to expand the Hotel Aspen, located at Main and Garmisch streets. He is seeking to add eight hotel rooms and four free-market condos. The plan passed the Historic Preservation Commission’s review, but was not recommended for approval by the Planning and Zoning Commission. City Council will decide the matter in the coming months.
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