The Village at Winter Park is at the base of Colorado’s Winter Park ski area— literally in the existing parking lot. The resort has long enjoyed strong skier loyalty, logging a million skier/boarder visits last year. It has also been in a development backwater, largely because the City-of-Denver-owned facility lacked developable land.
In 1994, Winter Park negotiated a land swap with the U.S. Forest Service to get ownership of 39 acres at the ski area base. This cleared the way for the Winter Park Resort Association (WPRA) to get together with a developer to build the village that had been the impetus for the land swap.
The WPRA selected Houston-based Hines Interest which had demonstrated expertise in both development and construction management. On an extremely tight schedule, the Hines group obtained final approvals for the village, designed the first condominium buildings and began construction.
The Village is approved for a total of 948 units in its core area, with more in immediately outlying areas. The first phase, as negotiated between WPRA and Hines, was established at 230 units—a very large number for mountain development.
A number of the elements called for in Jerry Groswold’s adjacent article are in the current plans. These include planning for a central reservation system, providing hotel-type amenities and building efficiently-sized (569 sq. ft. of one-bedroom and 880 sq. ft. two-bedroom) units.
Sudmeier Photography
The village is designed to create a lively environment with a mix of retail and on-mountain living opportunities.
The location and size of the Winter Park building site inherently makes the village project different from those in many other mountain resorts. First, it is within easy driving distance of Denver, increasing the likelihood that a high percentage of purchasers will use their condominiums as second homes than for rental use.
The small building site dictates parking automobiles below buildings and local Winter Park ordinances stipulate one parking space to be constructed for each unit, whether the unit is a studio or a three-bedroom condominium or a lock-off hotel room. With the cost of a subgrade parking space approaching $30,000, it is easy to see that the parking ordinance can tip studio or lock-off units into the ranks of the unaffordable. Working with local municipalities to review or modify these ordinances takes considerable research and time, but may be in
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