tl;dr – The Chalet Alpina is destined for the base of Aspen Mountain. Will an Aman property share the lift space?
Some interesting news out of Aspen. A new luxury ski resort, Chalet Alpina, is under construction at the base of Aspen Mountain near Lift One. Chalet Alpina is a joint venture from HayMax Capital LLC, Irongate Group, and the OKO Group. That last name is important, as OKO Group is headed by Vladislav Doronin, the current owner of Aman Hotels. Approved in 2019 and having just received its initial permitting earlier this year, ‘ground broke’ on the Chalet Alpina project just a few months ago.
There’s a bit of history here, too. Allegedly, the most recent plans for development on the Lift One site were for a project called Gorsuch Haus. That had a lot of pushback, and ultimately, it sounds like it was shelved, or at the very minimum, some of the original players are no longer involved. According to this Reddit thread, even Restoration Hardware (yup, that one) had plans for a resort, which has to date amounted to nothing, and the granted permit appears to have been tolled.
What’s a bit unclear is whether there will also be an adjacent Aman Resort. As this is quite an ambitious project, there’s been a bit of pushback as to the potential effects additional development might have in the area. That said, given that Doronin is already involved in Chalet Alpina, I’d have to imagine that Aman does get the green light. How long it takes from there is anyone’s guess. Aman, to its credit, has some experience in the ski resort space – there’s Aman Le Mélézin, Amangani in Jackson Hole (though it’s currently closed for renovations), and the newly (re)opened Aman Rosa Alpina in Italy. Aman Niseko is also in development. Even though it would be several years out from opening its doors, I find it curious that there’s nothing about this project from the would-be canonical source – Aman’s website (unlike the aforementioned Niseko resort). Perhaps when more of the red tape is cut, we’ll get a better signal.
As far as Chalet Alpina – here’s what we know:
Chalet Alpina is planning for 27 ‘mountain residences’ (which has been scaled down from 34 originally). It’s a bit unclear, but according to Aspen Journalism, the plan is for these accommodations to have “a lock-off configuration that results in 104 individual ‘keys” that can be rented out as hotel rooms when timeshare owners aren’t in town.”
From the sound of things, this room count is entirely separate from any offering the Aman property would have, though it’s worth noting that Aman locations tend to be sub-30 key outlets and usually have accompanying residences of their own.
As far as amenities, the Chalet Alpina will have a rooftop pool overlooking the slopes, a full-service spa, a private club for members, and a private ski shop.
Plans for the development include several upscale and fine dining restaurants.
Lift One has history as it’s the site where ski culture really started in Aspen, way back before all the development. I’ll share updates as they become available!
