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Newsletters
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Title: |
Two More Large MV Projects Win Key Approvals, Warm Praise |
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Author: |
Seth Cagin, Telluride Watch |
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Date: |
11/14/2006 |
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With the $200 million Capella Telluride already under construction in the Mountain Village Center, and the $200 million Rosewood Telluride set to break ground in April, two more large projects last week gained key approvals from the Mountain Village Design Review Board.
If a major renovation and addition to The Peaks receives some minor zoning changes from the Mountain Village Town Council tonight, and the proposed One Gondola Plaza wins a more complex final Planned Unit Development approval from council in December, they, too, will break ground in April, according to the developers.
The upshot: Mountain Village may be a sea of cranes for the next couple of years. When the projects are complete and the cranes come down, the town and region will be fundamentally changed. Indeed, given the limited amount of vacant land in the immediate region, we might be considered quite close to build-out, at least in terms of large buildings.
Some of the obvious impacts:
• huge fees will flow into the coffers of the Mountain Village government;
• near-term, the tourist economy is likely to suffer as potential visitors think twice about vacationing in a construction zone;
• the construction economy will be running at full tilt causing enormous traffic impacts within Mountain Village and on local highways;
• the real estate economy can start marketing and selling an enormous amount of attractive new product, pumping still more money into the economy;
• affordable housing will soon dominate the regional agenda, since all of these new high-end projects will require significant staffing. Where will the workers live?
The total investment is clearly more than half a billion dollars, and may well approach one billion dollars. These numbers are notoriously difficult to pin down. Regardless, individually, each of these projects could stand as among the biggest construction projects ever undertaken in Southwestern Colorado. Collectively, they may well represent a tipping point for the region. We are fast becoming what we are going to be, for better or worse. Or for better and worse. |
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