Avon approves new building in town center with 164 units of housing
Some councilors, and many members of public, concerned development plan does not include enough parking spaces
John LaConte/Vail Daily archive
A patch of land that has sat vacant in Avon for 46 years may finally see development.
Grand Peaks Properties, a real estate firm out of Denver, plans to build 164 units of housing on the site known as Lot B, in the town center next to Bob’s Place, Lily Sushi and Ramen and the Lodge at Avon Center. The development will be called The Summit Apartments.
The Avon Town Council approved the developer’s major development plan and a development bonus request during its meeting Tuesday, the third council hearing the application received, with a vote of six to one.
History of Lot B
Built in 1980, Avon Center, the abutting building, is one of the oldest buildings in the town of Avon. Avon Center was built on Lot A. Lot B, by contrast, was simply paved over and has sat vacant since 1980.
“For the past 45 years, numerous developers have attempted to build on this site,” said Alan Simpson, director with Grand Peaks, at the council’s Feb. 10 review of the application.
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Proposals have included hotels, condominiums and workforce housing.
“Each of these efforts ultimately failed for the same structural reasons. There were parking conflicts, shared use and access restraints, and restrictive legacy agreements with adjacent properties,” Simpson said.
What will go on the lot
Grand Peaks began working on a project for the site in 2024.
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“The Summit succeeds because those longstanding structural issues are finally being addressed head-on,” Simpson said.
Grand Peaks worked with local architects and engineers, along with the Avon Center homeowner’s association board and town of Avon staff, to build a project that fit in the space and satisfied the needs of all parties.
Grand Peaks plans to build a primarily residential building that contains 164 units of housing, ranging from one to three bedrooms, and tops out at 100 feet.
The development is also designed to include a 4,000-square-foot culture and arts or commercial space on the pedestrian mall that will be bestowed to the town.
Up to 20 units in the development will be deed restricted community housing. The building is obligated by town code to provide four units, and the town is prepared to invest up to $4 million in the remaining 16 units. But the rental cost of the units, even deed restricted and area median income (AMI) capped, gave members of the public and council pause.
The Colorado Housing Finance Authority publishes the prices for maximum rents for AMI-restricted units established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). If the units were capped at 120% AMI, rent, which includes heating, electric, water and sewer, would be just shy of $3,000 per month for a one-bedroom. The price would climb to over $4,000 per month for a three bedroom.
“I’m concerned that they’re not going to go to the people that they are intended for,” said Ian Grask, Avon resident. Grask asked the council to consider other factors related to affordability, as the average renter in Eagle County can afford rates well below $3,000 per month.
The Town Council opted to include a stipulation that town staff and the developer would look into capping the units at 100% AMI, consider buying down a smaller number of units, or the town could spend its $4 million elsewhere.
While the free-market units will pay to rent their parking spaces, the deed restricted units will also have access to free parking, after a push by Council member Lindsay Hardy.
“We’re paying $4 million for these units, we’re getting a parking spot,” Hardy said.
Don Simpson, Grand Peaks’ chairman, agreed on the spot not to charge the community housing units for parking.
Parking controversy
While the development will contain 164 units of housing, it will only provide 188 parking spaces. This is due, in part, to an additional 80 spaces Lot B owes to Lot A due to an agreement brokered by the town in 1987.
Combined, the 188 and 80 spaces total 268 spaces. According to the most conservative interpretation of the town’s parking recommendations, the development should provide 320 parking spaces. But the Town Council was able to override the town’s suggestions after discussion.
The 17% reduction in parking was based on town’s old code, said Council member Gary Brooks, written at a time when municipalities “overparked everything.”
“(Parking) is a problem … that will resolve itself over time,” due to a combination of empty rental units and a shift in transportation methods, Brooks said.
Hardy, who voted against approving the project, disagreed, citing that the town already struggled with overflow parking in its central areas.
“I think the reduced parking is not appropriate,” Hardy said. “We can’t just give up all this parking because there appears to be some kind of alignment with the HOA and this property owner.”
Grand Peaks reached a formal agreement with the Avon Center HOA board, approved by both parties’ lawyers, that The Summit will provide 80 parking spaces for Lot A.
A few Avon Center owners attended the meeting to protest against the agreement, citing concerns that they had not properly been notified and would “lose property in this deal,” according to Dan Griffith, Avon Center owner.
“We’ve gone through every step legally, properly, according to our definitions,” said Tony Emrick, Avon Center HOA board member. “The agreement that we have with (Grand Peaks) is legally binding and it’s in escrow.”
Parking is “so difficult,” said Avon Mayor Tamra Nottingham Underwood. “If it’s the agreement that they’ve already executed, then let’s refer to it as that.”
One of the town’s requirements is that the developer provide a parking management plan showing how it will provide its obligated parking spaces that will be reviewed by Town Council and can be enforced by the town’s police department if violated.
The 188 parking spaces will be located in a garage. Most units receive one parking space, even with two or more residents.
The developer is also joining the new car share program being piloted by Vail and Zipcar by dedicating two parking spaces in its garage and covering the $40,000 fee to participate. It will be the first Avon site in the program. If the program is successful, the developers said they would be open to increasing their parking space contribution.
Most Town Council members were on board with the entire application except for the parking, and the majority decided to prioritize seeing the building built over continuing to work through parking-related challenges.
“This lot, if it goes back to market, will sit another 35 years … and I’ll be dead before anything is ever built on it,” said Council member Chico Thuon.
As a building in the center of town, with locals living there, “by its very nature, it is providing a public benefit as an infill structure,” Underwood said.
