Vail Town Council to review controversial Concert Hall Plaza project on Tuesday

A controversial proposal to redevelop Lionshead’s aging Concert Hall Plaza property is scheduled to come before the Vail Town Council on Tuesday.

The resolution to approve a development agreement for the property, scheduled for 6:10 p.m., could be one of the final steps in a review process that began last year and has drawn concern from neighbors and supporters of several longtime local businesses that operate in the building.

Town staff is recommending approval of the development agreement between the town of Vail and Beaver Capital SPE, LLC, an approval that would clear the way for demolition of the existing Concert Hall Plaza building at 616 W. Lionshead Circle and construction of a new mixed-use development.

The proposed project would replace the existing commercial building with a new development containing nine residential units, commercial space, residential amenities and enclosed parking.

The town’s Planning and Environmental Commission first considered the application in August 2025, tabling it twice as commissioners discussed issues including pedestrian circulation, site access and consistency with the Lionshead Redevelopment Master Plan. Locals expressed concern over the displacement of local businesses including the Little Diner and Sunshine Massage.

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A revised plan ultimately won unanimous approval from the commission in September 2025.

The Design Review Board later reviewed the proposal at two public hearings in 2026. After initially tabling the application to seek design refinements, the board unanimously approved the revised project in April.

At that hearing, it was neighbors at the Landmark building across the street who spoke out against the project. Lydia Spottswood, who owns a unit in the Landmark building, said the height of the proposed project would create a “concrete canyon” in Lionshead.

“We will lose view corridors integral to our rental property value,” she said.

Concert Hall Plaza was originally developed as a concert venue in 1977. After the performance space became economically unviable, the building was reconfigured in 1981 into a three-story commercial structure. While much of Lionshead Village has undergone significant redevelopment over the past several decades, Concert Hall Plaza remains one of the few properties that has largely retained its original form.

Developers previously pursued a redevelopment of the site in 2007, receiving approvals for a mixed-use project with hotel and condominium uses, but the project was never built.

In approving the building on April 15, Vail Design Review Board member Rys Olsen said he has been passing through the building since it was a concert hall in the 1970s.

Olsen said the proposed project’s pedestrian connection, which will be reduced to 13 feet wide from its current width of 15 feet, will be wide enough for the amount of people it will see, comparing it to the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.

“(The Grand Bazaar) is barely bigger, only by a few feet,” he said. “And the approximate number is 240,000 people pass through that daily. I think (the Concert Hall Plaza pedestrian area redesign) falls into a wide enough guideline for the amount of traffic that passes through there.”

Town planning documents describe the property as a key component of the Lionshead Redevelopment Master Plan, which identifies Concert Hall Plaza as the intended western gateway to the village’s pedestrian core. The master plan encourages redevelopment that creates a more direct pedestrian connection between West Lionshead Circle and the heart of Lionshead.

Under the proposed development agreement, the developer would also dedicate a public pedestrian easement, install public art and pay an employee housing fee in lieu of providing workforce housing on site.

The Vail Town Council is scheduled to consider the development agreement during its evening meeting on Tuesday, scheduled for 6 p.m.