Five years ago, Breckenridge planning officials signed off on a hotel slated near the base of Breckenridge Ski Resort’s Peak 8. On May 6, they gave approval for an entirely new concept on the same site. 

What is now known as Lot 4 of the Peak 8 subdivision, colloquially called “admin lot,” has been a parcel of land lacking a concrete plan for the last seven years. Local developer Breckenridge Grand Vacations just received clearance to build The Imperial Hotel & Private Residences after a yearlong planning process, with neighbors sharing mixed opinions along the way. 

The project is one of seven parts of the developer’s plan to introduce numerous housing units, both those geared toward the workforce and market-rate ones, and commercial components to key areas of Breckenridge.  

Lodging and housing construction is expected to consist of 90 fractional ownership condominiums, 43 whole ownership condominiums, 36 hotel units and nine townhomes. The building will also house restaurants and bars, pools and spas, an arcade, theaters, space for administrative offices for Vail Resorts, program area for the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center and an underground garage. 

The construction of the 400,000-square-foot development will impact neighbors in a variety of ways. Officials for the developer said the company has held meetings with concerned citizens. Jane Hamilton, who joined the meeting virtually, expressed that the developer’s approachability was good during the whole process. Others shared concerns with town officials. 

A letter sent from Denver-based firm Ingenuity Law Colorado, written on behalf of the One Ski Hill Place Homeowners Association, ate up a bulk of the conversation between planning commissioners and developers. The lawyer who sent the letter made an appearance during public comments during the May 6 meeting. 

Breckenridge Grand Vacations Owner Mike Dudick said the homeowners association and his company met Friday before the meeting to hash through concerns. He expressed shock over the letter.

“We went home on Friday night thinking this is a done deal, and when I heard there were letters from One Ski Hill Place this morning, I thought they’d be letters of support,” he said. “This was a complete 180 and unexpected.”

In the letter, the association asks the town to not approve the hotel’s plan without substantial revisions and clarifications. It states the association attempted to work with the developer “in good faith, but as of May 5” have not reached a resolution to critical issues. 

A planned dog day care area has remained among the top concerns of nearby residents, who are worried about the noise it will generate. Negative effects on property values, the influx of traffic the development will bring and claims that the developer violated rules related to blocking resident’s view corridor and building height also worked their way into the letter of opposition. 

Dudick said he thought the letter came from one or two angry neighbors and that it wasn’t reflective of how all the neighbors felt. The letter states it was written on behalf of the One Ski Hill Place Homeowners Association.

The attorney who wrote the letter, Alex Dorotik, fired back during public comments calling Dudick’s comments “frankly, nothing short of astonishing.”

“What we were told as One Ski Hill Place HOA was there would be no outdoor dog park, no outdoor play area,” he said. “It’s bewildering to hear about permeable surfaces, when that was something we were told would never happen.”

He said the neighborhood is partially worried about what they feel is mishandling of an easement, noting “there will be litigation about that.”

After public comment, the project received unanimous approval from the commission. 

Breckenridge Grand Vacations chief development officer Graham Frank told Breckenridge Planning Commissioners at the May 6 meeting they are shooting to start the permitting process in October. He said construction will likely run “36-40 months, end-to-end.”

The 400,000-square-foot development is located in a protection district for what’s considered an environmentally sensitive areas in Summit County, Cucumber Gulch. As a result, the developers are also on the hook for projects intended to maintain water quality in the gulch. Last year, environmental experts expressed worry over the protected gulch, which partially falls under the gondola leading to Peak 8 at Breckenridge Ski Resort. They said human-caused impacts have threatened the biodiversity of the area, and now some species that were once found there are gone. A staff memo included in documents for the May 6 meeting notes, “The project will not have a significant adverse environmental impact or demonstrative negative aesthetic effect.”

The hotel that was first approved for the plot of land, dubbed the East Peak 8 hotel, never came to fruition after the Miami-based investors who bought the land let the development permit and vested rights expire in February 2023. Breckenridge Grand Vacations entered the picture shortly after, and attempted to move forward with a plan that would have reimagined a major part of the town core. Community pushback shut that down. So, Breckenridge Grand Vacations went back to the drawing board and had an agreement for the seven-parcel development the hotel is part of approved in April 2024.