Following years of negotiations and revisions, the company behind one of the largest developments in Breckenridge presented officials with a near-final concept for a key aspect of its project.

Breckenridge Grand Vacations’ received general approval from Breckenridge Planning Commission at a Jan. 7 meeting for a plan that is set to become the Imperial Hotel & Private Residences. The project is one piece of a seven-parcel development that will need Planning Commission approval.

Commissioners gave kudos to the developer for navigating what many of them described as one of the more complex projects to come before them. 

The Imperial Hotel & Private Residence will house 90 fractional ownership condominiums, 43 whole ownership condominiums, 36 hotel units and nine townhomes. Commercial space additions such as a speakeasy, a ski shop, a pet play area, a kennel and a spa are detailed in the site plans, too. The project will also feature a program area for the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center, an arcade, a market, a restaurant and more on a site totaling just over four acres.

Breckenridge’s planning manager Chris Kulick said the space dedicated to Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center, a nonprofit providing those with physical disabilities adaptive ski equipment and lessons, will change how the organization operates. 

“With their existing facilities — (to be able to) get disabled skiers to the lifts out of the Peak 9 is quite a trek, and it’s very hard,” he said. “This gets them dedicated parking that’s appropriately sized for their vehicles (and) a facility with elevator access that will take them directly to snow.”

The developer will put a bulk of the parking underground in a three-deck garage. Around 13,000 square feet of heated outdoor space is proposed as well. 

The hotel is slated to be built on top of Breckenridge Ski Resort’s administration building site and parking. Administrative offices for the resort will be included in the development once it’s done, but commissioner Mark Leas asked staff what will happen in the meantime. 

Planner Sarah Crump said the developer intends to provide one or more structures for the offices to operate out of, but those plans hadn’t been provided to town staff yet. 

Previous alterations at the site during the construction of Ski Hill Road, numerous buried utility lines and its close proximity to a highly sensitive nature area, Cucumber Gulch, were among the difficulties staff had to plan through.  

Cucumber Gulch is a nature preserve that recently made its way back into conversation among officials after environmental experts determined the area was suffering from numerous human-caused impacts. 

Commissioner Mike Giller wondered if there were any considerations regarding the possibility of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances reaching the wetlands at Cucumber Gulch since snowmelt runoff from the ski resort, which could contain per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances due to wax commonly used on skis and snowboards, could trickle into the area. 

Be more informed in 2025.

Sign up for daily or weekly newsletters at SummitDaily.com/newsletter

Graham Frank with Breckenridge Grand Vacations said the developer has built similar large-scale developments near the resort and other environmentally sensitive areas, and they test for chemicals and have not run into any issues with snowmelt containing per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances.

“(Our) intention is to preserve that asset,” Frank said. “We obviously see it as a huge asset for the project, and the selling feature of the project is having Cucumber Gulch right there.”

The Planning Commission will review the Imperial Hotel & Private Residences a few more times before signing off on a finalized concept, and construction is years away. Once the Planning Commission gives the OK, the plan will then have to be approved by the Breckenridge Town Council.

Originally, Breckenridge Grand Vacations had plans, and a development agreement, which would have led to an 86-key hotel, two large condominium buildings and three townhomes in the town core. The six buildings would have been built near and on the North Gondola lot, which is considered to be in one of the busiest areas in Breckenridge. The developer nixed these plans after official and community concern and introduced the plan which is now being executed.