Aspen divide: conflict brews over affordable lodging.

• Author: Sukin, Gigi
• Position: REAL ESTATE ROUNDUP - Aspen Highlands, Colorado

IN THE LATE 1930S, BEFORE OFFICIALLY planting roots, Elizabeth Paepcke and other travelers caught a ride up Aspen Mountain in the truck bed of a mining crew.

Of the experience, Paepcke wrote in her memoir:

"At the top, we halted in frozen admiration. In all that landscape of rock, snow and ice, there was neither print of animal nor track of man. We were alone as though the world had just been created and we its first inhabitants."

When she returned to town in 1945 with her husband--Walter, a Chicago industrial titan--the two imagined a ski town infused with culture. Today, Aspen stands as an ultra-exclusive international destination--striving to preserve the pillars of intellect, recreation, and natural beauty that define the place and attract its tourists and next-gen locals.

In an effort to promote Aspen's visitor-based economy, a call to action to increase the town's diversity went out to community constituents and developers years ago. But while long-awaited affordable lodging could be coming to downtown Aspen, the developer faces predictable resistance from the town's residents and officials.

MANIFEST DESTINY

Mark Hunt, another Chicagoan, began his career and garnered attention in that city's real estate community, thanks to his willingness to pay high prices and make aggressive plans that tended to pay off.

In 2007, Hunt set his sights on Aspen. The developer acquired the first of his commercial properties in 2010 for more than $5 million. As of 2014, he had scooped up more than 10 additional properties, worth tens of millions of dollars.

For two of the properties--one on 730 E. Cooper Street, the other on 232 E. Main Street--Hunt proposed economy ($150-$200) hotel rooms to open by 2016. He dubbed the projects Basel and Base2 respectively.

"I was approached by some of the powers that be, based on the amount of real estate that I own, if I would consider looking into affordable lodging," Hunt told Aspen Public Radio in early June before Base2 received City Council's blessing. "It's something that was high on the to-do list of the city... something we were looking to address since 1976, almost 40 years."

According to City Council member Adam Frisch, it's important for Aspen to diversify its base. A 2002 Report and Recommendation of the Economic Sustainability Committee indicated that among several trends affecting Aspen, there was a noticeable "shift from [a] ski to real estate-driven business economy ... and a general shift to upper...