Three key projects drive Vail's resort renaissance

The venerable ski resort's transformation is on track as work progresses on The Arrabelle, Vail's Front Door and the Vail Plaza Hotel.

By Daniel T. DeCristoforo

Rendering courtesy of 4240 Architecture

If you've ever walked from Vail Village through Lionshead to West Vail and wondered if you'd passed through three different towns, you're not alone.

The architectural disconnect, although jarring, has more to do with economics than bad planning, according to Robert Fitzgerald of Denver's 4240 Architecture, designers of The Arrabelle and Vail's Front Door.

"Vail's founders possessed a clear vision for a Bavarian-style resort," Fitzgerald said, "but lacked the financial resources to project their inspired theme much beyond Vail Village proper."

Nearly 40 years later, Vail comes full circle in reviving the founders' dreams while striding boldly into the 21st Century. The transformation - known as "Vail's New Dawn" or "Vail's Billion Dollar Renewal" - encompasses a number of high-profile projects. In Lionshead, they include the $250 million Arrabelle at Vail Square, $60 million Gore Creek Place, a $45 million conference center and $10 million worth of streetscaping to revitalize the village's pedestrian mall.

In Vail Village, significant projects include the expansion of the Sonnenalp Resort and the next-door construction of One Willow Bridge, plus ground-up construction of the Four Seasons and Vail Plaza Hotel & Club, Founders Park and Parkers Garage and $10 million worth of streetscaping at the Bridge and Gore and Meadow Drive.

"Upon completion in the fall of 2007, the Arrabelle at Lionshead will be the most elegant ski-resort complex in North America," said Clark Atkinson of Shaw Construction, general contractor for The Arrabelle and Vail Plaza Hotel projects. "There is simply nothing else that compares. It's the crème de la crème and a catalyst for additional redevelopment."

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The Arrabelle
The centerpiece of The Arrabelle project is a Rock Resorts hotel with 36 guest rooms, 67 private residences and penthouses and 33,000 sq ft of retail space. Other highlights include skier-services facilities, restaurants, boutiques, galleries, entertainment venues and an underground parking garage that includes loading and delivery facilities.

Construction on the 550,000-sq-ft, $164 million project, scheduled to finish next fall, has faced numerous challenges - not the least of which was the complex nature of the structure.

"Unlike your typical high-rise, where after the fourth floor you essentially repeat the same plan until you top out, every floor of the nine-story Arrabelle is unique," Atkinson said. "Very few residences look alike. The steel skeleton alone required 2,000 sheets of shop drawings."

The tight site complicates things. "Arrabelle is quite simply an urban, zero-lot-line project at its most challenging," Atkinson said. "There's minimal staging area and four-season resort activities happening all around us. It's like building a ship in a bottle."

The solution entailed a detailed construction management plan and regular, proactive communications with municipal officials and merchants. "We transformed the construction site into a tourist attraction by staging entertainment activities nearby and installing picture windows overlooking the site," Atkinson said.

Perimeter fences also feature educational displays, photographs and biographies of key personnel on the project. To ensure that Arrabelle honored the Bavarian themes that inspired Vail's founders, the design team traveled to Europe to visit denser, larger-scale Lionshead-like versions of Vail Village. They found them in Prague, Innsbruck, Kitzbühel, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Munich's Old Town.

"Arrabelle isn't Disneyland," Fitzgerald said. "It doesn't transport you back to a bygone era. Rather, it evokes an authentic Bavarian village that has evolved over time as several generations of artisans built outward from a central core."

The project also doesn't attempt to re-create Vail's Bridge Street, he said. "Arrabelle is bigger and grander." That's illustrated by its 32 facades, highlighted by authentic detailing such as steeply pitched roof lines, timbered balconies, stone-clad entries, shutters and turrets.

Vail's Front Door
Meanwhile, the design of Vail's Front Door, a $115 million complex located at the base of the Vista Bahn in the heart of Vail Village, relates directly to the Bavarian-themed architecture already extant in Vail Village.

"Vail's Front Door provides something that has long been lacking-a defined entrance to the ski mountain," said Doug Thompson of Hyder Construction, the project's general contractor. "Vail will now offer amenities commensurate with its standing as a world-class resort."

The 285,000-sq-ft, 21-elevator project boasts two underground parking garages with a 14-bay truck-loading dock for commercial deliveries; a state-of-the-art spa for the Lodge at Vail; 13 four-story, luxury chalets in five buildings; a full-featured skier-services facility; private ski club and pool; and a tunnel for U.S. Forest Service access to Vail Mountain.

"The loading docks, which serve merchants throughout Vail Village, help relieve congestion, reduce noise and virtually eliminate truck traffic," Fitzgerald said.

The core of the project, which broke ground in April, is expected to be ready for the 2007-2008 ski season, with work on the chalets extending into spring of 2008. Two floors of guest rooms at the Lodge at Vail will also be remodeled and new rooms added.

"After months of drilling, blasting, removing rubble and fighting ground water, two tower cranes are up and we have begun laying the foundation," Thompson said. "Much of the structure is cast-in-place concrete."

Seismic surveys used to determine the depth to bedrock and rock density over the five-acre, 65-ft-deep excavation helped Hyder bid out the dirt work.

"The surveys provided an accurate picture of the distribution of weathered rock that could be dug out and consolidated rock that would require blasting," Thompson said.
"This allowed us to more accurately assess costs and greatly reduce the owner's (Vail Resort's) risk."

Below-grade portions of the structure will be largely invisible, hidden beneath the restored toe of Vail Mountain.

"Foam blocks covered with six to eight ft of topsoil will help reduce the load on the parking structure," Fitzgerald said. "If the hill were restored with 100 percent rock and dirt, all the concrete in the world couldn't withstand the pressure."

Vail Plaza Hotel
Another key component of the Vail Renaissance projects - the $100 million, 350,000-sq-ft Vail Plaza Hotel - is slated to open Feb. 1. Located adjacent to the roundabout at the main Vail exit off Interstate 70, the project broke ground in December 2004.

During ski season, 125 of the hotel's 225 rooms convert to 38 condominium homes.
The nine-story facility features underground parking, a porte cochere entrance, two restaurants and a bar, health club and spa, 10,000 sq ft of meeting space, outdoor swimming pool and hot tubs, plus an expansive outdoor dining plaza.

Also featured are 18 units of employee housing and a 5,500-sq-ft penthouse for the owners. More than half the rooms offer balconies and mountain views. Among the highlights: two grand interior courtyards - one an open-air gallery and the other, a soaring lobby flooded with natural light, but protected from the elements by a huge skylight.

"Vail Plaza Hotel is designed to be reminiscent of classic old-world hotels and compatible with the Vail Village look," said Tim Losa of Zehren & Associates, the project architect. "The exterior is clad in split sandstone, granite rubble and stucco, with wood siding on the upper floors, while the elegant interior features knotty alder cabinetry, doors and trim; travertine floors; and granite counters."

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