Vail – Voters on Tuesday resoundingly endorsed rebuilding the dilapidated Crossroads building at the entrance to famed Vail Village, rejecting concerns of the old guard that the new structure would be too big.
By a tally of 1,110 to 467, or a 70-30 margin, controversial mega-developer Peter Knobel won his effort to build Solaris. The $250 million project, at 141 E. Meadow Drive, will replace the crumbling 1969 building at the entrance to Vail with a new one containing 69 condos, a bowling alley, a movie theater, stores, restaurants and a public plaza.
“It’s not vindication. It’s part of the process,” he said at a victory celebration at Le Tour restaurant. “It’s a great piece of property. It’s a great project. It’s going to bring energy back to Vail.”
The measure went to the ballot after much of the town’s patriarchy contested approval of the project by the town council, arguing that its 100-foot-high roofline and modern style would not fit in with the Bavarian-themed village created in 1962.
“We have become the No. 1 ski resort in the Western Hemisphere by having a successful ski village and the best mountain, and over the years, a lot of us have made that happen by working on it,” said Dr. Tom Steinberg, a critic of the proposal who served on the town council for more than 16 years. “But this is grossly overdone.”
While no one argued that the Crossroads building should not be torn down and redeveloped, opponents of the plan questioned why it needed to be so big. They also bristled at Knobel’s hardball politics and interloper status.
“They don’t like that he’s from the outside,” said Kaye Ferry, a community activist and supporter of the project. “This is a changing of the guard in the town of Vail.”
Last year, the town council turned down the proposal, so a political-action group backed by Knobel worked to get two no-voting incumbents, Diana Donovan and Dick Cleveland, defeated in November’s elections.
Their replacements, Mark Gordon and Farrow Hitt, supported Solaris and tilted the council vote 4-3 in favor of the new project when it was re-introduced a month later.
“Those guys are used to saying ‘no’ and having that be the answer,” Ferry said. “Peter figured out a way around it that was legitimate. He waited for a new council and got it passed.”
That prompted a citizens’ group, led by former Mayor Rob Ford, to submit petitions putting the final decision on the ballot Tuesday. The vote drew a record turnout for a municipal election.
Knobel, who earned his stripes – and sizable personal fortune – in New York, now makes Vail his home. He said wanted to make the resort town more family-friendly.
He spent much of the campaign registering new, young voters, including tenants in the existing building who live in condos that he bought from the 22 former owners in anticipation of the redevelopment.
Mayor Rod Slifer, a real-estate magnate who opposed the project, declined to comment on the election results.
Staff writer Steve Lipsher can be reached at 970-513-9495 or at slipsher@denverpost.com.
