GRANBY — This winter, something will be missing from the roads of Granby. The big gray school buses that for the past decade have rumbled between Winter Park Resort and Granby will no longer operate.
Winter Park Resort is moving the bulk of its employee housing out of Granby closer to the resort, said resort President Gary DeFrange. And since the bus served first and foremost as a shuttle for those employees, it will no longer be required.
DeFrange said that about 10 years ago, as the resort was growing, there was not a lot of affordable housing available in the Winter Park Area. In a crunch for employee housing, Winter Park signed a 10-year lease with the developer of the Winter Sage apartments on Ten Mile Circle in Granby as a way to provide affordable housing to its employees.
The ski area leased space for about 75 employees in the complex.
Over the years, it also purchased 10 houses in Grand Meadows. All told, between hotel rooms, townhouses and condos, from Granby to Winter Park, the resort provides housing for up to 200 of its 1,700 to 1,800 employees.
With the economy, more affordable housing has become available closer to the resort.
And with the 10-year lease expiring, an opportunity arose to move all the employee housing from Winter Sage to Winter Park Mountain Lodge directly across US Highway 40 from the resort.
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