By Julie Dunn

December 12, 2005 - Developers in Vail will break ground today on the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Vail, the luxury hotel's first outpost in Colorado.

The $200 million project, on a 2.7-acre site just southwest of the main Vail roundabout, will feature 120 hotel rooms, 16 private residences and 19 fractional units.

"Four Seasons has been interested in Vail for a very, very long time," said T.J. Brink, vice president of Black Diamond Resorts-Vail LLC, the project's developer. "We finally found a site in the village that is big enough to accommodate all three components. And it has really great views."

The Four Seasons, expected to open in June 2008, will also feature more than 11,000 square feet of meeting space, a grand ballroom, a spa, a restaurant and four retail shops.

Average room rates and prices for the condominiums and fractional units were not available.

Slifer, Smith & Frampton Real Estate in Vail will handle the sale of the wholly owned residences, and Playground Destination Properties, a division of Intrawest Corp., will sell the fractional units. Playground is based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Sales are expected to launch in January.

Vail is undergoing a $1 billion revitalization, financed by the town, Vail Resorts Inc. and private developers. Vail Resorts announced in June that it plans to build a 108-room Ritz-Carlton Residences, a luxury condominium project, in Lionshead Village.

"We're thrilled to have an international name like the Four Seasons coming into the heart of Vail," said Robin Litt, vice president of partnership for the Vail Valley Chamber and Tourism Bureau. "Together with some of the other properties that are being constructed right now, we're expecting to see the quality of service and the quality of the bed base in our community improve across the board."

A 50-story Four Seasons hotel and condominium project also is proposed for downtown Denver and would become the second in Colorado.

The proposed Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences would be built by Teatro Tower LLC - whose principals are Hotel Teatro developers Jeff Selby and Michael Brenneman - on the southeast corner of Arapahoe and 14th streets, adjacent to the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

Staff writer Julie Dunn can be reached at 303-820-1592 or [email protected]. 

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