Snowmass Village's Next Construction Discount Isn't in Base Village Anymore
Stand in the Snowmass Mall today and you can price two neighborhoods against each other with a straight face. Base Village, a few hundred yards one way, is finishing a project that started in 1999. West Village, a few hundred yards the other way, hasn't broken ground on anything yet. A buyer comparing the two right now is comparing a finished product to an empty lot, at least on paper.
That comparison is about to flip. The building most people call the Viewline, the one just uphill from the Mall along with the Snowmass Conference Center and Wildwood Lodge, is heading into a redevelopment that Snowmass Village's own town manager describes as a two-year planning process followed by four winters of construction. If you're weighing a purchase in either neighborhood this fall, you're not comparing where these two areas stand today. You're comparing where they're each headed, on very different clocks.
Base Village's story is almost over. The final phase, an 89-unit, two-building complex called Stratos, is set to finish in 2027 and was already about 80% sold as of a July 2026 update to the Aspen Chamber Resort Association. Twenty-seven years after it started, and after what Town Manager Clint Kinney called an "exceptionally controversial" beginning, Base Village is nearly a settled question.
West Village is the opposite story, and it's just getting started. Elevated Snowmass LLC, led by hotelier Stephane De Baets, bought the Viewline Resort Snowmass, the Snowmass Conference Center, and Wildwood Lodge for $143,997,116 in a deal that closed roughly a year before the company filed its first land-use application in January 2026. De Baets is no stranger to the valley. He also controls the St. Regis Aspen Resort and owns Redstone Castle outright. His plan for the Snowmass property is a full redevelopment under the Ritz-Carlton brand, operated through Marriott Bonvoy.
He isn't shy about why a remodel wasn't enough.
"Every building, every pipe, every system has a lifetime, and at one point in time, you go past the expiration date. I honestly believe that we are very close to the time where we're going to say we can't make it work. I believe this infrastructure is obsolete."
Snowmass Mayor Alyssa Shenk agreed at the same March 2026 work session, telling the room the town understood it was dealing with aging infrastructure. Council Member Tom Fridstein put it more bluntly: somebody had to scrap the whole thing and start over.
The site has been rebuilt before. Wildwood Inn and the Silver Tree Inn went up in the 1960s, before Snowmass Village was even incorporated as a town. Building L was added to the Silvertree Hotel and the Conference Center opened in the 1980s. The Silvertree became the Westin Snowmass in the early 2000s after a $62 million update across all four properties, then reopened again in 2022 as the Viewline Resort Snowmass, Autograph Collection, right before De Baets bought it.
He put roughly $6 million into fixing the air conditioning, sewer system, and water main after buying it, according to his own account at the March work session. Design Workshop principal Jessica Garrow, the firm leading the planning work, explained why patching wasn't a real fix: the buildings were constructed in different decades with water, sewer, and electric systems that don't speak to one another, plus small rooms and a parking shortage baked into the original design.
That's the argument for tearing it down. It's also the argument for why nearby real estate is about to feel the effects for years, not months.
The Sketch Plan presented to the Town Council and Planning Commission on July 20, 2026 lays out a project that consolidates three aging properties into one.
| Component | Current Sketch Plan |
|---|---|
| Lodge keys | 167 |
| Fractional units | 61 (1/8 ownership shares, sizes 2 to 5 bedrooms) |
| Workforce housing units | 125, split between Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis operations |
| Commercial space | Approximately 45,000 square feet |
| Conference space | Approximately 40,000 square feet |
| Parking spaces | 252, mostly below grade, up from 25 today |
Council Member Britta Gustafson pushed back on one piece of this at the July meeting, asking how a fractional ownership structure would keep contributing to what she called the "hot bed" occupancy the town depends on for its economy. That question hasn't been answered yet. Neither has a more basic one: when Mayor Shenk asked how the redevelopment would affect the retail businesses currently operating in and around the Viewline, De Baets told her it's impossible to know until the process moves further along.
Kinney's own estimate, given to the Aspen Chamber Resort Association board in late July 2026, is a two-year planning process followed by four winters of ongoing construction, with an opening date projected for 2031. That's five years out from today, and the disruptive part of it, the actual construction, hasn't started.
For anyone shopping near the Mall or West Village this ski season, that timeline matters more than the finished renderings do. Four winters of construction next to a property means four winters of delivery trucks rerouted, parking reconfigured as the below-grade garage goes in, and a retail mix that De Baets himself admits is still unsettled. None of that shows up in a current listing price. All of it will show up in how the property feels to live near between now and 2031.
Snowmass has already run this experiment once, just in the other direction. As Base Village neared its finish line, walkability, ski access, and newer construction became the draw for buyers evaluating the neighborhood, and newer condominium inventory there stayed in high demand even as broader market activity cooled. The disruption faded and the finished product did the selling.
West Village is entering the disruptive phase Base Village is exiting. If the pattern holds, the neighborhood that looks calm on paper today will be the one absorbing years of construction noise, while the neighborhood people currently associate with cranes and scaffolding will have moved on to being simply finished.
A price-per-square-foot comparison between Base Village and West Village today captures a snapshot, not a trajectory. Before writing an offer near either area, it's worth asking a few questions that a listing sheet won't answer on its own.
None of this means West Village is a neighborhood to avoid. It means the comparison most buyers are making, this area versus that area, based on where things stand this month, is missing the clock each one is running on.
When does construction actually start on the Ritz-Carlton project? As of the July 2026 Sketch Plan presentation, the project is still in the planning and entitlement phase. Town Manager Clint Kinney has described a two-year planning process ahead, meaning ground-disturbing construction is not expected to begin immediately.
Will the Viewline keep operating while this moves through planning? The property has continued operating under De Baets's ownership since the purchase, with roughly $6 million already spent on interim repairs. Nothing in current reporting indicates a closure date has been set.
Does this only affect hotel guests, or does it matter for residential buyers too? It matters for anyone buying near the site. Four winters of construction affect traffic patterns, parking, and the retail environment for neighboring residential owners regardless of whether they ever set foot in the hotel itself.
How does this compare to what happened with Base Village? Base Village took 27 years from start to its final phase, with Stratos wrapping up in 2027. The West Village project is earlier in that same kind of cycle, with an opening currently projected for 2031. The comparison isn't identical, but the pattern, years of disruption followed by a repriced, finished neighborhood, is one Snowmass Village has already lived through once.
Timing decisions like this one are exactly where a local, principal-led perspective earns its keep. If you're weighing a purchase near West Village, Base Village, or anywhere else in Snowmass this season, The Burggraf Group can walk through what a five-year redevelopment horizon actually means for the property you're considering. Connect with Will and Sarah Burggraf for a private consultation.
Working with Will and Sarah Burggraf means expert guidance through Aspen real estate. With 30+ years of experience, they offer personal, informed, and dedicated service.