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PCMR Base Parking Lots Sold - Development Imminent

KPCW

The development of the surface parking lots at the base of Park City Mountain Resort has been approved for years. With the sale of those 10 acres by Vail Resorts to a Provo company  this week– the development is imminent. KPCW’s Leslie Thatcher has more.

An announcement was made Thursday morning that Vail Resorts had entered into an agreement with PEG Companies, a Utah-based commercial real estate development and investment group, to sell and develop the parcels that have been used as free parking.

Robert Schmidt, the Vice President of Development for PEG told KPCW the company has done a number of mixed-use developments across the western U.S. and Canada. It had also worked with Powdr Corps – the former owner of the resort,  to develop preliminary plans of the area years ago.

At this point, Schmidt says everything is very preliminary, and it will be months before they’re prepared to file a development application.

Schmidt said, “we’re early on in the process here and so, final plans have not been developed. We are contemplating what the uses could be and should be. We want to hear from the community. We would like to get ideas and thoughts and visit with the community about the property itself and we will formulate plans as we go through a process of visiting and talking and collaborating with multiple stakeholders in the community.”

Even though Vail is selling the property to PEG, Schmidt says it’s not hands off for the resort company.

“Obviously, Schmidt said, “Vail has a stake in and an interest being the resort operator. So, ‘totally out of it’ may not be an accurate statement. They’re interested - they want to see a vibrant, exciting base development happen there and so there will be some collaboration, certainly. But PEG will be the owner and the developer of the property.”

A press release notes that the property will feature a full-service hotel and spa, residential units, commercial space for dining, retail and skier services, parking garages as well as traffic and transit improvements and on-site workforce housing.

When asked if free parking would be a thing of the past, once the project is built, he said it’s too soon to say.

“There’s a need for parking, he said and that’s the part of the conversation we need to have as we start to plan this property out.” Pretty much guarantees though that  the days of free parking are over as soon as this gets built… “You know, we’ll have to determine that again,” he answered. “We're early in this process. We're excited to have the opportunity to do something here and that will be part of the conversation, I'm sure, that we will have over the next weeks and months as we go through this process.”

Some workforce housing will have to be built on site – to meet the city’s requirements.

“Obviously housing and workforce housing is an issue in the community,” he said.  “We anticipate that we will have workforce and  community housing and working with the city and meeting the city standards and what-not. So, the specifics and details around that we will work out but will certainly be a part of what we’re doing.”

At this point, Schmidt says they don’t have a hotel brand nor any specifics about density and height limitations. A development agreement is in place for this property, which he says will be massaged over the coming months with city officials and the community before an application is filed.

“We will be working within the confines of that development agreement with the city and the community,” he said. “But there's a lot of things that we will be working through to maybe improve, maybe explore different opportunities. Obviously, times have changed over the 20 years that this development  agreement has  gas been in  place and so certainly the development agreement exists. It grants and vests certain rights and has responsibilities associated with it as well and so we will be working through that with the city as we go through the entitlement process.”

Robert Schmidt, Vice President of Development for PEG Companies. He said he wasn’t at liberty to disclose the purchase price but did say it was quote, “a fair price.”

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