The Aspen Club Has Until Dec. 31. Its Community Fund Has Until 2035.

From the bike path along the Roaring Fork River, the edge of the Aspen Club looks like a project someone stopped halfway through. The townhomes closest to the path are the furthest along. Two more sets are still wrapped in tarp. In the middle of the site stands the clubhouse, about 50 years old, as a concrete-and-steel frame that has barely changed since its partial demolition a decade ago.

This fall there has been movement behind the fence on Ute Avenue: a site office, large equipment parked near the main building, and city inspections of concrete slabs in the clubhouse. Crossland Construction replaced PCL as general contractor this summer. The city has given the project one last date to show that work has truly restarted. Most coverage treats that date as the story. The more lasting one is a separate clock that was set in 2010 and has kept running through every stall since.

What the City Means by "Drop-Dead"

The club closed for redevelopment in 2016. Committed financing never came through, contractors left the job in 2017, and construction stopped with the townhomes 60% to 80% complete. The property went through bankruptcy and then a foreclosure auction. Meriwether Companies, Revere Capital and Fireside Investments acquired it in 2021 for $52.6 million. City review of the new owners' design changes then took years. The clubhouse revision alone went through five rounds of review, from its February 2023 submission to its issuance in April 2026.

In mid-April, chief building official Bonnie Muhigirwa granted the latest of several permit extensions, and it came with conditions. The extension correspondence requires "substantial work" to continue on the townhomes, including reroofing, framing and flashing. It also states that if work on the club building permit "has not recommenced by December 31, 2026, the permit will become invalid." Submitting new plan revisions will not count as grounds for more time.

Until now, the city had treated small bits of progress on any part of the site as enough to keep every permit active. Muhigirwa described the change to Aspen Journalism, in reporting co-published by the Aspen Daily News:

"Previously, we would see a little bit of electrical work being done, and then nothing for six months, and then another tiny bit of framing. We've said that we're not going to keep that going indefinitely. This needs to be a real return to work on the site."

In the same reporting she called Dec. 31 a "drop-dead" deadline and said she believes it is achievable. On the day this post publishes, about seven weeks remain.

The Promises Written Into the 2010 Approval

The deadline matters beyond the property line because of what the city got in exchange for approving the project. To add timeshare lodging in a residential zone, the club's developers needed a Specially Planned Area designation, and that required showing a public benefit. The 2010 approval ordinance set out what the community would receive:

• Community access. A commitment to keep at least some access to the club open regardless of membership.
• Nonprofit space. Free office space for two nonprofits, continuing the club's history of hosting local organizations.
• Facility upgrades. Millions of dollars invested in the club's facilities.
• Workforce housing. Twelve two-bedroom affordable units on site, open to club employees or other local workers who qualify through the Aspen-Pitkin County Housing Authority. The ordinance described these as a voluntary commitment that housed 45% more full-time-equivalent employees than the timeshares required.
• A recreation fund. A 0.25% assessment on every fractional-interest sale, paid into a new Community Health and Recreation Fund that would give grants to fill gaps if the club's benefits ever stopped.

Those conditions still apply, even though the parking and condo layout changed in a 2015 approval. None of them has been delivered, because the facility they depend on does not exist yet.

The One Benefit That Expires on Schedule

Four of those five benefits will still arrive whenever the club opens, however late. The recreation fund is different. Its assessment lasts 25 years from the approval date, so it ends in 2035 whether or not a single sale has closed. Sales cannot close until the units receive a certificate of occupancy. Based on the latest construction schedule, Aspen Journalism estimates the fund will collect for about four years of its 25.

The construction dates below come from the August 2026 construction management plan, which the city describes as a nonbinding "living document."

The schedule has more than 2,300 milestones, down to the countertops in a catering kitchen and the second coat of paint in an employee locker room. It also builds in a dependency. Affordable housing could start later in 2027, but only after substantial progress on the clubhouse pool, because the access ramp and materials staging overlap the workforce-housing parcel. So a clubhouse restart this winter does more than keep a permit alive. It is the first step toward the 12 workforce units and toward any years at all of fund collections.

The first items on Crossland's list were set for this fall: prep work on the clubhouse foundation and rough plumbing, electrical and heating. On the townhomes, which have sat exposed for years, the early work is structural checks, possible corrections, and waterproofing.

What Ute Avenue Lives With in the Meantime

If the restart holds, the East End will spend about four years next to an active construction site on one of its tightest streets. The construction management plan sets the ground rules.

Hours. Work runs 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. There is no work on Sundays or federal holidays. Any work outside those hours requires written notice to the city and adjacent neighbors at least 48 hours ahead.

One way in. The plan calls Main Street to Original Street, then south on Ute Avenue, "the only route to the project site," and tells subcontractors about the tight conditions on Ute. Construction vehicles are capped at 65,000 pounds. Deliveries happen only during working hours, delivery trucks may not idle more than five minutes, and the plan says no road closures will be needed for deliveries.

Street work. Planned work on Ute Avenue includes asphalt, curb and gutter, cross pans, driveway approaches, utilities and storm inlets. One traffic lane stays open, driveway interruptions are coordinated with neighbors, and public parking and bus routes are not affected.

Parking. On-site parking is limited to management, certain trade superintendents, ownership, inspectors and visitors. Workers are to vanpool from Crystal Lake, and those who don't vanpool are sent mainly to the Brush Creek Intercept Lot and RFTA. Workers may not use the free two-hour residential spaces without a permit. Stockpiles, field offices, dumpsters and delivery drop-off stay inside the construction fence, with no staging in the public right-of-way.

Noise. The plan uses a 70-decibel limit at the property line and proposes a 14-foot acoustic barrier along Ute Avenue. Neighbors within 300 feet get at least seven days' written notice before work expected to exceed that level. That louder work is limited to 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on weekdays unless the city approves otherwise.

The river side. The plan puts the walking trail and the Roaring Fork River on the site's north edge and says no public sidewalk closures are required.

Who Answers the Phone

Crossland names its superintendent, Braden Scott, as the project liaison and sole point of contact for public communication. The plan lists his number as 918-949-0200 and calls for a project sign readable from Ute Avenue. Updates are to be posted on site and mailed monthly to neighbors within 300 feet. The first notice is due at least 10 days before construction begins on Building No. 1 and covers the project phase, traffic and pedestrian concerns, and hauling and staging.

Inspections are the city's main way of measuring progress on a site. Muhigirwa told Aspen Journalism that a site office and workers do not count as a revival on their own, but that inspections are showing progress. Aspen Journalism said its Oct. 25 story is the first in a series on the club's history and the decade of stops and starts. Neighbors on the 300-foot mailing list should get the first project notice before Building No. 1 work begins, and the city decides on Dec. 31 whether the clubhouse permit survives.

I've watched the Aspen Club go from the center of the East End's fitness life to a fenced lot, and I'm following this restart closely. If you live near Ute Avenue and want to talk through what four years of construction could mean for your property, or how a finished club might change the block, Aspen Luxury Real Estate is here when you're ready. Let's Connect.