Elkhorn Lodge tour allows community to see where renovation project stands

Developers of the Elkhorn Lodge property at the west end of Elkhorn Avenue took their plea for annexation and rezoning of an additional 40 acres of property they own to the public on Tuesday by opening up the shell of the historic lodge to tours to share their vision of what could be.

The annexation request faces its final hurdle next Tuesday, Jan. 27, when the Town Board will decide whether to override the Planning Commission’s recommendation to veto the annexation plan.

The two projects, Elkhorn Lodge Phase I and Elkhorn Lodge Phase II, are intrinsically intertwined due to project financing, explained co-owners Justin Mabey and Matt Lowder of East Avenue Development, a firm based in Cedar Park, Texas.

“We’ve had challenge after challenge,” Lowder said. Those challenges have included bank collapses serving the California tech industry, extreme inflation that hit construction particularly hard in 2021 and 2022, difficulties with two different contractors who had been hired to work on the project, and, most recently, federal financing that was set to be issued in October, just as the federal government shutdown occurred.

“We’ve put $25 million of our own money, and then the bank was going to cover the rest like a down payment on a home,” Lowder said.

New financing has been obtained to complete the rehabilitation of the Elkhorn Lodge and the construction of the rest of Phase I, with one caveat: annexation of the 40 acres.

“We’re not going to build anything up there until this is all done,” Lowder explained. “But we can’t finish all of this until we know we will be able to build up there, because in order to support the business model, it’s contingent upon us being able to do that, to support it,” he said.

“With some, the new ordinance passed for getting things rezoned made this property a lot more valuable to other people, because it’s going to be harder to come in and build a hotel where this property is already zoned for it,” Lowder said.

But, he added, those who might be interested in the property won’t necessarily be interested in the historic value of the property.

“You guys will only preserve it if you get Phase II. We can’t tear this down. We’re too emotionally attached to it,” said Lowder.

Without the approval, both Lowder and Mabry predicted that East Avenue would sell the property. Some interested parties have already looked at the property, Mabry said.

Tuesday’s open house tour attracted nearly 100 people for a walk through the main lodge and to hear what East Avenue has worked on and planned for the future.

For now, the building is a shell with peeling wallpaper. In the last month, vandals have broken windows, tossed doors through open spaces, and thrown antique bathroom sinks from the second floor.

Before raising the building to allow workers to install a foundation beneath it, items such as fireplace mantels, irreplaceable elk mounts, and other native animals were placed in storage.

As part of the reconstruction project, plaster-and-lath walls have been damaged, and floors are covered with plywood. Ceilings are open to the rafters. Plumbing pipes are exposed. 

Those touring the lodge on Tuesday were hardy souls, given the cold wind that swept through the open building and across the construction site.

Signs were posted that the building was in rough shape and that visitors to the open house needed to assume responsibility for their own safety. To enter the lodge, people had to crawl in via a ladder or walk on a wooden plank that was propped up from the ground to an open doorway.

Throughout the property, historic cottages and buildings, including the community’s first school building, have been moved into a village-like setting for preservation. Water, sewer, and electric infrastructure have been laid in preparation for the next phase of construction work to begin.

Phase I of the Elkhorn Lodge project was approved by the town as a Planned Unit Development in 2020. The upper 40 acres is southwest of, yet adjacent to, the original PUD in unincorporated Larimer County and is currently open space. It is part of a larger resort and lodging plan.

According to Lowder and Mabey, work on the upper 40 would not begin until Phase I of the project, including a Hilton Homewood Suites hotel, is completed. A concrete foundation for the hotel has already been installed.

Opponents of the annexation plan have expressed concerns about the development’s impact on wildlife, increased light pollution, protection of ridgelines and viewsheds, and increased traffic in the area.

For the Town to approve building permits for Phase II, the East Avenue Development would be required to construct an access road from Moraine Avenue across to Elkhorn Avenue that would meet Town standards. According to Mabey, the cost of constructing the road will be millions of dollars.