Sixth Street Station back with new plan

And with stackable underground parking

By Mark Reaman

The idea of the Crested Butte Hotel or Sixth Street Station is back in front of the town. The developers presented a conceptual plan to the Board of Zoning and Architectural Review (BOZAR) on August 30 and are asking to go through the process as a Planned Unit Development (PUD) in the B-2 business zone.

The proposal showed two main large buildings on either side of Teocalli Avenue and Sixth Street, four “cottages” on the north end of the development across from the Gas Café, six affordable housing units, and underground parking with 86 valet-served “stackable” parking spaces and 21 surface spots.

The project would stretch along Sixth Street from Gothic Avenue to Butte Avenue. The condo hotel would have 33 units that could be utilized as 86 separate rooms, or “keys,” in the project. The units would be owned privately but have to be available to the general public on a short-term basis at least 80 percent of the calendar year. There would also be an interior bar and small restaurant, an outside bar, a small retail space and public restrooms.

Because of providing underground parking, the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of the building can be at one and thus would allow 62,500 square feet on the four blocks. Most of that would be contained in the two primary buildings on the two middle blocks of the development.

This will be the third proposal the developers have brought to the town. The first was a more comprehensive hotel-retail-restaurant proposal that was approved in 2012. In 2015 they returned with a primarily hotel proposal that was opposed by the BOZAR and Town Council because of zoning change requests.

“We are excited by this new direction and how this proposal is more Crested Butte–appropriate,” said architect Gary Hartman. “The business model is a condo-hotel. This means each unit is individually owned and placed into a hotel rental pool. The Peaks resort in Telluride operates on this model and is very successful. Each unit is finished the same and the owners are not allowed to personalize it. As required by the town, each unit must remain in the hotel pool a minimum of 80 percent of the time. When you enter the facility, it will look and operate as a hotel. This is an excellent way to provide short-term hot beds to the Crested Butte.”

Hartman explained that some of the massing of the project has been shifted around, but a hotel space requires a certain size to be efficient. The two main buildings are similar to what was previously presented, with the exception that the developers pulled about 6,000 square feet of mass out of them to create the cottages.

“We also varied the massing to provide a mix of two-story and three-story to soften the massing from all sides,” Hartman explained. “We have also introduced a residential aesthetic for blocks B and C along the mass that is closest to the western property line near the future residential development to the west.

“The Block D open area that sits across from the softball field is intended to be a park. We haven’t shown anything there as of yet as we are waiting to see how the town wants to configure the parking on this lot or add more parking to this lot,” he continued. “We also could see this park being a joint venture with the Center for the Arts, Creative Arts District, Mountain Roots or some other entity that would like to enhance this area. We are open to suggestions. The goal is to provide the community with a great amenity as a passive park.”

The proposed parking appears to be the first hurdle of the new plan. The parking plan calls for a vertically stackable storage system for 86 cars. According to a staff memo to the BOZAR members, the stacking capability—the dimensions of the storage spots together with a valet-accessed system—“are outside the current parking code parameters contained in Article 16 of the zoning code. For the board to consider the system, some form of amendment to the code will probably be necessary.”

The developers are also asking for several variances to the required setbacks on the property.

Initial comments from BOZAR members concerned the parking plan and the needed change to the town code, the large mass of the two primary building structures in the middle of the development, the idea of residential-style cottages in the B-2 zone, and the location of the affordable housing units along Sixth Street.

“The underground parking is a system that is embraced by more urban areas where parking comes at a premium,” Hartman said. “We feel this is a great solution that minimizes the underground impacts on the site and allows us to park and store more cars in a much smaller footprint. Regarding the wetness of this part of the site, we feel this solution will require less dewatering, if any, than the previous ‘Sixth Street Station approved plans,’ which had a basement space running for the entire Sixth Street frontage.”

As for the affordable housing units, the developers changed the idea from the previous plan to make them more front and center. “We have decided to place these units on the Sixth Street frontage in Block C, instead of burying them or hiding them within the project,” Hartman noted. “This provides each unit with a front door and small yard. This also provides each unit with a sense of individuality and belonging to the greater community context. These units will also be dedicated to the staff of the project, so we are working with the town on how those units could best benefit the needs of those individuals.”

The next step in the process is still being determined by the town. “The town staff has some issues that have to be flushed out with the developer, one of which includes the parking plan,” explained Crested Butte Design Review and Historic Preservation coordinator Molly Minneman. “With the majority of the proposed parking for the hotel to be serviced by the underground stackable parking system, vetting the system is an important next step. This will include learning as much as possible about the successes and challenges of the system’s functionality, mechanical issues or impacts to neighbors should problems arise. Determining any potential impacts of valet-accessed, paid parking within the existing free parking system is to be included. The end goal is to develop an ordinance for review by the Town Council. Whether an additional BOZAR meeting is planned beforehand is  still to be determined.”