Virtual Culinary Weekend to kick off Aspen’s traditional start to summer

Aspen’s traditional kickoff to the summer isn’t happening in person this year, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do something to mark the special weekend. It wouldn’t be Aspen’s style to just let the weekend pass by without any fanfare.

With the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen placed on the back burner until 2021, The Aspen Times has created the 2020 Summer Kickoff/Virtual Culinary Weekend to help fill the void. With a number of virtual events to mark the third weekend in June when Aspen usually celebrates all things wine and food, The Aspen Times is hosting a collection of virtual events to fill in just a bit, at a time when the town usually is welcoming chefs and sommeliers for Aspen’s annual rite of summer.

“Holding the space for what would normally be Food & Wine weekend and honoring the tradition of Aspen’s kickoff to summer is as important as ever right now as our local economy restarts and our valley-wide restaurant community gets back on two feet,” Aspen Times publisher Samantha Johnston said of producing the event. “In the spirit of taking care of our own, we’ll honor all of our local talent from dishwashers and servers to chefs and sommeliers and every other instrumental player in the restaurant ecosystem and we’ll host some really fun virtual events to keep the spirit alive until next year’s event can happen in person.”

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Downtown Aspen’s commercial carousel takes a pause

Forecasting the future of Aspen-area commercial real estate has earned Randy Gold regular speaking engagements at the Aspen Board of Realtors’ annual luncheon, and his company has done more than 24,000 property appraisals over the past four-plus decades.

These days, however, Gold is shunning the crystal ball when it comes to commercial real estate downtown, whether it concerns property values or demand for commercial leases.

“It’s too soon to tell,” he said last week. “Most of the landlords have tried to do some kind of accommodating; whether willingly or begrudgingly, most of them are doing that. But I don’t think anyone I know is making any long-term commitments.”

A rent-relief program, introduced by the city in response to the pandemic, is aiding more than 100 Aspen businesses from April through July. The program requires financial participation from tenants, landlords and the city, with each paying one-third of the monthly rent. Tenants are receiving an average subsidy amount of $8,320.

Rick Carroll - Aspen Times

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Aspen Farmers Market to start June 20

The Aspen Saturday Farmers Market season has been shortened due to availability of supplies, as well as the high cost of monitoring social distancing and crowd sizes in the world of COVID-19.

So instead of beginning this Saturday, June 13, the market is anticipated to start June 20.

City officials said last month that the market would run until mid-October, but now it’s going to run until Sept. 5.

It could go longer, but that will be based on the success of the market this summer, whether farmers have enough produce and if the city can fund extra expenditures, said Mitch Osur, the city’s director of parking and downtown services.

If the market goes well and it’s popular enough, Osur said he will ask Aspen City Council for extra money to extend past Sept. 5.

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Restaurants, retail expand into Aspen’s streetscape on Friday

Roughly 11 parking spaces in downtown Aspen will be converted on Friday for outdoor dining and retail shopping as city officials begin to accommodate local businesses restricted by COVID-19 public health orders.

As of Thursday afternoon, three of the 17 businesses that have applied to use the public right of way will get control of their spaces on Friday after city officials convert the spaces with jersey barriers and planters.

Pete Rice, division manager of the city’s engineering department, said Thursday cordoning off the parking spaces will be basic, until the city’s COVID-19 “Recovery Street Plan” is fleshed out as more businesses ask for what they want.

“We don’t want to spend a lot of money until we know people like it,” he said, adding that he and his team are working with each business owner to customize their right of way space. “The application process is slowing us down because people are trying to figure out what they want.”

Creperie du Village, Poppycocks Cafe and PE 101 are the first in line to get their spaces going.

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Aspen commercial landlords aim to work with tenants on rent

Aspen commercial landlords aim to work with tenants on rent

As the first of the month arrives amid unprecedented economic circumstances, a number of commercial landlords are working with their tenants on a case by case basis to try and reach agreeable terms on what rent should look like right now or when it will be paid.

The city of Aspen and Pitkin County, which together own a number of commercial properties from Aspen to Basalt, recently informed their tenants that they can defer April payment to May.  

On the private side, the situation is not as straightforward. While acknowledging that the subject is a hot one right now, commercial broker Karen Setterfield said Tuesday, “Every lease, every tenant, every type of business and every landlord is different and unique.” Continue reading

Erica Robbie, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

Aspen appraiser: Mark Hunt’s buying binge will trigger chain reaction →

At the clip developer Mark Hunt is buying up commercial property in downtown Aspen, it is nearly inevitable that a 2016 city ordinance aimed at slowing down the influx of chain retailers will be tested.

That’s what a veteran property appraiser told a crowd of roughly 400 people gathered last week at the Aspen Board of Realtors’ annual market update luncheon at The St. Regis Aspen Resort.

“Don’t be surprised if there is litigation coming down the pike in the next couple of years, as that conditional-use process gets tested,” said Randy Gold of Aspen Appraisal Group.

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Billionaire buyers strengthen hold on Aspen real estate →

The Aspen commercial real estate market remains strong and stable, notching another solid year in 2019. Like much of the rest of the overall real estate market, numbers were hovering close to 2018.

Two recent sales of office properties caught the eye of local appraiser Randy Gold, however. Both purchases, for office space at around $2,700 per square foot, were made by billionaires who own homes within walking distance.

That led Gold, speaking to over 300 people in the St. Regis ballroom at Thursday’s Annual Market Update Luncheon presented by the Aspen Board of Realtors, to identify what he sees as a new phenomena in the local real estate scene. Coining the phrase “hobby officers” to laughter from the crowd, he described them as emblematic of the influence a growing number of billionaire buyers are having on local real estate.

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Aspen retailers break $800 million sales barrier in 2019

Fueled by a strong December to close out the year, retailers in Aspen saw a 7.5% increase in sales over 2018, according to a report issued Friday.

All told, retailers generated $818.8 million in revenue in 2019, with 10 of the 12 business sectors posting gains last year. It was the first year that Aspen retailers combined to eclipse the $800 million mark in sales.

Luxury goods, which accounted for $38.5 million in sales, had the largest year-to-year improvement of 28.1%. The construction trade saw $70.3 million in revenue, up 20.6% over 2018, according to the report.

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Two pop-ups coming to East Cooper mall

Andre Salvail, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer Sep 16, 2019

Two high-profile spots on the north side of the Cooper Avenue pedestrian mall that sat empty during the summer will be filled for the upcoming winter tourist season, but there are no plans for the stores to stick around beyond the spring of 2020.

Goop, which occupied the space at 422 E. Cooper Ave. in the summer of 2018, is returning. A spokesperson for the women’s fashion and lifestyle retailer said Friday that the pop-up would be opening on Dec. 12. Goop was launched by actress Gwyneth Paltrow from its beginnings more than 10 years ago as a weekly newsletter.

The space next door, at 430 E. Cooper Ave., will be occupied by Max-Bone, a retailer that also specializes in fashions and lifestyles — for dogs. Like Goop, Max-Bone is based in California and also has a strong online presence and a strategy of opening pop-up stores in tony resort destinations. Mariana Alves, the company’s digital and social media director, said Friday that plans call for a Dec. 5 opening.

Both short-term leases were negotiated through Angi Wang of local real estate brokerage Setterfield & Bright. Broker Karen Setterfield said long-term leases can’t be signed for the two spaces because both are part of two separate buildings — the Red Onion Building, in the case of 422 E. Cooper, and the Bidwell Building, in the case of 430 E. Cooper — that are slated for redevelopment.

Setterfield explained that the downtown Aspen retail market is extremely tight. 

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