Shops & Residences
For the final pads at Basecamp, the BGP team wanted to do something different, to innovate, and bring life to the center — keep the lights on for a vibrant year-round sense of place. Instead of relying on the approved planning doc’s for a big box retailer, we proposed the concept to the Town for 24 micro condos over small neighborhood-oriented commercial shops, and the Basecamp Shops & Residences micro-condos were born!
From the beginning the idea was to combine a center anchored by Whole Foods Market and a big box retailer and then add a variety of very cool, local retail shops rounding out the offering of provisions, clothing and gear serving both locals and visitors high high country needs. Located at the gateway to the Colorado high country, it would become THE provisioning center. Whole Foods was nearing completion and we had a letter of intent from a big box potential tenant; however, Vail Resorts Retail, had a covenant not to complete which required their approval for any big box retailer to come into the Center. The arguments for bringing in a big box retailer were compelling; however, Vail Resorts Retails’ CEO had his reservations. After almost a year of talks, a meeting was set on a Tuesday to iron out the details. The Friday before the meeting, the CEO, after 23 years with the company, was let go and we had to start over from scratch with a new CEO! Meanwhile, our potential big box retailer lost patience and took a taxpayer subsidized deal in Dillon. And there we were, with a huge whole in Basecamp not only in terms of land planning but also figuring out an economically viable uses. This posed a serious challenge as “big box” retail in the high country was in retreat.
About this time Brynn Grey’s CEO / Founder was on many of his frequent visits to see his millennial daughter who lives and works in Washington, D.C. After seeing the demand for apartments and condominiums located near Whole Foods Markets and the “Metro” as well as unique and clever “micro” unit designs, he saw a unique opportunity to create a similar product at Basecamp — an opportunity to create something much better than a big box retail tenant. With Summit County having virtually no condominiums for sale for under $400,000, the idea was to provide well designed and appointed 400 square foot micro units. And, given Brynn Grey’s long standing commitment to locals’ housing and the desire to have the majority of units occupied by locals, 75% of the units were deed restricted for locals. Then on the first floor beneath the micro condos, there could be shops. Hence, out of the rubble of a collapsed big box retailer deal, Basecamp Shops & Residences was born.
BASECAMP SHOPS & RESIDENCES
