Aspen Chabad Moves Forward with Plans

The Chabad Aspen Jewish organization is moving forward with plans to build a new community center on Main Street.

The Jewish Community Center (JCC) was first approved in 2006, but a series of events stalled the project. Now Chabad Aspen is seeking to phase the project’s 15,000 square feet of new construction that would redevelop the block currently home to the L’Auberge d’Aspen tourist cabins, in between Third and Fourth streets on the south side of Main Street.

The city’s Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) on Sept. 14 will consider amendments to the JCC’s approval that alter some of the building materials and break up the project into two phases.

Construction on the first phase, consisting of a 10,550-square-foot building on the western portion of the lot containing a synagogue, preschool classrooms and a social room, could begin as soon as next summer, said Alan Richman, a planning consultant working with the JCC. The plan also keeps six of the L’Auberge cabins on the site for use as housing and guest accommodations.

“The connecting lobby and eastern wing would be built at a still-to-be-determined later date, when demand for the additional space necessitates its construction,” Richman wrote in his application to the city. HPC has final authority on the plan, as the amendments to the prior approval do not require a City Council vote.

After the 2006 approval, Chabad applied for and received a building permit for the Main Street property.

“However, by that time the economy was beginning to slow down and descend into recession,” Richman’s application says. “It became apparent that funding for the project would not be available and so the applicant withdrew the building permit.”

At the time, Chabad said it needed to raise $22 million for the project including land and construction costs, $9.9 million of which was in the bank, according to a posting on the group’s website from 2007.

In 2009, Chabad sought to move to the Silver Lining Ranch off of Ute Avenue. The former home of a nonprofit that was a retreat for children with life-threatening diseases was for sale, and looked good to Rabbi Mendel Mintz as a home for the new JCC that required minimal construction. Chabad had a contract to buy the property for $13.5 million, but the deal fell through when neighbors protested that homeowners association covenants wouldn’t allow the institutional use — the JCC would include a preschool and day care — in the Stillwater Ranch subdivision.

The JCC now returns to Main Street with a plan that tones down some of the building materials in the original approval by cutting back on the stone and “excess ornamentation,” according to the application. The plan recasts the programing of the western wing of the building so that it “meets the needs of today” while allowing the congregation room to grow.

“These amendments are an effort by the applicant to address the new economic realities that so many projects must respond to these days,” the application says.

There are nine cabins currently on the L’Auberge property that have some historic value. The JCC plan preserves six of them on-site. Part of the prior approval required that the group try to find local relocation sites for the three additional cabins. Noting the difficulty both the city of Aspen and Pitkin County have had trying to find takers for similar cabins, the JCC application seeks “flexibility” in how it will deal with the structures.