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Marriott hotel on Pine Grove Road moves forward in Steamboat planning process

The view from behind a planned Residence Inn by Marriott at 1480 Pine Grove Road. (Courtesy of Steamboat Springs Planning Department)

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — Developers hoping to build a four-story, 110-suite Residence Inn by Marriott are eying a 2.79-acre lot at 1480 Pine Grove Road near Safeway.

The 80,580-square-foot project is slated to come before the Steamboat Springs Planning Commission on Thursday, Jan. 24, and is expected to be reviewed by Steamboat Springs City Council at its Feb. 5 meeting.

Cypress 16 — a Denver-based real estate firm that submitted the development plans on behalf of SBS Hotel Venture, LLC — lists the project with a groundbreaking date of April 2019 and an expected opening date of June 2020.

But before that can happen, the project will need the recommendation of Planning Commission and approval from council.

While the project has a thumbs up from city planners, it did not fair as well with the Steamboat Springs Historic Preservation Commission, which was concerned about the loss of two buildings: a one-story residence and a 1.5-story garage that were built in the 1940s.

“They were wonderful log houses for their day when they were built. They are hidden treasures,” said Arianthe Stettner, chairwoman of the Historic Preservation Commission.

Stettner said the Historic Preservation Commission’s role is to help people document, preserve and tell the story of historic buildings for future generations. The group also helps landowners access tax benefits and grants to save buildings.

“That land was owned by the Selbe family, who have been in Steamboat, many of them, for many generations,” Stettner said. “The Historic Preservation Commission has looked at them in terms of, ‘How do we document these buildings, how do we save these buildings and how much of these buildings can be saved?’ The stonework makes it impossible to move them.”

Stettner and the other members of the commission decided not to recommend the plans for the Residence Inn.

“None of us supported this project. We all shared a common concern that we are losing a very special part of our history, and what is the benefit to the community?” Stettner said.

City planner Toby Stauffer said the developers have been working with the city for several months and have gone through a couple of rounds of review on the project.

“The city departments have reviewed it, and the city staff can recommend approval after working with the applicants for the past couple of months,” Stauffer said. “We received input from the Historic Preservation Commission. They are an advisory board, and they can provide recommendations. Our historic guidelines are guidelines, and as guidelines are not necessarily standards that have to be followed. That’s how our code is set up, so we have provided that information to the city, and it is available for review for anyone who wants to look at it.”

Stettner’s hope is that if the project receives approval and moves forward, the developers will take the steps to document and preserve as much of the property’s history as possible.

“We have always encouraged whoever is working on that to salvage as many of the materials as they can, to deconstruct it if they can,” Stettner said.

To reach John F. Russell, call 970-871-4209, email jrussell@SteamboatPilot.com or follow him on Twitter @Framp1966.


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