Developers lay out Ski Time Square demolition schedule

Developers lay out Ski Time Square demolition schedule
By Brandon Gee (Contact) - Steamboat Pilot & TODAY Reporter
Friday, April 18, 2008
Demolition schedule
Ski Time Square

■ Furnishing liquidation and recycling: Early May through end of June

■ Hazardous material abatement: Mid-May though end of August

■ Building demolition: Mid-June through late September

■ Grading and stabilization: Mid-August through late October

Thunderhead Lodge

■ Furnishing liquidation and recycling: End of April through late June

■ Hazardous material abatement: Late June through late August

■ Building demolition: End of August through early October

■ Grading and stabilization: Mid-October through late October
Steamboat Springs — This summer, Ski Time Square will be the site of demolition, police training — and one heck of a yard sale.

The Atira Group laid out its schedule for the razing of base-area properties Ski Time Square and Thunderhead Lodge at a meeting Thursday morning that drew a couple dozen people including lodging officials, business owners, mountain residents and other developers.

The process will begin April 24 with the liquidation sale of furnishings, mostly from the Thunderhead Lodge. Asbestos abatement will come next, followed by the actual demolition of the buildings. Grading and stabilization of the two sites is expected to wrap up in mid-to-late-October at the base of Steamboat Ski Area.

“This is the summer of deconstruction,” said Mark Matthews, a vice president for development with Atira. “We hope next year will be the summer of construction.”

Atira is redeveloping Ski Time Square and Thunderhead Lodge on behalf of Washington, D.C.-based Cafritz Interests, which purchased the properties last year. The redeveloped product, which is proposed to be four times the size of the existing structures, is expected to take about two years to build once construction begins in 2009.

Due to the amount of work that needs to be done this summer, Todd Seawell of construction contractors GE Johnson said crews would work long days, from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

“The method of demolition will mostly be done with an excavator,” Seawell said. “We’re not going to take the buildings apart — we’re taking them down with an excavator.”

Seawell said a more delicate procedure would be used near neighboring buildings that aren’t being torn down. The construction site will be shielded by green screen fencing, Seawell said, and sidewalks will remain open. Seawell said he doesn’t anticipate any traffic delays, though construction will move into the public right-of-way when it comes time to cap water lines. Seawell said contractors would use water misters to mitigate the spread of dust from the demolition.

Seawell estimates there will be 30 truckloads of abated material shipped out of Ski Time Square, along with five to 20 trucks a day of demolished materials. Other materials will be recycled on site, in the redevelopment.

Atira Development Manager Jane Blackstone said Ski Time Square structures will be razed first and that demolition generally will move from the east, near Mothers Deli, to the west near The Tugboat Grill & Pub.

“Generally the phasing will be rolling depending on which buildings are ready for abatement and demolition,” she said.

Steamboat Springs Police Captain Joel Rae said he plans to hold “active shooter response training” for regional law enforcement agencies in August inside some of the buildings.

The Tugboat itself may be spared for another ski season. Matthews said The Tugboat will be left alone at least until its lease is up in August. Whether it stays through the following ski season will depend on if its utilities and safety systems can remain intact while everything around it is razed. Since The Tugboat used to be a standalone structure, Matthews said, it may be possible.

“We’re looking at some options,” he said, “but right now, we’re going on the lease basis.”