Viceroy Snowmass

Off the beaten┬ápath┬áA longtime joint venture is tackling a new challenge: building an upscale condo and hotel project hours from a major city and between two active ski mountains. Keith Regan learns how PCL Construction Services and CFC Construction are using their individual and collective strengths to do everything short of moving mountains.  PCL Construction Services and CFC Construction have a long history of partnering on joint ventures, building projects as long as 15 years ago in the mountains of Colorado, working together on projects from Blackhawk to Steamboat Springs.  Starting in 2007, the firms teamed up again to bring to life the Viceroy Snowmass project in Snowmass Village, Colorado. The $180 million project will create a 425,000-square-foot complex with 226 upscale hotel/condo units, a full-service spa and restaurant and conference facilities. The hotel will be part of a larger development planned by Related WestPac, known as Snowmass Base Village, at the Snowmass Ski Resort. Work on the Viceroy began in May 2007, and the first building on the property, which will contain some of the hotel/condo units and many of the public amenities for the hotel, was approaching 60 percent completion as winter turned to spring in 2009. Work was poised to begin soon on a second building. Clint Jackson, a project manager with PCL, says the joint venture leverages that firmÔÇÖs size and scopeÔÇöPCL is the eight-largest contractor in the US, and CFCÔÇÖs expertise is in building in mountain locations as well as a long history of producing high-end and high-quality residential buildings. Jackson shares responsibility for overseeing the Viceroy work with a team of construction professionals including Alan Eathorne, a senior project manager with CFC. The duo says the biggest challenges with the Viceroy property have included its relatively remote location. Nestled in the mountains in the Aspen area, the Snowmass site is four hours from Denver and some six hours from Salt Lake City. ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs pretty well off the beaten path,ÔÇØ Jackson says. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre almost an hour off the nearest major interstate highway.ÔÇØThat has created some challenges with sourcing labor and bringing materials to the site. Most of the projectÔÇÖs skilled labor comes from the Denver area, with the companies housing workers temporarilyÔÇöno small expense in the resort area. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖve found some skilled local labor and used it as much as possible, but the job is large enough that we had to look beyond the local area,ÔÇØ Jackson adds. To help keep the need for labor down, the project is using off-site fabrication as much as possible. For instance, RK Mechanical, which is handling mechanical systems on the project, is assembling major equipment and lengths of piping and ductwork at its Denver offices and shipping the components for final assembly on the property. The electrical contractor, Ludvik Electric, has taken a similar approach. The project also selected a structural system proposed by Rocky Mountain Prestress that would reduce the need for on-site labor, electing to use pre-cast structural concrete. ÔÇ£You get the benefits of off-site labor as well as a controlled environment in which those components are made,ÔÇØ Jackson notes. That approach created some of its own challenges, however, notes Eathorne. Because pre-cast concrete is not meant to be cut or drilled into once itÔÇÖs in place, the orientation of interior walls and other structural components had to be finalized earlier in the design process. ÔÇ£There might have been units where the owner would have liked the orientation of a bathroom or another element changed, but with the structural concrete, the chances for making those kinds of changes in the field are not there,ÔÇØ he adds. ÔÇ£We did a lot of extra coordination, including extensive 3D modeling of the building and its components up front, because once elements like plumbing are set, itÔÇÖs a big challenge to make changes in the field.ÔÇØThe location has also posed a challenge because materials for the high-end project are being sourced from around the world, notes Jackson. ÔÇ£We have cabinetry being made in Italy and stone from China and lots of glass tile from across the US, as well as material that is being made locally. The challenge is making sure we plan and schedule for all that, knowing that the lead time for any given product is going to be much different. We canÔÇÖt have a lot of material waiting on the site. We donÔÇÖt have that kind of room for storage.ÔÇØ The project owners, Related WestPac, helped address that, giving the joint venture access to a warehouse in Denver where materials can be shipped to and stored until they are ready for use on the job site. The project is seeking LEED certification from the US Green Building Council. Although that will mark the first time the joint venture has pursued a green designation, both firms have done so in the past on other projects. LEED points will come from the construction process as well as the design, with extensive efforts to recycle building materials and reduce waste. For instance, the project is working with the manufacturer of the drywall being used, to fill dumpsters with scrap drywall. Those dumpsters are then being returned to the plant, where the scrap is being recycled into new wallboard. It also works with the local town of Snowmass Village to recycle cardboard waste from the site through the townÔÇÖs program as part of a larger waste recycling program. CFC/PCL also has sorted construction waste materials on site rather than having the waste services company sort the materials off site. This is an approach that has reduced the overall waste disposal costs, since the materials are placed in the correct disposal containers when being removed from the building and duplicate sorting off site is avoided. While the Aspen area ÔÇ£can be its own microclimate in terms of the economy,ÔÇØ it isnÔÇÖt immune to economic ups and downs. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖve been fortunate that this project has been able to move forward, and weÔÇÖve been working and will continue to work with Related WestPac and the architects and spending lots of time to look for ways to keep costs down. So far, the budget has held, and we continue to try and bring the project together at the lowest cost and the highest quality we can.ÔÇØ ÔÇô Editorial research by Greg Petzold┬á