Aspen Employee Housing Rules May Be Relaxed for Little Annie's Project , ADN

The City of Aspen typically requires developers to provide housing — or a cash payment in place of actual housing — for 60 percent of the employees a commercial project would create.

ASPEN REAL ESTATE - It’s a $3 million question regarding how much should be given to save Little Annie’s and the Benton building: Should a developer be allowed to build less affordable housing for not tearing down historic structures? When Aspen Core Ventures LLC and managing partner Nikos Hecht originally proposed saving Little Annie’s and Benton in exchange for city incentives applied to his new building next door, community development staff calculated that Hecht would normally be required to provide housing for 29.3 “full-time equivalent” (FTE) employees that would be generated by his project .... After negotiating last week with Aspen council members ..., the requirement shrunk to nine full-time employees.
By Curtis Wackerle, Feb 3, 2012, ADN

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The Little Annie's and Benton Building redevelopment project in the center of downtown Aspen  includes three prime aspen lots: from left to right - empty parking lot at corner of Hyman and Hunter Streets, Benton Building and Little Annie's Restaurant. Photo: ADN