Keystone Ski Resort - The boom era is here!

If anyone has ever told you that Keystone Ski Resort is a dead end and that build-out of the Keystone Valley is nearly complete, think again.  Keystone Ski Resort has been in the spotlight of much hype and rumors in recent years.  Stories of new development, gondolas moving closer to River Run, you might have even heard that they are going to be “scraping” the Mountain House base area completely to rebuild a much newer and nicer area.  Are these rumors true?  It turns out that it is looking like all of the hype about Keystone Resort is in fact coming true.  Maybe not all of it, but certainly the ball is rolling for some much needed and very exciting changes in Keystone Ski Resort.

There are currently three major projects planned for Keystone Ski Resort.  All of these projects are centered around convenience for guests to get to the slopes in a faster fashion, with the overall goal being to create as much ski-in ski-out real estate as possible, while still preserving the quaintness that Keystone Resort has built a reputation on over the years.

Moving the River Run Gondola in Keystone

The work is already underway to move the River Run Gondola across the Snake River and into River Run Village.  How far are they moving it?  Not very far, but the simple moving of the base of the River Run Gondola is the starting point to kick off a development enough to kick off the boom days of Keystone Resort for years to come.  The River Run Gondola is not only being moved at the base, but it is being upgraded to an 8 person lift and will have a mid-mountain station built too.  The existing bridge to the River Run area will be replaced with a skier bridge for easy access to the new Gondola base.

The final location of the new gondola in Keystone’s River Run will be where the current ski school area is located.  Already towards the end of the 200-2008 ski season, the old ski school building is fenced off and ready for demolition.  Surveyors have been working hard all winter mapping out the new lift towers.  The summer of 2008 will prove to be a very active time in Keystone with a short amount of time to get much work accomplished.

Development of the new Mountain House base area

The Mountain House base area has suffered over the years.  It was mostly built in the 70’s and 80’s and has become only a “day base” with all night activity falling off after the slopes close.  Even in the springtime, the Mountain House base area typically closes a few weeks early because the hot spot is currently in River Run Village.   From condemned employee housing to an aging ski school, it is time to say goodbye to the old and usher in the new.

The new development at Mountain House is sure to bring smiles to real estate investors and skiers alike.  Currently, the condos near Mountain House at Keystone are mostly considered “walk to lifts”, which in Keystone can mean a pretty good hike in ski boots if you’re not savvy about knowing where to stay ahead of time.  The new preliminary development plans include nearly ALL ski-in ski-out properties to be built at the Mountain House base area, making the new Mountain House area probably one of the most desirable places to stay in Keystone.  The Mountain House project is a huge one and will take several years to complete if approved.  Nonetheless, new development usually makes existing real estate prices edge up towards the price of the newer properties.

One River Run - Keystone Colorado

We all knew this was coming.  First, the rumors were to move the gondola in River Run and a major hotel (rumored to be Marriott Hotels) would come in and build a luxury hotel right next to the new gondola.  This plan never really materialized and it is suspected that talks broke down at high levels between the 2 major players before anything really was started. 

Vail Resorts decided to proceed with moving the Gondola and developing the Hunki Dori parking lot in River Run on their very own.  The new buildings in 3 different phases are planned for River Run to take shape where the current Hunki Dori parking lot is located.  New ski-in ski-out lodging will be built right at the base of the new Gondola and all visitors will have a front seat view of the ski slopes in Keystone – only matched by the lucky folks who own at The Timbers or Lone Eagle in Keystone.

The 3 new buildings at One River Run are planned to allow gaps in between to not disturb existing views too much.  Numerous shops, restaurants and a brand new ski school are planned for the area.  A projected opening date for the entire complex will be in Q4 of 2012.   Sounds like a long ways off, but it will all be built in phases with partial completion each year.


Keystone Ski Resort has long been left alone and no realy new development has occurred in any of the central areas for years.  Vail Resorts has been putting their investment money elsewhere in Vail and Breckenridge for years.  It is now Keystone’s time to shine and the future looks very bright.  With real estate in Colorado Ski Resorts seemingly immune to the downturn of the housing market across the US, it is a great place to invest in the future.  Our passion is Keystone and we’re very happy to see what the future holds.

For more information about investment opporunities in Keystone Resort, contact the experts in Keystone Resort Real Estate. They are the experts in Keystone Real Estate and the experts will guide you through the buying or selling process quickly and easily. Preliminary project plans and documents are available on the Summit County Planning website. Downloadable documents and updated status of all of these projects planned by Vail Resorts must go through approval of Summit County prior to anything being started..