Dear Fellow Owners,
There have been a number of recent developments regarding our property about which I, on behalf of the Board, would like to update our fellow owners.
Board of Directors Election
There were three candidate profiles submitted for the three open board positions. Such a low number of Board applicants has never happened before, and the existing Board is struggling to understand the messaging in this. Either everyone is happy with the job the current board is doing, or everyone understands the amount of work involved in a board position and decided to pass. In any event, the result is that the three candidates have been elected via acclamation. Since we do not need to have a formal election, we will be saving $5,000. Congratulations to Tim Hall, Peter Wells and Bruce Clay who all will have two-year terms starting November 15, 2023.
Unforeseen 2023 Expenses
We’ve had a few key projects come up this month, most of which were unexpected.
Mechanical projects | $45,000
- The pump which circulates heat and AC in all the hallways and was rebuilt about five years ago has to be changed out.
- We need to rebuild pump 3, which is what circulates water throughout the building.
- The spray pump for the cooling tower, which is central to our heating and cooling system, is 18 years old and is now needs to be changed out. This part is what sprays water to cool down the fans. During the AC outage last August, we replaced the motor.
Hot tub repair | $50,000
As Claudine mentioned in her recent letter to owners, our #1 hot tub was leaking. What we hoped would be a small repair was not, and as a result, the tub needed to be ripped up so that the leak could be found, and then rebuilt.
Bats | $61,000
If you have been reading The Aspen Times, you may have seen an article about the high numbers of bats in the downtown Aspen area. As it turns out those little critters found their way through the smallest cracks in our roofing system and were living in our building above the ceilings. They are a health hazard and have to be caught and removed. The area had to be cleaned, and some parts repaired. We moved forward with the least expensive estimate that we could find and this work has now been completed.
Redesign Underway
The two-phased refurbishment of the rooms started at the beginning of October. The third and fourth-floor units and the common areas are being done now, and the first and second floors will be done in the spring. We have learned very quickly that the beauty of our building with all its nooks and crannies and no two units being exactly the same, has turned out to be as much a curse for us, as it is a pleasure to look at/stay in.
Timeline
Planning and pricing the redesign with all of the unique characteristics has been very challenging for the vendors working on the project. To make things worse, we have a very short window of 10 weeks to get everything done this fall, and only 9 weeks to get everything done in the spring. If even one key item is delayed, which other tasks depend on, it makes subsequent things impossible to finish on time.
On top of that, we have to work within our governance documents which only allow for the board to take time in two consecutive years (for us its fall 2023, and spring 2024). These short windows and a constrained budget mean that we cannot do a comprehensive refurbishment all in this rather limited time frame. As a result, some things we had hoped to do will need to be deferred. For example, we understood early in the process that we could not entirely redo the bathrooms. We will be updating the lighting, some new bath fixtures, and mirrors.
Air Handlers
We also have uncovered some very unique problems during our remodel. The plan was to replace all the “air handlers” in our units (that provide the heat and cooling in each unit). You may have never seen these before because they are mounted behind the ceiling and covered by a thick layer of plaster. Each time one of these air handlers needed maintenance, the ceiling needed to be opened up, the unit serviced/repaired, and then the ceiling re-plastered and re-painted. This creates a lot of work and a big mess as you can imagine, even to deal with only one.
The air handlers are now at the end of their life. The plan is to replace all of these units during the room refurbishment, an “infrastructure need” that you might not see visually but that is absolutely necessary. This is a very dirty and rather complex job, so the plan is to replace these first so that the rest of the unit upgrades – none of which are as messy or disruptive – can be completed afterward. In the future, the air handlers will have an access panel that allows maintenance to the units when needed so that this scenario is avoided.
Budget
The point is that this is just one of many things that need to be completed in a very short timeframe. The global pandemic slowdown on producing and shipping goods continues, and this has delayed some of our furniture deliveries into mid-December. Lastly, you should know that the cost of the refurbishment will be well in excess of the money set aside over many years, as the combination of the passage of time, supply-chain disruptions, tight labor markets and inflation has sharply pushed up costs. The excess cost will need to be funded with a special reserve/refurbishment assessment this cycle, which the Board is working on sizing now.
Setting Expectations
So, what can you expect at the conclusion of phase #1?
We have a very capable general contractor (PCL) working multiple shifts. This fall we will be replacing as many of the air handlers as we can. All units will be getting a complete paint job. The plan is to replace all the hard and soft goods in the units, but PCL can only install the furnishings that are delivered. This means the units will not be 100% completed by December 9th. Units may have a mix of old and new furnishings for several weeks.
Our staff will do their best to swap out old legacy furniture for new furniture as the new furniture arrives. Some of this can be done during housekeeping services, or scheduled at times owners will be out of your unit. It’s not a perfect scenario, but the very best we can do under the circumstances.
As always, any member of the Board is available to address any queries or concerns you may have.
Best,
Al Kenney
President, The Aspen Mountain Residences HOA Board
860-354-7979
al@bluewaterfractionals.com
Board Members and Owner Director Contact Information:
Joe Ferguson – jferguson@rjrcapital.com
Tim Hall – timhl9999@gmail.com
Tom Kaplan – tkaplan@kkladvisors.com
Peter Wells – petercwells@yahoo.com
Bruce Clay – bjc2115@gmail.com
Trust – Appointed Member to the Board:
Jami Champagne – Jami.Champagne@vacationclub.com