| Dear Fellow Owners, I hope this note finds everyone well. As spring approaches, phase #2 of our redesign is scheduled for April 7th and will be completed by June 7th. I thought it would be a good time to update everyone on a few items. REDESIGN In phase one, floors #3 and #4 were not fully completed due to delays in furniture delivery and issues installing new air handlers in the ceilings. We expect the entire building (all floors) to be completed by June 7th. This will include painting in all units, all new furniture, rugs, drapes, lighting, access panels for air handlers in the ceilings, and art. Refinishing the wood flooring on the 3rd and 4th floors will be completed, as well as some of the wood flooring on the 2nd floor. Any flooring that is not completed at the end of phase #2 will be finished this October during our fall clean. The lobby and elevator décor will also be finished. This means all the furniture and accessories will be in every unit and placed where they should be. Thanks to everyone who owns the 3rd and 4th floors who had to stay in partially completed units with both new and old furniture in them. Much of the new furniture is already here, and the remainder has been promised to be here in plenty of time for the units to be completed. Once we have the units completed, we will be publicizing our resort’s new design. HOT TUBS Even though we made repairs last year, we continue to have issues with our hot tubs and a small leak in our pool. We have had numerous companies assess the problems, and so far the consensus is both hot tubs need to be replaced and the pool fixed while we are doing the hot tubs. The initial estimates we have received for doing this work are far too high. The issue seems to be that over the last 20 years, Aspen Mountain is moving towards the town. This underground movement has impacted the piping coming from our building to the hot tubs. We don’t want to replace the pipes and hot tubs only to have the same thing happen a few years from now so we are looking for a better solution. The board has decided to delay the repair/replacement work until the fall so we can get more expertise looking at our issues and extend our search farther outside the valley. If we rush into this we will most certainly overpay dearly. Our reserve funding is low currently due to the redesign. From a practical perspective, this means that the pool and one of the hot tubs will remain open throughout the summer and fall while we evaluate our options. 2025 FLOAT TIME With float weeks for 2025 being distributed last week, many owners may be asking themselves “What should you do with float weeks you will not be using or renting?” I wanted to remind you of a great option many of our owners have not taken advantage of yet, which is Elite Alliance. Some believe any time is a good time to be in Aspen, but as you know we have some float weeks which are at very desirable times, and others that are off-season times. Many of you choose to use or rent your “prime time” or “shoulder season” float weeks. Now that we have moved to a system that gives an extra bi-annual float week, we distribute all the weeks of the year to our owners (except for the two used for deep cleaning.) Some of you may have ended up with weeks during Aspen’s “slow time,” which is late April and May, or October and November. You may find it more difficult to rent or use these weeks. Another great use for any of your float weeks would be to deposit them into the Elite Alliance Program. There are many great benefits to doing so:• You get points which are good for two years (extending your use time).• Putting together multiple off-season weeks will give you enough points to get a great vacation in prime season at one of their properties worldwide.• You will have the opportunity to get more “prime time” at our property. Once you deposit time into the program, you get a “first look” at any time deposits made at TAMR two weeks before their other members. But, to participate you need to be an “active member” which means you need to have time/points on deposit. As with all programs of this type, it takes a little bit of planning and effort to get what you want but it is a great way to turn time you will not use into additional vacations for your family and friends. Case in point: after making the effort, my wife and I were able to book a four-bedroom house in Croatia this October! I will report back on my trip. OWNER WEBSITE I have talked to many owners who have said they have never used the owner’s portion of the https://aspenmountainresidences.com/website before. If that is the case you are missing out on a very valuable owner resource. The website is accessed by clicking on the “owners only” in the upper right-hand corner and entering your ID and password (obtained through our owner relations dept). Once you are logged in, you will be able to find sections for trading or renting your time to other owners, floor plans, and association documents including board letters and other important documents. Please note the “time and trade” section of the website allows you to rent, or trade time with other owners. Keep in mind when you are listing time here you are doing so directly with other owners. The idea is not to involve any outside reseller so you can offer your time to other owners at a rate that does not include 20% or so commissions you would have paid your real estate agent. Everyone should want to give other owners a price break and someday you may be the one looking for more time. This makes it a valuable resource for all owners. If you have an exclusive sales agreement with an agent that pays them a commission even if you rent it on your own, you should probably not be listing your time here. Maybe add and exclude any rentals made through the owner’s website on your rental agreements? Let’s keep this a tool for discounted direct owner-to-owner transactions so we all know the prices charged here are the lowest anyone can find. NEW COMMITTEES I have put together two new committees: Future Development Committee: This committee will begin working on looking at the development of lot #6 (which we own). It encompasses the entire square block in front of us including the ice staking rink and CP Burger.I, as well as several other members of our board, will be on this committee plus owner Chris Maybury, and Head of East West Hospitality’s Engineering, Jeff Skagen. Chris has a wealth of experience in the hospitality space and owns several hotels, and Jeff worked on the planning and development of the Snowmass Base Village.Tax Protest Committee: Joe Ferguson will head this committee with the help of fellow board member Peter Wells and East West Hospitality’s Controller, Vangel Yurukov. The idea here is to submit a formal tax protest because we are being charged at full ownership tax rates while the values of our fractionals are less than half of what we are being assessed. ASSESSMENT We are very close to finalizing our number for our final legal bill. It will need to be paid within 30 days of acceptance so you can expect an assessment to cover this in the next week or so. The amount will be less than $2,000 per fraction. Due to the special circumstances on the timing of this, we ask everyone to please pay the assessment ASAP. We appreciate your understanding on this matter. As always, any member of the Board stands ready and eager to address any queries or concerns you may have on any of the above topics. Al Kenney President, The Aspen Mountain Residences HOA Board 860-354-7979 |