Traer Creek (“Traer”) and Jasmine Development (“Jasmine”) has announced the closing of a transaction earlier this month that will bring a roughly 28,500 square foot Whole Foods Market to Avon and Eagle County. The project will also include between 7,500 sf – 12,500 sf of additional retail space, as well as a 122-unit high end condominium project named the Skjól.
The closing marks the first phase of a reimagined vibrant retail commercial and residential core for the Village and Avon, and represents the culmination of a deliberate, multi-year effort to plan for thoughtful, responsible and smart growth in a very challenging retail commercial market
and high construction cost environment.
In 2020, Whole Foods Market approached Traer with renewed interest in the Traer property for a Vail Valley location. Traer asked for patience, so that Traer, a land investor, and its developer affiliate, Jasmine, could revise the 40-acre mixed-use core master plan. In asking for time, there were certain inherent risks, including another site opening or the grocer’s expansion plans changing. But the Village represents a unique opportunity to do something special for Avon, and after four years of extensive and meticulous planning and engineering work, which included Jasmine fleshing out development considerations and working through the details of public infrastructure sequencing with the Town of Avon (“Town”), the Metro District and obtaining Town
approvals, the master plan was at a stage in which Whole Foods could be reengaged
by Jasmine and its joint venture partner, Kensington Development Partners.
Whole Foods agreed to some underground structured parking (at considerable expense
to Jasmine and Kensington), an elevated level of architectural design (including a canopy along the façade of the store as a nod to the Arthur Erickson designed and award-winning colonnade canopy in front of Walmart and Home Depot,) and worked with the parties and the Town on critical site planning considerations.
“The easy thing would have been to close this deal years ago, plop them down in the northwest corner of the property, and deal with planning later,” said Marcus Lindholm, President of Jasmine. “We chose what we saw as the only path, which meant going back to the drawing board on the master plan, working through the entitlements, and fitting Whole Foods into a well thought through master plan that we hope can bring a 2 new synergy and buzz to the Town and the Vail Valley. This closing is the payoff for that discipline.”
The Skjól complements the Whole Foods Market and retail by delivering 122-unit high-
end units with an elevated architectural design and high amenity offerings. Skjól is intended to bring a level of quality and craft that sets the tone for the broader community, pairing premium residences with the walkable, amenity-rich environment a grocery anchor like Whole Foods Market makes possible. The Skjól also provided the possibility of moving some of the Whole Foods and retail parking underground to mitigate the feel of a large parking lot.
