‘Imagine the impact’:
Silverthorne fields concepts for town core

Officials are continuing to craft the identity of a town that was once a construction camp for those building Dillon Reservoir in the 1960s. These days much of the town’s focus is on curating a downtown area.

Silverthorne Town Council sent a development team back to the drawing board on Sept. 24 after reviewing two proposals for what many deemed to be some of the most important parcels in a district called “town core.”

The parcels in question, comprising 7.4 acres, are sandwiched between the Blue River and Rainbow Drive near the Chipotle Mexican Grille. Palisade Partners, Wall Development Group and Equity Ventures Commercial Development own the parcels. Frisco-based landscape architect Norris Design is acting as a consulting firm. In May 2025, Town Council rezoned the parcel to put it in the “town core” district, taking it out of the Silverthorne Factory Stores zone.

Interim town manager Mark Leidal said the town’s comprehensive plan calls for mixed uses in the town core area, and officials want to see commercial and residential elements. Community development director Danelle Cook said the intent would be to create an engaging street edge with commercial elements on the first floor of the building, architectural landmarks and delineated walkways to slow traffic and curate a town core feel. She said a restaurant row of sorts was also contemplated for the area.

Several councils in recent years have supported the idea of having a town core with east-to-west fluidity in lieu of a “Main Street” concept. Current Silverthorne officials have expressed wanting to see more connectivity and walkability in a town core and one that emphasizes the presence of the Blue River.

Norris Design led a presentation Sept. 24 as a part of a work session with Town Council. Silverthorne’s code allows development teams to informally present plans and garner feedback ahead of officially submitting a project application.

“This is 10% of our entire downtown. Imagine the impact,” Cook said to the council ahead of the development team’s presentation. “Whatever is built here, it’s going to be there for a really long time, and it is going to have a huge impact on how our downtown functions.”

A peek into preliminary proposals

Norris Design principal Elena Scott said her team preliminary came up with two concepts for council to consider for the parcels near Chipotle.  She said the team behind the project has the ability to fit 16 units per acre, making for a maximum of 118 units on the site. Developers plan to commit to making 10% of residential units deed-restricted workforce housing.

The first concept presented, “Scheme A,” contemplates 67 townhomes on the site across the highway from the Green Village at the Silverthorne Outlets and eight deed-restricted units on the side of the parcel closer to the Blue River. The second concept, “Scheme B,” contemplates 48 deed-restricted units on the side of the parcel closest to the Blue River and 67 town homes in a similar location to that presented in “Scheme A.”

The ownership group presented concepts for mixed-use developments, where residential units are located on the bottom floor. Cook said if this were to be allowed it would be “an erosion of town code.” Leidal said town code puts residential units in mixed-use developments on the top floor of buildings to create a more inviting commercial environment to help business owners.

Scott said the ownership team was looking to create a “front porch” feel with having residential on the bottom, and noted there are units with a similar concept, like the Fourth Street Crossing development near Bluebird Market. Council members discussed how it took the town a decent amount of time to fill the commercial units on the top floor with tenants, wondering if it’s a deterrent for potential business owners.

Council member Tim Applegate worried about creating more of a residential feel for people walking through town core, hence potentially dissuading them from checking out businesses that would be on the second floor. Council members Jonnah Glassman and Erin Young had concerns about it creating a private feel to what is meant to be a public space in the town core.

Council members noted how the town still has short-term rental licenses available and how this area could work for some of those property types, noting they didn’t want to see it become all short-term rentals. Applegate advocated for some affordable rental units and some deed-restricted units geared toward local workers, like police officers, who might be making a wage close to 100% of the area median income.

In terms of residential concepts, “Scheme A” proposes 35,000 square feet of commercial space and “Scheme B” proposes 18,000.  There is currently around 7,000 square feet of commercial space in that area.

Among the concepts presented was a “Chipotlane,” or a drive-through Chipotle restaurant. Cook said during her presentation that drive-throughs aren’t suggested in the zoning regulating for town core because the town doesn’t feel they are conducive with walkability. Scott said they could discuss the “Chipotlane” at a later date and wanted to focus on other proposed concepts.

Young suggested a walk up window in lieu of a drive through window. Butler suggested developers “reinvision the idea” to better support the ability for people to congregate in the town core to create more of a downtown feel. He said he thought people would rather be located near a brew pub.

Equity Ventures president Mark McPherson said the intent is to provide a mix of national, regional and local companies in that area because many times it’s the national tenants helping support the local tenants.

Most of the council took issue with the parking lot proposals, feeling it ate up prime real estate along the river that would be better suited for something else.

“I am opposed to not really taking advantage of the river, which I don’t think that you did,” Mayor Ann-Marie Sandquist said of the project at-large.

McPherson said there are constraints with the leases of the commercial elements already in the area that prohibit any changes to the parking lot “for some time,” noting some current agreements go out 15 years. He said there could be an opportunity to move the parking lots further away from the river and closer to Colorado Highway 9 in the future.

No decisions were made at the Sept. 24 meeting, and town staff members say there is currently no timeline for this project.