The Village at Avon
Phase I of the long-awaited mixed-use development at the Village at Avon has cleared its Final Design Review Board approval and is moving toward a summer 2026 groundbreaking. Sited on roughly 6 acres on the western end of Planning Area A, the project will deliver a 26,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market, Skjól, a 117-unit luxury condominium building, and two retail outlot pads. Traer Creek's affiliate Jasmine Development Group is partnering with Kensington Development Partners on the project, which is the first vertical construction on the 40-acre valley floor parcel just east of Chapel Square. Whole Foods is slated to open in fall 2027.
Rendering video provided by our partner Preview 3D
The Phase I concept positions the Whole Foods as the anchor tenant, drawing additional retailers into a walkable layout with trails and pedestrian connections throughout the site. Skjól, the 117-unit luxury condominium building, sits adjacent to the grocery anchor, following the pattern Kensington has used successfully on other mixed-use projects pairing strong retail with for-sale residential. The two outlot pads round out the retail program. The project's design team includes MV+A Architects, DTJ Design, Inc., and Martin/Martin, with additional partner involvement from Breckenridge Grand Vacations and the Town of Avon. A subsequent Phase II on the eastern 6 acres of Planning Area A is expected to feature vertical mixed-use construction with residential stacked over retail. Site grading on the broader valley floor was completed earlier this year, ahead of vertical construction.
Phase I is the most visible piece of a much larger pipeline now active inside the Village. The 1,800-acre fully entitled district, owned by Traer Creek LLC, was annexed into Avon in 1998 and is approved for up to 2,400 residential units and 825,000 square feet of commercial space. To date, 368,573 square feet of commercial space and approximately 807 housing units have been built or are under construction, and Traer Creek and its public infrastructure financing district have invested approximately $84 million in roads, utilities, and public facilities. Built and under-construction projects include the 244-unit Buffalo Ridge affordable housing complex, the 240-unit Piedmont apartments, the 26,000-square-foot LEED-certified Traer Creek Plaza, a Walmart Supercenter, Home Depot, a 243-room dual-brand Marriott SpringHill Suites and TownePlace Suites, a Maverik gas station, and supporting public facilities. Prime West Development is currently building the 242-unit Bosk Apartments, slated to open at the end of 2026, and the Vail Valley Foundation's early childhood education center is under construction on a parcel Traer Creek conveyed to the Town of Avon at no cost.
The Village's broader entitlement environment has been actively reshaped over the past year through a contentious overhaul of the 1998 PUD. The Town of Avon and Traer Creek jointly filed an amendment application that was eventually narrowed from 19 amendments down to 11. The Town Council held public hearings on January 13, January 27, February 24, and March 24, 2026, and conditionally approved the package on first reading on February 24 by a 6-1 vote, with Council member Lindsay Hardy opposed.
Final reading was set for April 14, 2026. The amendments include height increases on Planning Areas C and D from 48 to 60 feet to accommodate podium-style multifamily, a rezoning of Lot 5 (PAE) to a new CH-1 Community Housing District allowing up to 36 units at heights up to 48 feet, tighter alignment between Village short-term rental rules and Avon's municipal code, and a 20-year vested rights extension on the eastern hillside (Planning Area K) through 2059, conditional on Traer Creek funding its share of a required water tank by 2039.
For the Vail Valley, the Village at Avon represents the largest piece of remaining entitled developable land in the upper valley, where Vail, Minturn, Eagle-Vail, Beaver Creek, Bachelor Gulch, and Arrowhead are effectively built out. Phase I is the inflection point. With Whole Foods, Skjól's 117 luxury condominiums, Bosk, and the early childhood center all moving simultaneously, the Village is on track to look dramatically different by the end of 2027 than it has at any point in the 28 years since annexation.