One of Vail’s oldest buildings will be torn down next year to be replaced with luxury townhomes
Building on Vail Road, home of Vail's first bank, was built in 1972
East West Partners/courtesy photo
One of Vail’s older structures is set for replacement next year.
The FirstBank building on Vail Road, built in 1972, will be demolished in 2026 and replaced with a . That project will include four luxury townhomes, with prices ranging from $22.5 million to $26 million. The project will also include a deed-restricted caretaker’s unit on the ground floor, as well as a small, ground-floor bank office.
The project is a partnership between FirstBank, which owns the building, and East West Partners. Slifer Smith & Frampton Real Estate will be the listing brokerage for the project.
East West Partners managing partner Jim Telling said East West and FirstBank had been talking about the site for several years, with those discussions turning serious about two years ago.
“We couldn’t envision partnering with anyone besides East West,” FirstBank Market President Nick Brinkman said. And, he added, he’s particularly proud of the fact that the new project includes the workforce housing unit on the ground floor, something that will be great for the new townhome owners, he said.
Support Local Journalism
Vail’s first bank, the Bank of Vail, opened in 1967, with its first office on Wall Street. The bank moved to its current location on Vail Road in 1973, and in 1978, along with several other banks, became part of FirstBank Holding Company of Colorado.
The building on Vail Road was built for a different era of banking, one that required a good-sized office. Those size requirements have changed over the last several years, Brinkman said. But, he added, there are some constants, especially for customers in and around Vail Village.
Walkability is important, Brinkman said, which is why the bank will open a temporary location in the Vail Gateway building during the two-plus years Prima is under construction. FirstBank will also reopen a former location in West Vail while Prima is being built.
While there are four condos on the current bank building’s second floor, Brinkman said those are currently owned by the bank, avoiding any problems with acquisition for the new project.
When the old bank is torn down, the replacement will be what you’d expect from a luxury project in Vail.
The quartet of two-story townhomes will each be roughly 4,800 square feet, with four bedrooms and six bathrooms. Each unit has two underground parking structures with EV charging capability. Flooring comes from local firm Arrigoni Woods, and Denver-based Andrea Georgopolis is handling the interior finishes.
Telling said another Denver-based firm, 4240 Architecture, designed the project, and Saunders Construction of Denver will be the lead contractor, with local firm RA Nelson helping with the interior finish-out.
Telling called Prima “unique” in Vail, in that it’s walkable to just about everything in Vail Village, yet “you’re in kind of a quiet spot in town,” he said. “It’s not like that’s a hugely busy place in town.”
Telling said the project has just been opened up to the brokerage community.
