Vail builds $189 million housing complex for local workers

The town of Vail, an exclusive ski resort in the Colorado Rockies, is building a $189 million housing complex just to give workers an affordable place to live with a short commute.

“Thinking about people as the lifeblood of your town, even as infrastructure, this is an investment that’s important to us enough that we’ve invested significant dollars over the past few years,” Mayor Barry Davis told 9News during a tour of the construction site.

Crews broke ground on the locals-only 268-unit apartment complex, called “Southface Vail,” in June 2025, and it is expected to be completed in September 2028.

The project, which town officials began planning nearly a decade ago in 2017, will include 84 studio apartments, 100 one-bedroom apartments and 84 two-bedroom units across three four-story residential buildings. There will also be 257 parking spaces and amenities such as a fitness center, clubhouse and a dedicated bus stop.

And of course, there are the stunning views of Vail’s mountaintops.

“The views and the quality that goes into building something like this — it reinforces our values of how important the people that live and work in our town are to making our town work,” Davis said.

“You should have a great view, you should have a convenient commute to work, you should feel like a part of this community.”

Vail's hills, while breathtaking, will also pose a challenge for those working on the new complex.

The hillside that Southface will be built into has a slope of more than 40 percent, with Davis admitting, “This is an engineering feat.”

The average cost to rent an apartment in Vail is $3,620 per month, compared to the national average of $1,962 a month, according to online real estate marketplace Zillow.

Southface apartments will cost between $1,600 and $2,500 per month, 9News reported.

Every unit in the complex must be occupied by at least one full-time employee of a business in Eagle County, where Vail is located, and it must be their primary residence.

The town already has experience building affordable housing for local workers following the Timber Ridge Village project.

Timber Ridge Village includes seven multi-family buildings with more than 300 units. One building is currently open, and the rest are scheduled to open on a rolling basis.