Two buildings in Lionshead are scheduled to come down about six months apart, one at each end of the village. The demolition crews are already at work at the east end, across from the parking structure. The west end, where breakfast actually happens, comes next. At the Concert Hall Plaza building, ten businesses currently operate in a space that will have room for two, and one of Vail's best-known breakfast counters is trying to raise enough money to own one of those two spaces.
The noise is coming from the east end, but the change that matters for daily routines is at the west end. Here is how the two projects compare, and what the next six months look like for anyone who walks, rides or eats through Lionshead.
The Demolition Underway Now Displaces No One
Under the Town of Vail's Oct. 19 construction update, demolition of the Lions Pride Building at 500 E. Lionshead Circle was set to begin Oct. 26, 2026, and take about three weeks. Hyder Construction is the contractor. Excavation and shoring will follow once the building permit is approved. Crews have already removed the landscape island on East Lionshead Circle.
Longtime visitors may remember the building as the home of the Swedish Clog Cabin. It has been vacant since 2020, according to a water district official quoted by the Vail Daily. The new building, called the Montelisse, will hold 37 condominium residences over a below-grade garage with 159 parking spaces, and a heated, paved walkway will circle the building. The same report says the units can be used by owners or rented short or long term.
The east end loses no breakfast spot, no massage studio and no shop, because that building has had no tenants for six years. When Planning and Zoning Commission member Bill Jensen voted for the project, he said, "It's probably a change that's overdue for Lionshead as a destination."
Ten Businesses, Room for Two
The second building comes with a much longer history. Concert Hall Plaza at 616 W. Lionshead Circle opened in 1977 as a concert venue. Once live music stopped paying for itself, it was converted in 1981 into the three-story commercial building it still is. As the Vail Daily noted, it is one of the few Lionshead properties that has mostly kept its original form while much of the village around it was rebuilt.
The site has been approved for redevelopment before. A hotel and condominium plan won approval in 2007 and was never built. The Town's Lionshead Redevelopment Master Plan calls the property the intended western gateway to the village's pedestrian core.
The current plan has advanced further than the 2007 one. On July 21, 2026, the Vail Town Council voted 4–3 to approve the development agreement with Beaver Capital SPE, LLC. Council members Kevin Foley, Kim Langmaid and Jonathan Staufer voted no, according to the Town of Vail's meeting summary. The new building, called the Apogean, will have nine residential units, residential amenities, enclosed parking and commercial space.
The commercial space shrinks sharply. As the Vail Daily reported on the vote, Langmaid said only 14% of the building's total retail and restaurant space would remain. Concert Hall Plaza has 10 businesses today, and the plan as approved leaves room for two. The Town's latest construction update lists the redevelopment start as Spring 2027.
The Diner's Plan Is to Own One of the Two Spaces
The best-known tenant is the Little Diner, which the Vail Daily described as Tripadvisor's highest-rated breakfast spot in Vail. Brian and Peggy Little own and run it at the West Lionshead Plaza bus stop. Their website describes it as the only full-service diner in Vail, serving breakfast all day and lunch after 11:30 a.m. during the winter and summer seasons.
The diner celebrated its 18th anniversary on April 8, 2026, and started a crowdfunding campaign that same week. On its homepage, the diner explains the timeline and the plan:
"Concert Hall Plaza will be torn down starting May 1st, 2027 and unless we can raise the funds needed to stay put here in Lionshead the diner will cease to exist.. There are simply no better options other than trying to remain here in the new building."
Rather than look for another location, the diner wants to buy commercial space in the Apogean and have the developer help build it out to suit a diner. The owners say that owning the space is how they can make sure the diner is still there for future generations. The GoFundMe campaign, titled "Help Save the Little Diner in Vail," says the money will go toward a down payment on the new space and equipment. As of late October 2026, it showed $17,462 raised toward a $1 million goal.
That goal makes sense given the numbers. Ten businesses now share a building that will have two commercial spaces. Any current tenant hoping to return is competing for very few spots, and the diner's approach is to stop renting and become an owner in the new building. When Langmaid voted no, she said, "I question the viability of those two spaces."
Sunshine Massage is another longtime tenant whose possible displacement came up during the review process. The studio's website currently lists daily hours of 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and online booking.
The Walk Through the Building Gets Narrower
Whether or not you eat at the diner, you have probably walked through Concert Hall Plaza. A public walkway runs through the building and connects West Lionshead Circle to the center of the village. Under the approved plan, the passage narrows from 15 feet to 13.
When the Design Review Board approved the building in April, board member Rys Olsen, who said he has walked through the building since it was a concert hall in the 1970s, told the Vail Daily that 13 feet is wide enough for the foot traffic it will carry. He compared it to Istanbul's Grand Bazaar, which he said is "barely bigger."
At the Council hearing, several people raised the walkway's current accessibility. The developer plans to make the west end ADA compliant. A compliant east entrance would have to be redesigned and paid for by the town, the Vail Daily reported. Whether that east-end work ever happens will decide how the master plan's "western gateway" actually works for people heading from the bus stop toward the gondola.
Lionshead's Calendar From Here to Spring
The east end demolition runs right up to the start of ski season, and the west end follows in spring. These are the dates the Town and the diner have posted:
- Late October to mid-November. The Lions Pride demolition at 500 E. Lionshead Circle, which was scheduled to start Oct. 26 and was expected to take about three weeks. Excavation and shoring follow once the permit is approved.
- Nov. 13. Vail Mountain opening day. The Town lists it as a no-construction day.
- Nov. 13 to Nov. 19. For the first time, paid parking starts a week after opening day instead of on opening day. Paid parking at the Lionshead structure begins Nov. 20.
- All winter. Entry to the Lionshead and Vail Village structures stays free after 3 p.m., through 4 a.m. Parking under an hour is free, and two to three hours costs $20, by the Town's 2026–27 rate table.
- Spring 2027. The Town's estimated start for the Concert Hall Plaza redevelopment. The diner's own website gives May 1, 2027, as the start of demolition.
Under both of those timelines, the coming ski season is the Little Diner's last full winter in Concert Hall Plaza in its current form. A breakfast stop of one to two hours costs $10 in the Lionshead structure under the posted rates, or nothing during opening week before paid parking starts. For the diner's season hours, check thelittlediner.com before heading over.
If you own in Lionshead and want to understand how the Montelisse, the Apogean and the redevelopment still being planned for West Lionshead fit together around your building, Dana Gumber - Previously Vail Luxe Group is glad to go through the timelines with you. Schedule a private consultation.
