It would be the first Hard Rock hotel in a mountain resort. Italso would be the first property developed under an agreementbetween Lifestar Hotels LLC--a 50-50 joint venture between HardRock International and Sol Melia Hotels--and Intrawest, theCanadian developer that owns Copper Mountain. Under the agreement,Lifestar would develop lifestyle Hard Rock Hotels at selectIntrawest properties worldwide.

The hotel development is in such early stages, details aren'tyet firm, cautioned Drew Kramer, spokesman for the project."Unfortunately, these plans are way too preliminary--and subject toSummit County approval--for us to be able to quantify the hotel interms of rooms, square footage or financial impact/value at thispoint," Kramer told GlobeSt.com late Thursday afternoon. Experts,however, tell GlobeSt.com that the development likely would costabout $300,000 to $400,000 per room, putting its cost from about$96 million to $128 million.

"I think it is phenomenal," John Montgomery, principal ofDenver-based Horwath Horizon Hospitality consulting/Montgomery& Associates tells GlobeSt.com. "For the last five to 10 years,Copper has really tried to find a way to revitalize itself, and Ithink they have finally really hit on it with the Hard Rock."