The Town of Winter Park took another concrete step toward its long-planned Winter Park gondola on May 19, presenting two early-stage design concepts for the aerial transit system’s downtown portal to the Town Council.
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Design Workshop, the landscape architecture and planning firm leading the effort, introduced the alternatives at a council work session. The designs, shared with SnowBrains, represent the next phase of a process that began with a design charrette in January 2026 and is expected to lead to a final conceptual plan by mid-summer.
The portal area is near the town hall building at 50 Vasquez Road and will serve as the downtown terminus for a 10-person gondola that Alterra Mountain Company plans to operate for nearly two miles from Cooper Creek Square to the base of Winter Park Resort.
The two concepts diverge primarily on what to do with Vasquez Road.
Winter Park Gondola Design 1: Full Street Closure and Year-Round Plaza
Design 1 calls for a full or significant closure of the road in front of the town hall, converting the area into a year-round pedestrian plaza. The plan would create a large public gathering space framed by food and retail uses, a bus drop-off loop, skier services, maintenance storage, and the aerial transit system (ATS) terminal itself. Marianne Stuck, a project manager at Design Workshop who presented the concepts, described it as the most transformative option and one that would shift the area from what Stuck called ‘a very vehicle-oriented character’ to something ‘much more pedestrian-focused,’ according to Sky-Hi News.
Design 3: Two-Way Traffic and an Enhanced Street
Design 3 keeps Vasquez Road open as a two-way street. Under that alternative, wide sidewalks, plantings, and a reimagined streetscape would improve the pedestrian experience without eliminating traffic access. Skier services, restrooms, and maintenance storage would line the south side, with a plaza area adjacent to the ATS terminal to the west.
Both designs share a common goal: creating a welcoming, functional arrival point that connects the gondola terminal to the Transit Center, Cooper Creek Square, and the broader downtown street network. Beyond walkability, Design Workshop’s documents identify four priorities for the portal area: flexible public gathering space, year-round usability, integration with existing transit, and a decision on whether to close or restrict Vasquez Road to vehicles.
Council members responded positively but cautiously. Multiple members flagged the need for a rigorous traffic study before committing to any scenario that would remove or restrict vehicle access to Vasquez Road. The council approved commissioning Kimley-Horn to conduct the traffic impact analysis, intending to use the findings to narrow the options while simultaneously proceeding with public engagement on both concepts, Sky-Hi News reports.
Mayor Nick Kutrumbos expressed enthusiasm, according to Sky-Hi News. “This is really exciting, I think, for all of us in the town,” he said. “I hope everyone here is excited about this, but this is one step. We still have a long way to go.”
Traffic Study and Public Engagement This Summer
The council work session was for information sharing only; no formal action was taken. According to a May 13 memo from Strategic Advisor Sara Ott and shared with SnowBrains, staff asked the council to direct whether to proceed with a structured public and stakeholder engagement process over the summer of 2026. That engagement would include public open houses, targeted outreach to adjacent property owners and downtown businesses, and the traffic analysis commissioned from Kimley-Horn. Results would then return to the council before any preferred design direction is selected.
The ATS portal work sits within a much larger planning effort. The gondola serves as the anchor of “Connect Winter Park,” the aerial transit initiative that resort and town planners have consistently described as the backbone of the entire connectivity vision.
The Winter Park Gondola and a Seven-Year Vision for Downtown
According to Winter Park Town Manager Jon Peacock, the proposed gondola sets the stage for seven years of massive downtown development. According to the Sky-Hi News, Winter Park is expected to nearly double its housing units by 2033, with a projected 400–500% increase in hotel rooms.
Alterra Mountain Company will finance the gondola, which is slated to become a signature feature of the renewed base area. The 10-person gondola will be nearly two miles long, starting at Cooper Creek Square in downtown Winter Park. The design charrette identified gondola capacity of 6,000–7,000 riders per day as a key planning parameter for the portal area.
Winter Park Resort has stated that the first leg of Connect Winter Park planned for construction is the replacement of the Gemini Lift with a gondola, with work on all on-mountain development potentially beginning as early as summer 2026, pending all necessary approvals.
The project timeline calls for a final ATS Portal Conceptual Plan to be developed following this month’s council feedback, with public outreach, including a block party, scheduled for July 2026.
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