Colorado Real Estate Journal - June 17, 2015
Towns along the Interstate 76 corridor rolled out the red carpet to more than 100 brokers, developers and business leaders recently to showcase activity and individual development opportunities. The steering committee for the I-76 Corridor Economic Development Initiative, which includes the towns of Lochbuie, Hudson and Keensburg, hosted the bus tour, whose sponsors included Upstate Colorado. The initiative is a collaborative effort to strengthen the economy in the southeastern part of Weld County, a county with no sales tax and the lowest mill levy along Colorado’s Front Range. “That’s a big draw when you’re looking for a home to live in or a business to start up,” said Weld County Commissioner Barbara Kirkmeyer, who said southeast Weld also has benefitted from oil and gas production. People think of Lochbuie and Keensburg as being far from the metro area, she noted. “The reality is we’re a half-hour to 45 minutes away from downtown Denver. The I-76 corridor connects Interstate 70 and Interstate 80, two of the nation’s longest interstate routes. The southeast Weld towns that dot the corridor are small and rural, but not without new housing and a few big employers. In Lochbuie, a 5,120-person town that experienced 130 percent growth between 2000 and 2010, LGI Homes sold 30 homes in a single weekend at its Bella Vista community. The average sale price for a home in Lochbuie is $244,000, up $35,000 from a year ago. A Canadian developer recently purchased a 900-acre masterplanned community in Lochbuie called Altamira from The Bromley Companies LLC. The Bromley Cos., which developed Bromley Park in nearby Brighton, is developing Silver Peaks, a more-than-600-acre Lochbuie community with 28 acres of commercial ground. Lochbuie will break ground this fall on a new town hall. The town of Hudson, which also is planning a new town hall, has 575 existing homes and existing infrastructure to accommodate an additional 5,000. Renaissance Homes is in the planning process for construction of 242 single-family homes. Commercial activity in Hudson includes a proposal for a Best Western hotel at I-76 and Highway 52. The town has approximately 800 acres zoned for industrial uses, including Hudson Industrial Park, a 487-acre property recently purchased by BNSF. The town of Keensburg also showcased numerous residential and commercial development opportunities, as well as one of the corridor’s largest employers, H2 Enterprises. Located next to the town in unincorporated Weld County, H2 is one of the country’s largest seeding and reclamation companies. The family owned company has done work in 36 states. Its owners have several other companies, including Arnold’s Custom Seeding. Southeast Weld County will be a beneficiary of the largest road construction project in the county’s history, a $150 million project to widen and improve County Road 49, which runs from I-76 in Hudson to U.S. Highway 34 in Northern Colorado. The project, which is in design and will be paid for with cash on hand, will include five lanes of concrete road. “We consider it the backbone of our county. We think it’s an excellent opportunity for economic development,” said Kirkmeyer, one of the many public officials who were part of the bus tour. Although many Denver brokers who attended the May 28 tour already were familiar with the I-76 corridor, they said they valued seeing activity going on in the region, as well as the opportunity to network and learn about the corridor’s business-friendly environment. It also was a chance to have lunch in the “lion house” at the Wild Animal Sanctuary, a refuge for rescued lions, bears, tigers and other large animals on a 720-acre expanse in Keensburg. “We may not live in the mountains,” said Kirkmeyer, “but we have the best mountain views.”