Berthoud Parkway good for business and future

BERTHOUD – Windy Castle, owner of The Jumping Bean Coffee House in downtown Berthoud, saw business plunge 75 percent the first week the Berthoud Parkway opened last summer. And then, she said, a funny thing happened: Business returned to normal by the time school bells were ringing in late August.

What about Kwik Korner, which sat right at the edge of the sharp bend in U.S. Highway 287 – a bend that no longer exists now that the Parkway is open? Owner Barb Kendrick said business has increased 8 percent because vehicles can now get in and out of the parking lot during morning and afternoon rush hours. “It was a surprise, being the pessimists we are,” Kendrick said of the increase.

The Berthoud Parkway – so named because town officials thought “bypass” sounded too much like a heart attack – is a $26.5 million, 5.2-mile stretch of four-lane highway that takes trucks, commuters and anyone else west of Berthoud’s downtown rather than through its heart.

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Business owners say that commuter traffic hasn’t dropped off as much as they had thought it would. What is absent is the number of semi-trailers rattling through downtown.

“I wish it would’ve taken more traffic away,´ said Keith Burgess, co-owner of Log Cabin Liquors on Mountain Avenue, who noted that before the bypass, 10,000 vehicles would drive through Berthoud daily, the majority being commuters. “Most of my customers live around this area. People shop where they live, and we didn’t notice a huge drop in customers.”

Karl Foreman, owner of Berthoud Drug & Gift, also on Mountain Avenue, said he hasn’t seen any appreciable decline in foot traffic into his store, either.

What is different is that Berthoud is experiencing energized growth, with 24 projects, both commercial and residential, pending and in various stages of the approval process along the Parkway and elsewhere.

“Once the dominoes start to fall, the process will continue for a while,´ said Town Administrator Jim White.

Real estate agent Lou Gassner echoed that sentiment. “If you look at the whole Front Range, Larimer County has grown 10 to 12 percent over the last few years. Berthoud proper has grown less than 1 percent each of the last 10 years. This is a natural area for expansion. There is not any more beautiful country than in this stretch. Berthoud will become the epicenter of activity.”

Projects coming up

First to come up out of the ground along the Berthoud Parkway is Gateway Park, which includes Gassner’s 8,600-square-foot office building that now houses his United Country Foothills Premier Properties, of which he is owner/broker, and AApproved Financial Services, of which he is president. Gassner, who maintained his real estate office in Longmont with a branch in Berthoud, consolidated both at the new Berthoud location.

Also a partner in the Gassner building is Bill Kleber, who previously had his chiropractic practice downtown. Tenants include First American Heritage Title, financial planner Gary Hansen and attorney Jan Lord. They relocated from Loveland and Greeley, respectively.

Adams Bank & Trust, a downtown fixture, recently opened its new bank at Gateway Park. An assisted living center is planned there as well, Gassner said, with about 100,000 square feet still available.

White noted that the town has been working diligently with Safeway, which has expressed interest in building one of its new lifestyle centers on Meadowlark Avenue just east of the Parkway. “They’re coming forward in the next month or so for approval. Despite the fact they’re doing that, it doesn’t confirm a construction date,” he said.

Safeway will draw ancillary businesses that usually follow construction of a new grocery store, such as a gas station. “We have a steady stream of developers checking us out, watching and waiting. Our time inevitably will come.”

Pending projects, according to Robert Anderson, director of planning for the past four months, include Sugar Hill, a 190-acre mixed-use development at the top of the Parkway.

South of that, by the Berthoud Reservoir winding toward Loveland Reservoir and wrapping around Lone Tree, McNeill and Lonetree reservoirs, is Jon Turner’s Heron Lakes project, which will include an 18-hole golf course, $400,000 to $2 million homes and commercial space. Gassner compared the concept to Water Valley, a popular lifestyle community in Windsor.

About midpoint on the Parkway, on the west side, is the Estates at Matthews Farms, on the east side is the Villages at Matthews Farm and Revere, a commercial development. Gassner noted that Revere has been platted for a 12- or 14-screen theater complex and upscale retail.

But downtown Berthoud is not being forgotten. In 2002, it became part of the nationwide Main Street Program as a means to re-energize the commercial area.

Part of that revitalization dovetails with infrastructure improvements planned for streets in the downtown area in the next couple of years, said Eric Boyd, Main Street director in Berthoud. When roads are repaved, the town will implement such streetscape elements as bulb-outs to create extra space at intersections, benches, historic street lights and landscaping.

Rafe Ropek of Berthoud, who has created artistic elements for numerous transportation projects in Colorado, has been commissioned to create sidewalk medallions that represent Berthoud’s early ironsmiths.