Legal & Courts  June 28, 2002

Real Estate: Eagle County area planner joins McWhinneys’ team

LOVELAND — Matt Dean has swapped one colossal master-planned community for another.

Dean, previously vice president of community development for The Cordillera Group in Eagle County, has recently come down from the mountains to join McWhinney Enterprises in a like role.

McWhinney picked Dean as its new director of community development, replacing Bob Blanchard who left last fall to become head of planning for the city of Grand Junction.

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The position puts Dean in a key management position for Centerra, McWhinney’s 3,000-acre mixed-use project at Interstate 25 and U.S. Highway 34.

Centerra is the largest planned community north of Denver, but size is old hat for Dean.

At The Cordillera Group, Dean directed development for the 6,500-acre Cordillera spread, a nationally renowned golf community about 20 miles west of Vail.

Dean, who spent three and one-half years at Cordillera, said he wasn’t looking to leave the Vail Valley, but he saw a unique opportunity with the McWhinneys.

“It’s a great opportunity with a startup company to grow with that company and take my experience from Cordillera to do another well-planned master community, and to influence and add value here at Centerra,” Dean said.

Dean, 36, also joins an equally youthful executive team headed by brothers Chad and Troy McWhinney.

“I saw it as a great opportunity to join a group of young, driven, community-minded individuals,” he said.

Dean holds a bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering from Penn State University and a master’s in real estate and construction management from the University of Denver.

McWhinney Enterprises has revised the community development post slightly from Blanchard’s tenure.

“Matt is also working with and overseeing infrastructure construction,´ said Nick Christensen, vice president and chief operating officer for the company. “Other than that, he will head up the team that runs our design review committee.”

Dean’s first priority is to spearhead planning of Centerra’s I-25 frontage, a 300-acre parcel that stretches from Crossroads Boulevard near the Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport to the Cloverleaf Kennel Club dog track. McWhinney has an option to buy the dog track.

The frontage property includes plans for office-warehouse uses, class A office buildings and possibly some retail.

“That will help define our image publicly with respect to visibility from I-25 and Crossroads Boulevard,” Christensen said.

Retail milestone

Dean’s addition comes at a time when Centerra is gaining a national retail profile.

Including the Prime Outlets center, retailers and restaurants at Centerra topped the $100 million threshold in sales last year.

“As a result, we’ve seen increased interest from additional retailers,” Christensen said.

Like population numbers for a metro area, retailers keep an eye out for shopping centers that draw nine-figure incomes.

Christensen sensed the attraction last month at the International Conference of Shopping Centers in Las Vegas, an annual cotillion for retail chains and shopping center developers.

“I think it was our best conference ever,” he said. “We talked to soft good retailers and other restaurants.”

Soft goods is retail speak for apparel stores or a sheets-and-towels chain like Bed Bath & Beyond or Linens ‘N Things.

Centerra currently spans about 550,000 square feet of retail space, including its restaurants. Long-term plans call for that number to double, Christensen said.

Bob Baun is the editor of The Northern Colorado Business Report. He can be reached by phone at (970) 221-5400, by fax at (970) 221-5432 or by e-mail at bbaun@ncbr.com.

LOVELAND — Matt Dean has swapped one colossal master-planned community for another.

Dean, previously vice president of community development for The Cordillera Group in Eagle County, has recently come down from the mountains to join McWhinney Enterprises in a like role.

McWhinney picked Dean as its new director of community development, replacing Bob Blanchard who left last fall to become head of planning for the city of Grand Junction.

The position puts Dean in a key management position for Centerra, McWhinney’s 3,000-acre mixed-use project at Interstate 25 and U.S. Highway 34.

Centerra is the largest planned community north of Denver, but size is old…

Christopher Wood
Christopher Wood is editor and publisher of BizWest, a regional business journal covering Boulder, Broomfield, Larimer and Weld counties. Wood co-founded the Northern Colorado Business Report in 1995 and served as publisher of the Boulder County Business Report until the two publications were merged to form BizWest in 2014. From 1990 to 1995, Wood served as reporter and managing editor of the Denver Business Journal. He is a Marine Corps veteran and a graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder. He has won numerous awards from the Colorado Press Association, Society of Professional Journalists and the Alliance of Area Business Publishers.
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