Greeley loft conversions speed downtown revival

A handful of loft conversions may be a critical component in the ongoing effort to quicken the pulse in downtown Greeley.
“Business always goes where people are,´ said Mark Harris, principal in the Colorado Springs architecture and engineering firm Metropolitan Design Inc. “Look at the LoDo area in Denver — there’s been a total turnaround. Buildings you couldn’t give away are now selling for $40 or $50 a square foot. Lofts are a great way to spur urban growth.”
City of Greeley planner Greg Thompson said his office is attempting to clear the way for more second-story residential conversions with amendments to the development code.
“We’d like to make it easier,” Thompson said. “Rather than a 60-day process, it would be a use by right. We don’t want to see the whole downtown converted to residential, but a first floor devoted to commercial and an upstairs residence makes all the sense in the world.”
Four loft projects already completed or under construction had to pass through a special review process that focused mostly on fire, water, sewer and building-code issues.
Architect Harris and his partner, Kenny LaGreca, designed and engineered an Eighth Street project that will result in a 2,700-square-foot residence for Brian Bartels, and street-level office space for an engineering firm.
Bartels, a partner in Fleetside Pub and Brewery and a project manager for Sears and Co., The Team, hopes to be at home in his downtown bachelor pad by Feb. 1.
From the kitchen forward, the loft is open. Behind the kitchen lies a master bedroom and bath, and a pool and smoking room furnished with two big barber chairs rescued when Bartels’ long-time barber closed up shop.
The renovation process included re-engineering from the basement up, reinstalling a staircase to the second floor, skylights and an indoor-outdoor balcony.
Bartels had originally looked at buying only the second floor of the old Snyder Oil building, but faced with the prospect of rezoning, resurveying and going condo, decided it was easier to just buy the whole thing. Then he hired an architect.
“I must have had vision,” Bartels said. “I bought a pink building.”
Bartels follows in the footsteps of loft trailblazers Clem and Evva Lou Schutte, owners of Superior Shoe Service a few doors east.
The Schuttes bought the McArthur Hardware building in 1980.
“The first time we went up there, I thought this is where I’d like to live someday,” Clem Schutte said. “So, when we got the kids out of the nest, we decided it was time to get started.”
The Schuttes had a turn-of-the-century photograph of the building, which sparked hope that an elegant beveled glass clear story and carved stone cornices were hidden beneath the ’50s era modernization that masked four huge second-story windows with plastic and stucco.
Both were gone, which likely made sacrificing the structurally unsound front wall a little easier. The project began in October 1993, and the Schuttes moved in four months later. Today, their shoe-repair business is at home in the basement, a retail store occupies the main floor,and the Schuttes are happy in 1,750 square feet upstairs.
“It’s kind of like living in a condo with no homeowners fees and the city takes care of the walks,” Schutte said.
Other loft projects include Merve Davies’ 2,100-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath apartment in the Dodds Building on Ninth Street. Davies’ building includes his therapy practice, Individual and Group Therapy Services, the Unique Gift Shop, his residence, plus room for two smaller apartments. Davies said he and his 7-year-old son so far are enjoying exploring their new backyard — Lincoln Park.
The potential for more loft projects is vast, observes Bartels, with prospects such as the top floor of the huge Coronado, above Just Baked!, looking attractive.Other projects are under way, with Steve Butler filling out a dwelling above Garretson’s Sports Center and Pro Realty Inc.’s Matt Revitte working to upgrade existing apartments in his downtown buildings.