Projects flock to interchanges

Projects flock to interchanges

Carol Wood

Business Report Staff Writer
Northern Colorado˜s Main Street is growing. The stretch of Interstate 25 from Colorado Highway 7 north to Fort Collins continues to lure companies for a variety of reasons.While hundreds of acres of land is for sale along that stretch of the interstate, certain interchanges have become dominant in attracting development.
Work already is under way to broaden I-25 to a six-lane freeway from Highway 7 to Colorado Highway 66.
The center of that work now is at I-25 and Colorado Highway 119, currently the most-developed interchange of the northern stretch.
Companies, primarily from Boulder County, continue to find the Highway 119 interchange and Del Camino area a welcome place to do business. Del Camino Center, developed in part by cousins Ken and Ed Kanemoto of Longmont˜s Prudential LTM Realtors, has been filled by companies such as Hauser Chemical, Specialty Products Co., Sopris West, Applied Films Corp. and Magnelab Corp.
Craig Harrison, head of Harrison Resource Corp. of Fort Collins, sees three key zones in the northern I-25 corridor, and they all center around utility — specifically sewer — development.
The areas with the most complete service include Highway 119, the Windsor exit to U.S. Highway 34 at the Rocky Mountain Factory Stores, and finally the stretch from Prospect Road to Mulberry Street.
Other areas will catch on as more services are put in place. The interchange at Colorado Highway 52 may sport only a truck stop now, but Frederick, Firestone, Berthoud and Johnstown all have jockeyed for property in the area.
As for the 119 interchange, its utility services and other benefits continue to lure businesses.
"We˜re starting to develop another 80 acres south of Del Camino Center," said Ken Kanemoto.
The property also will be called Del Camino Center and essentially is an extension of the adjoining built-out business park. Its first tenant will be TSN Inc., a Boulder cleaning-products wholesaler needing 165,000 square feet for its 75 employees.
Kanemoto said the area immediately around the revamped interchange, particularly on the east side of I-25, will see even more commercial activity once construction on the road is complete.
"We˜ certainly see more development of hotels and restaurants," he said.
Along the western stretch of Highway 119, Marvin Dyer of Longmont˜s Dyer Realty Inc. is piecing together the Vista Commercial Center with 39 lots ranging from just more than an acre to more than three acres. Seven lots already have been sold, with four more under contract. A second phase of 68 acres currently is available as one parcel.
Dyer also said he has three lots under contract on nearby land owned by the Western Dairymen Cooperative Inc. One of those will go to Farmer˜s Bank of Eaton.
Like its fully serviced counterpart, another of the fast-growing interchanges along I-25 is at Highway 34.
There, it˜s expected that this year will bring another phase of the outlet mall˜s development, along with a Target and Gart Sports.
Nearby, Peter Kast of Kast Real Estate Services Inc. has almost filled a 34,000-square-foot office building that is under construction. The FDC Building, with Fort Collins˜ Factual Data Corp. as its largest tenant, also will house offices for McWhinney Colorado Enterprises.
"It should be completely leased by the time it˜s finished," Kast said. "We˜d like to do others this year, depending on the demand."
The building is designed to be duplicated another three times to create a central courtyard for the complex.
Other negotiations for land near the interchange focus on research and development companies and office/warehouse users. Kast said he has spoken with several Denver companies interested in expanding operations into Northern Colorado.
Across the highway, interest has been strong at Crossroads Business Park marketed by Dan Stroh of Stroh & Company Real Estate & Auctions Inc. Still, last year was a little disappointing, Stroh said. Out of approximately 100 inquiries and six to eight "really good" prospects, no deals were signed.
Many companies looking at the area are turned away by high impact fees, Stroh said. He recounted the story of the head of one large Texas company who called Stroh to suggest there was an error in the proposal Stroh sent to him. Rather, it was simply the impact fees Loveland now levies.
"I haven˜t given up on Crossroads," Stroh said, "but Fort Collins and Loveland have chosen to sock us real heavily on impact fees."
The development-deterring fees haven˜t come to Windsor as quickly. That interchange, at Colorado Highway 392, began to take off last year with the construction of a Schrader˜s Country Store in the Westgate Business Park. Soon, construction will begin on the first office building in Westgate, being built for the relocation of Greeley software firm Miner & Miner.
While the key interchanges continue to grow, some once-big plans have been delayed or virtually erased from the near-future picture of I-25. One of those projects includes the sport-oriented outlet malls planned on property annexed to Dacono along I-25.
There, Arizona developer Ted Decker has for some time been planning a sports-theme outlet that would include indoor ski slopes, swimming, and skating rinks. The project was to have been completed by now. Dacono˜s town planner said the developer still is working to finance the undertaking. A trailer advertising the project was placed for several months on a hill along the east side of I-25. It was removed last year, and the planner has not had contact from Decker for many months.
Another development that appears to be at a halt is the Great Mall of Colorado, retail center of more than a million square feet planned at I-25 and Highway 7.
And still, there is occasional talk but no action toward formation of a regional planning group that would help design building and landscape guidelines along I-25.
"Long range, some organization — public or private — needs to come up with some land planning," Harrison said. "It˜s the Main Street of the Front Range. I truly think there˜s going to be a lot of activity around I-25, and there needs to be some sort of quality to it."