Big retailers eye growth in region

More national chain stores are slated to enter the Northern Colorado market in 1999 as the population here continues to grow.

In February, a Home Depot store is scheduled to open in Greeley, and a Kohl’s department store will be built adjacent to it.

The year 1999 “will be the year of retail for Greeley driven by the population growth in the last four or five years,´ said Lyle Butler, president of the Greeley/Weld Chamber of Commerce.

The Greeley-Evans area has seen tremendous growth in recent years due to new jobs being created in the area, he said.

Greeley has left the 70,000-population mark behind and now stands at about 73,000 residents. That invites more national chains to the community, Butler said, adding that more-expensive development fees and time lags in Fort Collins and Windsor make the Greeley area a more attractive retail location.

“This next year appears to be a year of tremendous retail growth here,” he said.

The new Home Depot is being built at the intersection of 35th Avenue and U.S. Highway 34, and a larger-scale retail center will go up at 23rd Avenue, south of the Wal-Mart Center. The new center will encompass about 250,000 square feet, said Seth Ward, commercial sales manager for Vintage Corp. in Greeley.

Another retail center, Westmoor Commons, will include 30,000 square feet of space at 10th Street and 47th Avenue. Westmoor Commons is scheduled to open in June and will include mostly small retail shops, Ward said.

Meanwhile, Fort Collins retail development is expected to remain fairly steady in the coming year, said Mike Hauser, president of the Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce.

“Overall, I think we’re looking at another strong year,” he said. “It’s stayed really strong in the last few years, and I don’t see any sectors changing.”

Among the new developments, Target department store in Fort Collins is expanding at its current location, Linens ‘N Things will open a 29,500-square-foot anchor in Harmony Marketplace, and Bed, Bath and Beyond will move into the space at 110 W. Troutman Parkway vacated by Best Products last year.

Fort Collins’ retail space has a 3 percent to 4 percent vacancy rate at present, and new retail facilities are leasing at $16 to $20 per square foot triple net, Croci said. Triple net refers to leases that do not include expenses such as janitorial and utilities.

Construction is almost completed on a 6,000-square-foot restaurant at Poudre Valley Plaza. Hibachi’s, will open in February, said Bill Neal, principal and owner of Wheeler Commercial Property Services.

“It’s a new Japanese steakhouse restaurant,” Neal said. The national chain operates five stores throughout the country.

“The retail markets look awfully good,” he said.

In March, construction will begin on another 6,000-square-foot building at Poudre Valley Plaza that will include a new breakfast restaurant.

The new restaurant, McCoy’s, will cover 3,500 square feet and will include a flower shop. Other retail space is designated for an ice-cream shop, Neal said.

Croci, of Wheeler Commercial, said the retail sector has been playing catch-up in the last couple of years.

After Fort Collins’ population grew beyond 100,000, “it became an economic force,” he said. “I think we’re status quo here. There’s not a lot of new retail development.”

Wheeler Commercial is planning Rigden Farms, a 300-acre site near Timberline and Drake roads. The development would include a 20-acre commercial site with a grocery store and retail center. However, completion is about three years away, Neal said.

The center will serve a residential area with about 1,100 units and will probably include some office space and an assisted-care facility.

Wheeler Commercial also is developing a new 32,000-square-foot retail center in Windsor on the town’s east end. The company also will build a 43,000-square-foot self-storage center adjacent to the center, Croci said.

However, he added, these more-expensive properties are filling up quickly, while vacancies are appearing in smaller retail centers that lease for about $10 per square foot triple net.

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