REAL ESTATE: Albertson’s investing in Northern Colorado stores

FORT COLLINS — Albertson’s has started a multi-year process of overhauling some of its Northern Colorado stores, beginning with its 22-year-old store at 3660 S. Mason St. in Fort Collins.

According to a building-permit application filed with the city

of Fort Collins, Albertson’s plans to spend at least $1.5 million refreshing the store, which anchors the Cottonwood Corners shopping center.

Work on the remodeling job should start this month, said Jeff Hardman, real estate manager for Albertson’s regional office in Denver.

Hardman expects the Albertson’s at 731 S. Lemay Ave., built in 1985, to be close behind.

“The other store at Riverside and Lemay is expected to be remodeled next year,” he said.

Albertson’s announced late last year, it would invest $300 million in Colorado by the end of 2005, opening new stores and relocating or refurbishing older ones. The company has 62 stores in Colorado, including three that opened since last fall.

Albertson’s remodels “10 to 14” stores in Colorado per year, Hardman said.

One of the new stores coming by 2005 will likely be in Greeley. Albertson’s is in negotiations with developers of the Fox Run development at 59th Avenue and 20th Street, Hardman said.

“We’re still working out the details — we’re still evaluating the site,” Hardman said.

Another new Albertson’s is on the drawing board for the northeast corner of Harmony and Timberline roads in Fort Collins.

“We expect to have that open in the second quarter of next year,” he said of the Harmony-Timberline store. “We hope to start construction in September.”

Both the remodeled stores and new stores will be designed to match the company’s slogan “Focus on Fresh.”

“When you walk in, you’ll see fresh departments,” Hardman explained. “You’ll see less-traditional grocery store and more fresh departments.”

Fresh departments include meats, produce, dairy and floral.

The remodeling plans are good signs for the landlords at Cottonwood Corners. A local partnership acquired the 80,000-square-foot Cottonwood Corners center in 2001 for $7.4 million.

After Steele’s Markets closed later in 2001, there was much speculation that Albertson’s would opt to snap up the Steele’s building on Drake Road and relocate the Cottonwood Corners store. The remodel project appears to show that the grocery chain is staying put.

Similarly, the opening of the new Wal-Mart Supercenter a few blocks away from the Lemay Albertson’s seemed to threaten the future of that store. Again, Albertson’s seems intent on standing firm.

Regional home sales continue slide

Even record low interest rates couldn’t keep residential real estate sales from struggling in April across Northern Colorado, according to the latest sales data.

Regionwide, real estate agents sold 775 homes in April, down 22 percent from the 946 sold in April 2002.

Through the first four months of the year, regional home sales are 12.6 percent behind the same point in 2003.

The sales slump has been deepest in the Fort Collins area. In April, Fort Collins-area sales were off 26.1 percent from April 2002. For the year through April, sales were down 21.8 percent.

Loveland’s sales declined 24.5 percent in April and are down 9.42 percent for the year. Only the Greeley/Evans market is close to breaking even. In April, real estate agents saw a decline of 6.8 percent in the Greeley/Evans area. For the year, numbers are down 5.1 percent.

One of the continuing curiosities about the sales decline is that average home prices are holding steady or even gaining ground.

For instance, the average sales price in Loveland for single-family homes is up 0.5 percent, to $222,512, even though single-family sales have declined 15.2 percent. In Fort Collins, single-family unit sales are 11.2 percent, but average prices have increased 9.9 percent to $248,392.

Conversely, Greeley/Evans single-family sales are the most stable — down just 3.5 percent from 2002 — but sellers have enjoyed the smallest gains in the area at just 2.6 percent.

Dave Pettigrew, a broker for Prudential Prime in Fort Collins, said the market has remained surprisingly balanced. That means housing inventory hasn’t become excessive in Northern Colorado, unlike the Denver market that reported a record 26,000 homes on the market in May.

“Inventory is pretty well in line with last year,” Pettigrew said.

As for the continuing climb in average sales, Pettigrew credits the “crazy interest rates” for propping up prices.

Demand is still strong in certain price segments, said Ron Kohl of Re/Max Optimum in Greeley. For instance, Kohl is marketing 78 lots in the Pumpkin Ridge development in west Greeley, priced in the $180,000 to $225,000 range.

“We’re about 50 percent sold out on the first phase (78 single-family lots), and we’re just finishing the curb and gutter,” Kohl said.

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