Under construction

WELLINGTON – During the past decade, Wellington has become the ultimate bedroom community.

Residential growth, with subdivisions creeping outward from the little town’s core, has been driven by some of the lowest land and housing costs in the region.

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But developers have kept a close eye on the number of single-family rooftops that have popped up, and now appear ready to pull the trigger on needed retail, commercial and industrial projects.

The town of Wellington currently has nine commercial or industrial projects in the planning stages. Developers are also working on additional projects that haven’t been presented to the town officially.

The projects include a previously announced 200,000-square-foot retail center, two new business parks, a medical office campus, two mixed-use developments, a landscaping/hardware store, and the expansion of an existing company.

Wellington has grown since the late 1990s because of its proximity to Fort Collins and Interstate 25. The population of the town has increased from 2,736 in 2000 to approximately 4,237 last year.

While the town has embraced its new residents, officials know Wellington needs additional services to keep the residents and sales-tax generating retail purchases in town.

Here’s how out-of-balance Wellington’s tax base has become with the wave of residential development: In 2004, the town collected approximately $428,000 in property taxes and $290,000 in sales taxes, a 60-40 ratio on the side of property taxes.

The average ratio for a town Wellington’s size should be just the opposite – 60 percent sales tax to 40 percent property tax, said Larry Lorentzen, Wellington town administrator. Lorentzen said Wellington has been too successful in attracting residents, but has failed so far in bringing new businesses to serve them.

“Looking at other small towns, a town of 4,000 will have four hotels, two grocery stores and a couple of mechanics,” Lorentzen said. “Being this close to Fort Collins has been difficult and I don’t think our town board thought it would take as many people as it has” to attract such services.

‘Adventure Land’

Development in Wellington is “an adventure,” according to developer who asked not to be identified. “You never know what you are going to find when you start digging because not everything is platted,” he said. “You don’t know where they want their enterprise or commercial zones and you don’t know what they want projects to look like. It is like visiting Adventure Land at Disney World.”

One reason for the adventure is that Wellington doesn’t have defined development zones, just ideas in the town’s master plan.

“We do not have typical Euclidian-type zoning,” Lorentzen said, referring to the traditional approach of zoning districts for different uses.

Wellington provides three performance districts, and the only use by right in any of those districts is single-family residential.

“All commercial projects are approved on a case-by-case basis, and they can be approved in any district,” Lorentzen said. “We are in the process of probably changing our land use codes and this is kind of difficult because we are using a system and the developers don’t understand it.”

Regardless of the current system, logic says growth is coming to the area because the rooftops have hit the magic number. In addition to its current population, Wellington also has approximately 1,000 residential lots that have been approved and are ready for construction.

“We are getting close to the breaking point of gaining the attention of developers,´ said Larry Noel, Wellington’s mayor. “I think we need another 300 to 400 homes. We have a population of around 4,200 and everybody says the magic number is 6,000.”

Based on the recent pace of construction, that could happen fast.

Between Jan. 1, 2001, and Dec. 31, 2004, Wellington added 540 new housing units. Nearly 200 were added in 2004 alone.

Dino DiTullio, owner of Westward Development Co., completed residential development in Wellington in the past and currently owns land near the town’s southern boundary. DiTullio said he is excited about the prospect of growth in the area and feels it is time for commercial to take notice.

“I think Wellington’s growth is indicative of the demand for housing along the entire Front Range,” DiTullio said. “You have to hit a critical number of rooftops and achieve a certain level of commercial viability for business to come. It is intrinsically attractive and even more so now that commercial is getting there.”

Clinic plans

Denver surgeon Dr. Jonathan Lee recognized the need for a medical center in Wellington after a recent drive through the area.

“He saw that it was a long drive to the hospital if you need medical care, and thought, ‘If no one else is going to help then I sure will,’´ said Ed Rupert, broker with Re/Max First Commercial and Lee’s broker.

Rupert said he plans on building an urgent care center with a small emergency room and pharmacy on 17 acres on the Thimmig Annexation, which is located north of downtown on Sixth Street.

“He wants to build it so the urgent care can grow with the community and offer these people services they need,” Rupert said.

Further south on Sixth Street, a group of investors has built the first stage of a three-phase, 44,000-square-foot project going by the name Sixth Street Business Park. Phase one is complete with a 6,800-square-foot shell that’s waiting for an occupant. Phases two and three are awaiting approval from the town’s planning and zoning board.

Phase two includes 20,000 square feet of retail, office and restaurant space on nine acres south of the completed phase-one building. Wellington Veterinary Clinic has signed a contract to occupy one of the four buildings in the project.

Phase three includes 17,340 square feet of retail, office and restaurant space in three buildings on two acres.

“So far we don’t have any takers, but we are talking to lots of people,´ said Steve Grobel, construction manager with Construction Management Works LLC.

Also, Doug Andersen, owner of Request Real Estate is looking to expand his office space by converting a former residence into a commercial real estate office.

East of I-25, where residential development is surging, two developers – Brian Boos and C.G. Smith – are looking to convert 40 acres each into separate mixed-use developments.

Boos is developing Loban Farms, the site of the former Wellington Downs; Smith is developing Cottonwood Park.

Back on the West side of the interstate, an investment group intends to transform 23.4 acres into a shopping center with an initial value of $4.2 million. The center will consist of 10 separate buildings with 196,000 square feet of retail space.

Ron Young, managing broker with Fort Collins-based Re/Max First Commercial, who is heading up the project, is waiting on signed letters of intent for the shopping center. Still, he indicated that the Boxelder Commons center – as it is currently known – would offer the same services of similar retail strip centers, including a grocery store anchor. Other services may include a hardware store, a flower shop, a card store or a dry cleaner along with pad sites for several restaurants.

Andersen, who hopes to relocate his real estate office, also hopes to build a garden center and hardware store at the intersection of the I-25 frontage road and County Road 62.

Industrial Growth

Jim Pieper, owner of Pieper and Co. Inc. of Erie, and Bill Pollit, owner of Wildcat Excavation Inc. of Wellington, are in the final approval stages of Boxelder Business Park, a 28-acre business park with 14 one-acre parcels and a 5-acre site for Wellington Community Church.

“We need to jump start that little old bedroom community and get the businesses going in up there,” Pieper said. “We will be looking into all types of small-business people, some of the trades and service people. That ground is so good. I would really like to see a greenhouse or somebody come up there.”

Pieper said the response from the town on his project has been positive, and that groundbreaking will occur six to eight weeks after final approval.

“The response has been very favorable,” he said. “This is where they want their business park. It meets all their criteria and it is in the enterprise zone so we can give tax credits to the business people.”

Alan Winick is the owner of Winick Farms and Fabrication Inc. and is in the process of expanding his business. He is adding four buildings with 48,000 square feet of light commercial industrial space. His farm implement business will expand into a 19,000-square-foot shop.

Grobel is designing and constructing the space and said he hopes to add similar companies at the location, which is near County Road 60 and Winecup Street, south of town.

“We are talking with an HVAC company and other light industrial,” Grobel said. “I definitely think it is time for the business climate to grow and the thing we need to do is cooperate instead of fighting … there is enough pie to share it all.”