Eisenhower Blvd. feels fallout from I-25 boom

LOVELAND – If Northern Colorado retail and commercial development were an earthquake, Interstate 25 and U.S. Highway 34 would be the epicenter. And Eisenhower Boulevard in Loveland is feeling the after-shocks.

Eisenhower Boulevard, as U.S. 34 is known as it travels through town, is becoming a commercial and retail bridge between Centerra to the east and central Loveland to the west. Development plans include retail, office space and other commercial buildings.

“Eisenhower is the path of growth and the main street of demand in Loveland,´ said Tom Reznik, a broker for Realtec Loveland. “Centerra is the magnet pulling development out east.”

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Last September, Dando Welch Development bought a 30-acre parcel of land west of the former Crystal Rapids water park. The company is in the process of buying another 12-acre parcel that includes the former water park.

Plans are for professional and medical offices with some retail, said Kirk Dando, a developer with Dando Welch.

The company hopes to break ground on the project this summer, Dando said.

Two companies – one national and the other a regional – have signed letters of intent to lease the old Metrolux Theater at Eisenhower Boulevard and Denver Avenue. The national company is interested in one-third of the building, and the regional company is looking at another third.

Reznik, who is listing the property, said he would not disclose the names of the companies until leases are signed.

Traffic attractive

Realtec is also developing three 10,000- to 14,000-square-foot buildings just east and north of the former Metrolux. Businesses there will be retail and service-oriented, Reznik said.

In mid-January, Kohl’s department store filed a building permit request with the city of Loveland for development at McWhinney Enterprises’ Van de Water Plaza. The plaza, which has 3,000- to 7,000-square-foot retail pad sites to lease, is located along Eisenhower Boulevard about a half mile west of I-25.

Lowe’s Home Improvement is already located at Van de Water, and Addison Avenue, a credit union, broke ground in December. McWhinney has also sold land in the development to Grease Monkey, which has yet to do anything with the property, said Jack Wolfe, president of commercial and mixed use development for McWhinney.

Wolfe said the traffic along Eisenhower Boulevard makes development there attractive.

“It’s not just local traffic,” he said.  “You also have tourist traffic getting off I-25 to go to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.”

Projects that have sprung up at the crossroads of the interstate and U.S. 34 – the Promenade Shops at Centerra, the 2534 development and Medical Center of the Rockies among them – have sparked developers’ interest in Eisenhower Boulevard.

Prices, rents up

The activity at I-25 and U.S. 34 has also driven up the price of land and rent along Eisenhower.

Prices depend on location, but in general rents are $25 to $35 per square foot at I-25 and U.S. 34. Prices are about $10 to $15 less farther west along Eisenhower Boulevard, Reznik said. Developers know the challenge is to make the rents low enough to appeal to local and regional businesses.

“Local and regional retailers can’t afford the rents around Centerra,” Reznik said. “But there’s a limit to the number of national retailers that will come. We might be reaching a saturation point there.”

Some see the development along Eisenhower close to the interstate as a sign of a bigger boom to come, but others say development in the area will take a while to gain momentum.

“I don’t think our market can handle the price to develop,´ said Joe Palieri, a broker associate with Chrisland Inc. “You are not going to be buying anything along that road that is not expensive.”

Palieri said development may pick up speed along Eisenhower as the Centerra and 2534 areas gain higher occupancy rates. He also said MCR, scheduled to open in mid-February, may be a catalyst for more interest along Eisenhower. He pointed to the need for medical office space and housing for hospital employees.

“I think the hospital creates more of an unknown along Eisenhower than retail,” he said. “How quickly the road develops depends on the need for office space and what retailers are left to come to the area.”