Future Legends developer: USDA forced months-long work stoppage

WINDSOR — An investigation into the potential presence of an historically significant drainage ditch in Windsor led to a months-long work stoppage at the Future Legends Sports Complex, the project’s developer told BizWest. 

Construction at the 118-acre site at 801 Diamond Valley Drive — which is set to be the home of Pioneer League baseball team NoCo Owlz and United Soccer League One professional team Northern Colorado FC, and will also include youth sports fields and accommodations for visitors. The project was stalled for the last eight months after the U.S. Department of Agriculture informed the developer that a portion of the Consolidated Law Ditch may have been diverted onto the Future Legends site in the 1950s or 1960s, California-based developer and Future Legends founder Jeff Katofsky said. 

Late last month, Katofky said the agency pulled its stop-work order after determining that the project will not impact any historical sites. The move allows the developer to begin construction again.

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“After spending several hundred thousand dollars on environmental studies and who knows how much money lost in stoppage time, they considered it a ‘non-action,’” Katofsky said. “… You can’t believe what we’ve been through for something that in the end was determined didn’t even need to be cleared up.”

Windsor economic-development director Stacy Miller confirmed the existence of the stop-work order and said she’s seen a copy of the documents. 

“We’re remobilizing now” and hope to have crews back out on the site in the next month, Katofsky said. 

“People [with the general and subcontractors] are working on other projects,” he said. “I wish I could snap my fingers and make everyone come back to work here, but no one was sitting at home just waiting for us to call.”

During the work stoppage, Future Legends switched general contractors from Greeley-based Hensel Phelps Construction Co. to Jaco General Contractor Inc., Katofsky said.

“In the end, I don’t think this was a project that Hensel Phelps could truly handle,” he said.

Hensel Phelps representatives did not respond to requests for comment. 

Despite the stoppage, Katofsky said he’s determined to deliver the project in time for the Owlz to host games in 2022, although the hotel component of the complex may be completed a bit later than expected. 

“We’ll definitely get to the finish line,” he said. “It’ll just be a lot of extra sweat.”

The project had about four months of buffer time built into its schedule, so the eight-month delay has resulted in the developer needing to make up for four months’ work.

“We’re going to have to double-task,” Katofsky said. 

The Future Legends project has had a bumpy history. Initially, a project called the Rocky Mountain Sports Park was proposed in 2017 as the future home of a minor league baseball team and a series of youth sports fields, retail spots and hotels. The idea was to build a complex that could compete nationally in the growing youth sports industry.

However, the project has changed hands between developers and made significant changes due to discoveries of nearby water lines and eventually evolved into the current Future Legends concept. 

The Weld County Board of Commissioners pulled its participation within a joint effort to secure $20 million in state loans last April, leaving the city ineligible for that funding. Windsor officials and the Katofskys slammed that move as effectively stalling its development.