Greeley’s new community arts center taking shape

GREELEY — In its infancy, the Greeley Creative District’s new building is a shell of what it can become.

It’s a vision untold and a scene in which district board president Becky Safarik and donor Roy Wardell happily bounced ideas off each other as they toured the historic former Allnutt Funeral Service Macy Chapel, intent on making the building, which was purchased by the district last year, the next great place for artistic life in Greeley.

During a tour Jan. 14 of the space at 702 13th St., Wardell, a Weld County rancher who provided much of the seed money to buy the building and get the project started, and Safarik wandered through a maze of two-by-four frames, marking this area here, or that room there. I *Wardell, in jest, said he knows just which corner he wants to have an office, all of which will make use of natural lighting throughout its 14,000 square feet.

Each room has a story, and the surroundings are familiar for many Greeley locals, as this is where they’ve attended the funerals of family and friends throughout their lives.

Soon, it will be where they see art come to life in various forms — be it dance, painting, music or industrial arts, sculpture, photography, yoga and writing.

“There are several (visions), as you walk through this building. You really get a sense for not only its potential, but also you can imagine the spaces in a different way,” Safarik said.

The Richardsons, a local family well-known for their Greeley development business, bought the building through their Richmark Real Estate Partners company in 2020 for $500,000 after Allnutt Funeral Service moved the Macy Chapel to a new building in west Greeley the year prior. In September 2024, the Greeley Creative District, a nonprofit started in 2012 to highlight the numerous artistic efforts in the city, bought a majority interest in the the building for $615,000 to create a centralized community location.

The creative district comprises much of downtown Greeley and the area to the south toward the University of Northern Colorado campus. The area includes The Clay Center of Northern Colorado, Distortions, the Greeley Model Railroad Museum and the Greeley History Museum. The group offers walking tours of the many murals painted on buildings, as well as the uptown tree sculptures that line Eighth Avenue. 

The district works with the city’s 1% for Art program, which helps advance the concept that public art is linked to economic vitality. 

Creating a community center was something district leaders could only dream about until they connected with the Richardsons to purchase the building, thanks in part to a $1.5 million donation from Wardell.

“As I’ve gone through life I’ve gotten more into the arts, and I appreciate the arts, and Greeley is basically my hometown. I wanted to do something and I had the means to do an art thing in Greeley,” Wardell said.

There was plenty of work to be done in advance of the art center’s eventual opening. The roof was unstable, and the plaster on the walls had begun to flake off. There was asbestos that needed to be removed.

Crews in the last several months fortified the roof with temporary structures and stripped the plaster down to its 104-year-old bare brickwork.

It’s going to take about $8.8 million to get the center fully up and running. The plan is to open the first phase —  a small gift shop, offices and some classroom space — by September.

So far, the project has received $600,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds from the city of Greeley, as well as $150,000 in a façade grant from the Greeley Downtown Development Authority.

Safarik said the board is exploring historical preservation funding, as well as working with the Weld Community Foundation, which created an endowment starting with a $10,000 grant. The state also has granted the district an Enterprise Zone status, which allows certain donations of cash or in-kind services to be eligible for Colorado state tax credits. The district will embark on a community capital campaign in the next six months.

“The good news is we can go at the pace of funding availability,” Safarik said. “As soon as we get enough funding, we can do the next phase.”

A market study conducted by the district “really affirmed what starting-out artists are looking for in a community (center),” she said. “They also need maker space, they need studio space, a place to meet up with others, and hold smaller or large classes to provide income. Those were the high priorities and to have a place to sell their artwork.

“A lot of starting artists don’t have a means to be a part of a gallery that requires membership or higher fees, maybe there’s a way we can provide a retail store to sell their work,” she said.

• * This story has been changed to clarify Roy Wardell’s comment about having an office at the new center was said in jest. Though a prime benefactor for the center, he does not intend to work there or hold office space. The district also purchased a majority of the building with the arrangement to repay the balance in eight years to gain full ownership.

Sharon Dunn

Sharon Dunn is an award-winning journalist covering business, banking, real estate, energy, local government and crime in Northern Colorado since 1994. She began her journalism career in Alaska after graduating Metropolitan State College in Denver in 1992. She found her way back to Colorado, where she worked at the Greeley Tribune for 25 years. She has a master's degree in communications management from the University of Denver. She is married and has one grown daughter — and a beloved English pointer at her side while she writes. When not writing, you may find her enjoying embroidery and crochet projects, watching football, or kayaking and birdwatching on a high-mountain lake.