City strives for diversity of businesses, more jobs

WESTMINSTER If all goes according to plan, city officials here hope that residents never

have to leave the city to find jobs.

Several developments are to be completed this fall, including thousands of square feet of

office space. The development is part of an effort to diversify the city’s economy and to provide

more employment opportunities. City officials want to move away from their reliance on the

retail market and are bringing well-paying corporate jobs into the city.

“Right now Westminster is very blessed in having a very strong retail market,” says John

Carpenter, the city’s community development director. “But that’s good news and bad news.

“The good news is that it’s a very significant revenue source for the city. The bad news is it

makes us somewhat vulnerable to downturns in the economy because so much of our revenue

comes from retail sales tax.”

The city doesn’t want to be viewed as a “bedroom community” anymore, adds Mayor Nancy

Heil. “We want to provide more work here,” she explains, “so people can live and work within

the Westminster area.”

Retail is the city’s bread and butter. In addition to providing revenue for the city, it has

provided plenty of jobs in the service industry. The problem with that, city officials say, is the

service industry is dependent on people who have the money to spend. New business growth,

such as Lucent Technologies at 120th Avenue and Huron Street, will provide boosts in property

and use taxes as well as well-paying jobs that result in purchases of goods and services.

Without such jobs, the city risks losing people who might otherwise stay, Mayor Pro Tem

Ann Merkel says. Since Westminster is home to Front Range Community College, it makes

sense to have jobs available in the city when students graduate, she says, adding that her children

had to move when they couldn’t find jobs here.

About two-thirds of the budget to operate the city comes from sales tax, and much of that

comes from Westminster Mall and shops surrounding it. Mary Ann Parrot, the city’s finance

director, expects revenues to drop some when FlatIron Crossing, a mall under construction in

Broomfield, opens next year, but she adds that sales taxes overall are increasing. “We have added

significant new retail in a variety of places,” she says.

Indeed.

Kohl Department Store at 120th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard will offer everything from

clothes to home furnishings. “Plans are for the store to open in May,” says Susan Grafton, the

city’s economic development manager. Across the street at Sheridan Crossing is Stein Mart,

another department store, which shares space with Albertson’s and a strip of retail stores.

Grocery stores, the anchors for four new developments, are also under construction or just

opening in locations around the city. “Those are fairly stable and fairly recession-proof because

people will shop at grocery stores regardless of the economy,” Parrot says.

Mixed use is key at the Church Ranch Corporate Center at Church Ranch Boulevard and U.S.

36, where there is already a hotel and a bank. Construction workers are finishing new

office/R&D space and plans are in review now for new multi-story offices.

The Colonade/Standley Lake Marketplace at 100th Avenue and Wadsworth Parkway will

provide space for retail, a medical facility, a grocery and drug store, as well as more office space.

The Northpark Commercial Center at 104th Avenue and Federal Boulevard is near completion

and is home to another grocery store, retail stores and another medical office building.

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