Greeley projects require civic shuffle

GREELEY — The city of Greeley is making progress on plans for two major projects — constructing a hotel and convention center on city land and building a municipal complex to consolidate city offices that are spread out within the downtown area.

Updates are being posted at www.greeleygov.com/city-center for what is being called the Dominos Project, which encompasses the sale, leasing and redevelopment of multiple downtown properties and moving various city departments to temporary locations while permanent buildings are constructed.

The city is working with Greeley-based Hensel Phelps Construction Co. and a group of local private investors on plans for a 150-room hotel and convention center on city-owned land called the Lincoln Park Annex at 919 Seventh St. The investor group includes brothers Dick and Charlie Monfort, owners of the Colorado Rockies; Scott Ehrlich, a longtime auto dealer in Greeley; Bob Tointon, longtime downtown property owner; and Greeley’s Richardson family.

The annex takes up the southern half of a city block between Ninth and 10th avenues, and is home to a city’s Fire Station 1, municipal courts, city council chambers and the High Plains Library, all of which must move.

The city is negotiating a deal with Hensel Phelps, one of two firms that responded to a request for proposal to build the hotel project, that must be approved by the city council. Becky Safarik, Greeley’s assistant city manager, said the deal will be presented first to the Downtown Development Authority March 17, and hopes to have the deal approved by city council April 5.

The city completed a study that determined the market would support a 150-room hotel and a 5,000-square-foot conference center. Ehrlich, a spokesman for the private-investors group, said the group envisions a 14,000-square-foot conference center.

Municipal complex

The city has been acquiring land within the block west of City Hall at 1000 10th St. that includes the city hall annex building, where it will construct a municipal complex over the next two years to consolidate the city’s 800 employees that now are housed in five separate buildings scattered throughout downtown. Recent land purchases were for 1111 11th St., 1115 11th St., 1015 11th Ave. and 1121 11th St. It is negotiating with Ten Sleep Investment Group LLC for 1011 11th Ave. The city has acquired additional properties that will be used as temporary housing for city employees.

Demolition is underway on the purchased properties, removing a bank building, garages and an apartment building. A house on one of the properties has been moved.

The city council has vacated the chambers at the Lincoln Park Annex and temporarily began meeting Jan. 25 in a School District 6 building at 1025 Ninth Ave.

In December, the city paid $1.7 million for the former Safeway building at 1122 11th Ave., where the city will relocate the fire station and erect temporary modular buildings on the parking lot that could be used to temporarily house the municipal court. Safarik said the city determined it will be more cost-effective to demolish the Safeway building and start from scratch rather than remodel it.

The city is close to executing a lease for the building at 14th Avenue and Second Street formerly occupied by the Colorado Department of Transportation, to temporarily house the fire station because it can house engines, and also serve as a temporary home for the city’s information technology department.

The High Plains Library is continuing to explore the purchase and remodel of the city’s Round Building at 1000 10th St. The library has applied for a state grant that would help fund the project. The city entertained the idea of buying the Goodwill Center building at 1012 11th St. and then leasing it to the library, but the city deemed the asking price was too high.

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