A Fort Collins service station built in 1964 may soon see new life as the latest outlet for a popular Colorado barbecue chain.

The Denver-based Brothers BBQ has submitted a conceptual review application to the City of Fort Collins, detailing plans to convert the 2,414 square foot structure located at 501 S. Taft Hill Road into a restaurant.

The station, which opened in May of 1964, was originally known as the Frontier Service Station, but has been reconverted through the years, with its original sleek modern exterior covered with an overhanging façade.

In recent years, the building has operated as the Mulberry Station. Last year it was put up for sale with a listing price of $699,000.

Brothers BBQ, launched in 1998, currently has six restaurants and a catering kitchen. The new Fort Collins location would be the chain’s first Northern Colorado restaurant.

According to city documents, the renovation and upgrading of the gas station will include the building of an interior food service area, dining room, kitchen, food counter, and office, along with a front dining patio.

That work is expected to begin this spring, with a likely summer completion date.

The station was part of the Frontier Oil chain, which merged with the Holly Corporation nearly a decade ago to form the HollyFrontier Corporation.
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The reconversion of gas stations for a new purpose is a trend catching the eye of Architectural Digest, which last year took note of seven 1950s-era stations now serving as restaurants, calling them “the poster children for adaptive reuse done well.” 

​By Garry Boulard

The outlines of a new national infrastructure plan that could cost as much as $760 billion has been introduced in Congress, a sweeping proposal that puts a particular emphasis on climate control issues.

“It’s going to be a definitive departure from our last 70 years, since Eisenhower, and it is going to set a path for the 21st century to defossilize transportation,” House Transportation Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio remarked to reporters of the plan.

DeFazio’s Eisenhower reference pertains to the actual 1956 launching of the Interstate Highway System by the 34th President.

While the new proposal addresses funding for highway, rail, and transit upgrade projects, it also supports such climates projects as making all federal buildings carbon-neutral and requiring renewable fuels for aviation.

A press release issued by DeFazio’s office additionally said the plan will set a path toward zero carbon pollution from the transportation sector, ensure a green and efficient transportation system, and prioritize the “safety of the traveling public.”

“It is time for transformational investments to make our infrastructure smarter, safer, and resilient to climate change, or else we will keep throwing money at an antiquated system that is only holding us and our economy back,” said DeFazio.
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The new bill is seen as an attempt to re-start a comprehensive infrastructure building and upgrading effort after a larger $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan proposed by President Donald Trump in 2018 failed to gain traction in Congress.

​By Garry Boulard

As part of an ongoing and closely-followed process to redevelop a prime 64-acre site in downtown Santa Fe, city officials have announced a list of three finalists to serve as the project’s master developer.

The site is the former home of the Santa Fe University of Art and Design, which closed its doors in 2017.

The City of Santa Fe subsequently purchased the property, launching a lengthy and much-publicized input process involving thousands of Santa Fe residents, workers, and business owners offering their views on what the new campus should become.

An eventual list of seven master developers for the site has now been reduced to just three, any of which, if selected, will be in charge of providing a vision for what could end up being a more than $400 million project that may take as long as a decade to complete.

The three finalists are: Central Park Santa Fe; KDC Real Estate Development and Investments/ Cienda Partners; and the Raffles Education Corporation.

All three firms will now be subject to queries from an evaluation committee made up of the heads of the city’s affordable housing, arts and culture, economic development, planning and public works departments.

The questions will initially be written out, with scheduled in-person interviews to follow next month and into early March.

Central Park Santa Fe is a housing development corporation based in Mexico City, Mexico; KDC Real Estate Development and Investments of Atlanta is a nationally known real estate development and investment firm; while Cienda Partners is based in Dallas and specializes in real estate investment and development.
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The Raffles Education Corporation is based in Singapore and has built campuses in nearly two dozen cities worldwide. Raffles in 2016 had expressed an interest in purchasing the Santa Fe University of Art and Design, but withdrew from that proposal when all of the details of the proposal could not be worked out. 

​By Garry Boulard

Plans have been announced for the Atari company to begin construction later this year near Central Avenue and Roosevelt Street in downtown Phoenix on a video game-themed hotel.

The concept uniquely is calling for combining a video game-themed destination with the normal offerings of a quality hotel.

Each hotel will feature virtual reality and augmented reality technology, with some of the properties also offering co-working space allowing game developer guests to work with other developers.

Work in Phoenix on what is being called the Atari Hotel could be launched later this summer, leading the way for other similar efforts in Austin, Chicago, Las Vegas, San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle.

The company is additionally targeting Denver, although a specific date for building a new hotel in the Mile High City has not yet been announced.

“It was absolutely a given for me to make sure that Denver would be home to one of these iconic hotels,” said Shelly Murphy, founder of the GSD Group, which is partnering with Atari on the unique project.

“We are keeping the potential sites confidential right now,” Murphy told the Denver Post. “We are moving very fast on these hotels, and we hope to announce soon, sometime in the next 30 to 60 days.”

Founded in 1972, Atari is a world-famous pioneer in both home computers as well as home video game consoles.

A press release issued by Atari says the new hotels will “level up hotel entertainment with fully immersive experiences for every age and gaming ability.”
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In a statement, Fred Chesnais, chief executive officer of Atari, said his company is an “iconic global brand that resonates with people of all ages, countries, culture and ethnic backgrounds and we cannot wait for our fans and their families to enjoy this new hotel concept.” 

By Garry Boulard

In an era when the amount of public spending on infrastructure nationally has declined, a new report is indicating that all levels of government, in response, have been trying to husband resources as best they can to maintain and upgrade roads, bridges, and water systems.

The report, Changing the Infrastructure Equation: Using Asset Management to Optimize Investments, has just been issued by the Washington-based American Society of Civil Engineers, and suggests a different approach to ongoing infrastructure challenges.

The American Society of Civil Engineers made national headlines in early 2017 when it issued a comprehensive and damning report looking at the condition of the nation’s infrastructure, giving it an overall D plus grade.

That report has since been repeatedly cited by lawmakers, policy analysts, and lobbyists arguing for more federal infrastructure spending.

Discussing the group’s new report, Tom Smith, executive director of the American Society of Civil Engineers, said “If we are to move the needle on our nation’s aging infrastructure, which sits at a D+, and make it fit for the 21st century, we need to start investing, better and smarter.”

Discussing the group’s new report, Tom Smith, executive director of the American Society of Civil Engineers, said “If we are to move the needle on our nation’s aging infrastructure, which sits at a D+, and make it fit for the 21st century, we need to start investing, better and smarter.”

In a statement, Smith continued: “Asset management has been around for decades, but new technologies, as well as more holistic cross-sector implementation, are helping cities and states optimize investments.”

Noting that overall spending on public infrastructure declined in the last decade and a half by 8 percent, with projections that funding will be off by more than $2 trillion by 2025, the report notes that in lieu of full funding, asset management may be the only viable infrastructure challenge solution.

“Asset management is the practice of managing infrastructure capital assets to minimize the total cost of owning and operating them, while delivering the service levels customers desire,” says the report.

Crucial to any asset management effort, the report continues, is the “creation of a comprehensive infrastructure inventory, which in turn guides strategic investment decisions. By building and updating this inventory, policymakers and asset owners can better prioritize essential repairs and replacement projects, and plan a long-term capital budget.”

The report recommends that local government create infrastructure commissions to “oversee the consolidation of their infrastructure data across asset classes,” while additionally setting up grant and low-interest loan programs to help in those efforts.
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“Using credible, centralized data, we can pinpoint maintenance needs for our aging infrastructure and get the biggest bang for our buck,” Smith continued in his statement.

​By Garry Boulard

A modern recreational facility with surrounding grounds geared for residents of Las Cruces’ East Mesa neighborhood is set to also include a ten-acre park, eight pickle ball courts, and a variety of multi-use athletic fields.

The project will also include trails, playgrounds, and a concessions area.

Details of what will be the East Mesa Public Recreational Complex come after months of planning and public input meetings looking at what such a facility should provide and how it should look.

A question regarding the project, which will be paid for out of a $16.9 million general obligation bond passed by Las Cruces voters in 2018, is its final cost, which some city officials have estimated as just under $8 million.

It is also not yet known exactly where the new complex will be built, although a number of sites owned by the city are said to be under consideration.

Although it has earlier been reported that construction on the new complex could begin by early 2021, city officials have indicated that they need more funding for acquiring rights of way and the building of utilities infrastructure.

To that end, the city is hoping the current session of the New Mexico State Legislature will approve around $3.5 million to pay for those parts of the larger project.
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Calls for the construction of a new recreational complex on the east side of Las Cruces reflect the need to serve a population growth that has not only more than doubled in the last decade, but is also overwhelmingly under the age of 30. 

​By Garry Boulard

A former one-story, 50,000 square-foot casino that is part of the Tesuque Pueblo in north central New Mexico may see redevelopment as a modern film production facility.

According to reports, the Pueblo of Tesuque Development Corporation is currently talking with television and film companies who may be interested in using the one-time Camel Rock Casino for their purposes.

Located just off U.S. Routes 84 and 85, the 25 year-old casino ended operations last November due to the opening of the nearby Tesuque Casino to the north of Santa Fe.

Speculation that the casino might be used for a variety of new purposes, including serving as an indoor flea market, have taken a back seat to the studio idea in the wake of its use as a production facility for the Tom Hanks film News of the World last year.

Speaking to the Santa Fe New Mexican, Timothy Brown, chief executive officer with the Pueblo of Tesuque Development Corporation, said, “It’s a great space because of the numerous rooms and the size of the rooms for production facilities, wardrobe, building sets and for storage.”

The new production facility could tap into what is regarded as a growing film industry, seeing more than $582 million spent in New Mexico last year by various production companies.
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The casino was built in 1995 by the Tesuque Pueblo at a cost of $5.5 million. 

​By Garry Boulard

Thirty-four states, along with the District of Columbia, recorded increases in new construction jobs in December of last year over December of 2018, a new analysis by the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals.

Texas led the largest of the job-growth states with 55,900 new construction positions, followed by California at 31,300, and Florida, with 25,500 new jobs.

The largest percentage increases were recorded in three states: Maine, New Mexico, and Utah.

Of those three, New Mexico and Maine led the way with an 11 percent increase each, followed by Utah, with an 8.6 percent jump.

Construction job losses were recorded primarily in the Midwest and South, with Ohio shedding around 9,000 jobs between December of 2018 and last December, followed by Louisiana, which lost 7,000 jobs, and Minnesota, off by 3,600 jobs.

An analysis of the new Bureau of Labor Statistics by the Associated General Contractors of America noted that overall, construction employment “consistently expanded in at least two-thirds of the states throughout 2019.”

But, said Ken Simonson, chief economist with the Association, “contractors reported difficulty in finding qualified workers all year long.”

The survey additionally showed a buoyant construction labor market in most of the West, with job increases in the last year ranging anywhere from 1 percent to 10 percent in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas.
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On average, the big Midwest industrial states of Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois were off by up to 5 percent.   

​By Garry Boulard

Just under 130 homes, half of which will be priced for lower-income residents, may soon be built on a portion of the massive parking lot surrounding the Empower Field at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

The stadium was formerly known as the Broncos Stadium.

Members of the Denver City Council have given their approval to a land swap between the city and the Metropolitan Football Stadium District that will give two smaller parking lots to the Denver Housing Authority.

Those lots are located near the intersection of 13th Avenue and Decatur Street. In return, the city is giving an empty lot at 2534 W. Colfax Avenue to the stadium district for its future development purposes.

According to the land swap agreement, besides the emphasis on new affordable housing construction, a portion of the parking lots will also be developed for retail space.

The much larger 55-acre stadium parking lot is currently in the planning process, and is expected to eventually include more than 3.6 million square feet of combined housing, office, and retail space.

Also included in the plan is parks, public spaces, and bike trails.

Last summer the city council also approved what is called the Stadium District Master Plan, a roadmap that was developed with input from area residents, businesses, and property owners.
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One of the main points of that plan called for the creation of a regional destination location with a neighborhood of streets and what is called “human-scale, pedestrian-oriented development and amenities.”

​By Garry Boulard

Construction is expected to get underway sometime this summer on the first two buildings of an ambitious mixed-use project calling for nearly 600,000 square feet of total residential, retail, and office space.

The proposed Gates District at Broadway Station, a joint project between the Legend Partners of Denver and the Austin, Texas-based Endeavor Real Estate Group, will go up at the northwest corner of South Broadway and Mississippi Avenue.

The ten-acre site was once the home to the Gates Corporation rubber factory, a more than 100 year-old manufacturing complex including some thirty interconnected buildings that was demolished in 2014.

As planned, phase one of the project will see the construction of two buildings making up some 46,000 square feet of retail, 170,000 square feet of office space, and just under 300 residential units.

Work on phase one is slated for completion by the spring of 2022.

Ultimately, nearly 900 residential units are expected to be built as part of the project, which is being designed by the Denver-based Shears Adkins Rockmore architecture firm, with a total 380,000 square feet of office space.
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More than two years ago the Denver City Council approved a redevelopment and tax support plan to get the project off the ground. 

​By Garry Boulard