One of the largest indoor and outdoor cannabis farms in Colorado is now scheduled for a two-day auction beginning on July 24.

The Beulah Valley Farm, set in the small south-central town of Beulah, was opened in 2014 and encompasses some 27 acres. Besides this vast acreage, the property is distinguished for its 10,000 square-foot processing facility.

Additional feature: a nearly 2,000 square-foot building providing residential space for the site’s manager.

Located at the foothills of the San Isabel National Forest at 7791 Colorado State Highway 78 W, some 26 miles to the southwest of Pueblo, the Beulah Valley Farm has legal clearance to produce up to 10,200 plants annually.

Cannabis has been legal for medical use in the Centennial State with the voter passage of a state-wide amendment in November of 2000. In 2012, voters approved an additional amendment, allowing for recreational use.

The Beulah operation has proven particularly successful, enjoying an annual revenue of around $400,000.

The property is being listed by the Firestone, Colorado-based real estate firm KW Commercial.

According to the Colorado Department of Revenue, total cannabis sales in April stood at $131 million. That figure is down from the $153 million for that same month in 2022.
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Record sales were reached in July of 2020 at $226 million during a time, according to the publication MJ Biz Daily, “when people flush with federal stimulus cash had few other places to spend their money.”

​By Garry Boulard

Total enrollments nationally in public elementary and secondary schools are down to just over 49 million students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

That figure is markedly off from the 50.8 million recorded in 2019, with projections of a decline to 48.2 million by 2025.

Although enrollment increases have been most notable in the states of the West, with Texas seeing a more than 10% gain and always-growing Utah nearly twice that figure, the states of the North, in particular New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Illinois, have seen enrollment losses of generally between 5% and 10%.

The overall enrollment declines in many states, including the once-perennially growing California, is prompting school boards to approve facility consolidation projects, a trend presenting new challenges to the nation’s architects and builders, according to the publication Building Design + Construction.

Last month in Boston, where enrollment has declined from 54,300 students to just over 46,000 in the last decade, the local board of education voted to approve a merger of two long-standing schools, with reports indicating that other “single stand” schools may also soon be subject to mergers.

The Portland, Oregon school system has experienced a decline of 4,300 students out of a total 43,000 in the last 5 years. In February, the Portland School Board voted to approve the merging of a magnet school and elementary school.

One of the largest consolidation efforts has been ongoing in the El Paso Independent School District, where voters in 2016 approved a $668 million bond issue primarily designed to fund the consolidation of school facilities. Funding through that bond has targeted the consolidation of 20 campuses in response to what EPISD has called "declining enrollment and under capacity buildings."

A similar move is currently in the talking stage in the Mattapoisett Public Schools district in eastern Massachusetts where an effort to consolidate two schools may save money in the long run but is expected to cost at least $7.4 million to begin with due to the construction of new classrooms.

An independent report looking at the Mattapoisett consolidation project has recently concluded that it could not be accomplished "without significant construction."

Noting that builders and architects are increasingly taking on “upgrades of existing structures and campuses,” as a result of consolidation projects, Building Design + Construction references one major St. Paul, Minnesota-based architectural firm whose primary work load today is made up of renovations and additions.
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Media reports indicate that the move toward more school consolidation, and hence, construction opportunities, is only going to increase in the coming years. Such consolidations, notes the publication K-12 Dive, represent an inevitable trend that "education and finance experts say was a long time coming but temporarily staved off in some places thanks to federal pandemic aid."

​By Garry Boulard

A green light has now been signaled for the construction of what will be the tallest structure in Phoenix: the 50-story, 541-foot-tall Astra building.

Set for construction on a two-acre site at the intersection of Second Avenue and Van Buren Street, the project belongs to Aspirant Development of Scottsdale.

Members of the Phoenix City Council, after listening to the concerns and objections of some residents who said that the Astra is too tall and too big, gave their approval to what will be a 2 million square-foot building. 

The features associated with the big project are big, too: 697 apartment units and 229 luxury hotel rooms. The Astra will also house 185,000 square feet of office space, along with 36,000 square feet of commercial space.

The project has been in the talking and planning stage for roughly five years, with the developer conducting a series of public input meetings. Despite those meetings, objections remained.

Aspirant, a prominent commercial real estate and residential developer in metro Phoenix, was the builder behind The Stewart, a 19-story, 312 luxury unit apartment complex at 800 N. Central Avenue.
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Upon completion, the Astra will surpass in height the 40-story Chase Tower building at 201 N. Central Avenue, which was built in 1972.

​By Garry Boulard

Preliminary plans are underway for the repurposing of a splendid and historic three-story one-time hospital in Bisbee, Arizona.

The structure, sitting on the crest of a small hill, for decades served as a medical facility for workers at the Calumet and Arizona Mining Company, back when that company operated one of the largest copper smelting plants in the state.

The company eventually merged with the Phelps Dodge Corporation, which, in turn, was purchased by Freeport-McMoRan in 2007.

Located at 1 Hillcrest Drive, the former hospital was eventually closed and repurposed in the mid-1950s as the Hillcrest Apartment Building.

Today the building, overlooking several residential neighborhoods, serves as a reminder to many of what Bisbee once was: a city of around 10,000 people nestled in the middle of a thriving silver and copper mining industry.

But once Phelps Dodge ceased its copper mining operations in Bisbee in 1975, the city's population experienced a precipitous decline. Latest Census figures peg Bisbee’s population at around 4,900.

According to city documents, the exit of so many people resulted in the abandonment of around 25% of Bisbee's housing stock: "In the heart of Old Bisbee sit 50 houses abandoned by former miners."

The document adds: "Many of these structures are uninhabitable or require significant costs to rehabilitate."

Now the Environmental Protection Agency has announced the awarding of a $468,000 brownfield cleanup grant designed to clear the old hospital site of everything from metals to debris. An earlier survey also identified both asbestos and lead-based paint in the building itself.  

Bisbee officials say that once a cleanup of the building and site is completed, an effort will be undertaken to transform the building into affordable housing.
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In a statement, Melissa Hartman, senior planner with the City of Bisbee, said the grant will help the city address it's "critical needs."

​By Garry Boulard

Small businesses are exhibiting their greatest levels of optimism since the Covid 19 outbreak in the spring of 2020. But for all of that, according to a new survey, concerns remain about the pesky presence of post-pandemic inflation.

The survey, officially called the Small Business Index and released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, records an overall positive score of 63.1. That figure has been on the upside since the fall of 2022 and is drastically improved over the 39.5 recorded in the immediate spring of 2020 after the pandemic shut done much of the nation.

In surveying the mostly buoyant responses, Tom Sullivan, vice-president of small business policy at the Chamber, remarked: “Small businesses are again showing remarkable resiliency.”

“There has been a strong majority reporting that their business is in good health over the past year,” Sullivan continued in a statement, “and it’s clear many have high expectations for the future.”

Despite those good numbers, however, some 76% of respondents indicated that rising interest rates are making it harder for them to raise capital. Along those same lines, an equally large 73% felt that it has become harder to borrow money due to banks tightening up lines of credit.

Because of higher interest rates, well over 60% of businesses specializing in professional services said they have converted variable rate loans to a fixed rate, followed by around 50% in both the retail and manufacturing sectors.

More than 50% of respondents in the retail and professionals services sector also said they had delayed plans to grow their businesses due to the high rates.

Despite a general wariness regarding those rates, small businesses have nevertheless managed to get the loans they need, with only less than a third of responses in the manufacturing, retail, and professional services sector reporting that they were rejected in applying for a loan.

The Chamber of Commerce survey was done in conjunction with the insurance provider MetLife Incorporated.
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Noting the large number of respondents expressing a general optimism in the months ahead, Cynthia Smith, regional business senior vice president at MetLife, remarked: “While the current economic conditions may have stalled their plans to grow, the combination of small business owners’ determination, drive, and positive outlook bodes well for the future.”

​By Garry Boulard

Bolstered by a significant infusion of new funding, plans in Fort Collins are advancing for the creation of a multi-modal corridor project traversing through a dense portion of the city populated with multi-story apartment complexes, restaurants, and stores.

Funding for the effort is coming through a $10.7 million grant from the federal Department of Transportation, which will also pay for converting an existing intersection into a roundabout to help channel the flow of vehicular traffic.

Prime focus of the project is West Elizabeth Street, which connects the main campus and Foothills campus of Colorado State University.

The 3-mile West Elizabeth Enhanced Travel Corridor Plan was adopted by the city in 2016, with actual design work on the project beginning last year.

Construction work will now also see the building of erosion control facilities, as well as drainage and utilities infrastructure.

According to city documents, the project is additionally expected to focus on “Americans with Disabilities Act facilities, high-comfort bike facilities, traffic-calming measures, and enhanced parkways and planted medians.”

The bike component is especially important in the plan: some 2,000 bicyclists travel up and down West Elizabeth daily, challenged by incomplete bike lanes. For pedestrians, the corridor has been marked by a lack of sidewalks.

Funding for the West Elizabeth project is more specifically coming through the Transportation Department’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity Discretionary Grant program.

“This grant will help to connect students, families, and workers across Fort Collins,” remarked Colorado Representative Joe Neguse, who has long advocated for federal funding for the project.

In a letter sent earlier this year to the Transportation Department, Neguse particularly noted that construction of a new transit station would “support the specific transportation needs of students and staff at Colorado State University.”
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Design work on the project is expected to be completed by the end of this year, with work launching in 2024.

​By Garry Boulard

A project that will see the construction of new water lines, pressure relief valves, and water hydrants may be underway later this year in the Village of Ruidoso.

The Village government has issued a Request for Proposals to build the project in the community of Pine Cliff.

That RFP notes that the proposed polyvinyl chloride waterline would measure just under 8,000 linear feet, with the project also including the installation of gate valves, and "all appurtenances."

The Pine Cliff neighborhood is located around 4 miles to the south of downtown Ruidoso. Part of Ruidoso's recently published strategic plan calls for the construction of "sewers and new roads in the Pine Cliff subdivision."

While its population has remained relative static in recent years and now stands at around 7,700, Ruidoso has become increasingly popular due to its proximity to the ski resort Ski Apache, some 15 miles to the northwest.
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The RFP submission deadline for the Pine Cliff Water System Improvement Project is July 11.

​By Garry Boulard

Architectural firms across the country are seeing an increase in business prospects this spring, raising hopes that the industry’s steady climb out of a pandemic economy is continuing.

According to the latest Architecture Billings Index released by the American Institute of Architects, overall billings in the industry as of the end of May stood at 51.0, with readings above 50 indicating an increase in billings.

That figure is up from the 48.5 reported in April. More promising: inquiries from clients regarding new projects saw an increase from 53.9 in April to 57.2 in May.

Equally hopeful: the value of new design contracts went from 49.8 in April to 52.3 in May.

The index is done in conjunction with the Herndon, Virginia-based software company Deltek.

In a statement, Kermit Baker, the American Institute of Architects’ chief economist, described the May figures as encouraging. But he added: “There continues to be variation in the performance of firms by regional location and building specialization. This suggests that overall business conditions for the profession likely will continue to be variable.”

Regionally, the South in May was leading the way with a billing index performance of 52.3, followed by the Midwest at 49.6, the Northeast at 48.7, and the West at 47.7.

The AIA billing index has been plodding in recent months. In December it stood at 47.5, a figure that had only increased to 48.0 in February.

The index appeared to crash in the spring of 2020 during the weeks of the country’s Covid 19 outbreak, dropping in March of that year to 33.3, and an all-time low of 29.4 the following month.

That April 2020 figure represented the largest single month decline in the 25-year history of the billings index.

The industry, however, saw some resilience as the year progressed. By December, the index stood at 42.3. A rush of new business in 2021 during a time when the pandemic appeared to be abating, brought the index up to 52 by the end of that year.

Always responding to trends, the architecture industry attributed some of its 2021 and 2022 comeback to new pandemic-related work among both healthcare and education clients.
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In late 2022 the Los Angeles Business Journal noted that such institutions “had to retool their heating/ventilation/air conditioning systems to improve air circulation and reduce the risk of the spread” of the virus.

​By Garry Boulard

Colorado may soon see increased broadband infrastructure construction, due to a new Washington funding source.

The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program, otherwise known as BEAD, was created to support the planning and deployment of broadband infrastructure nationally. At inception, the program was fueled by just over $42.4 billion in funding for projects across the country.

Now the program has awarded a substantial $826 million for such programs in the Centennial State.
“It is unacceptable that millions of Americans, disproportionately from rural areas, low-income neighborhoods, and communities of color, still lack access to the internet,” Colorado Democrat Senator Michael Bennet said upon the announcement of the BEAD funding.

That funding, added Bennet, will serve to “close the digital divide and help every family participate in the 21st century economy.”

Created under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the BEAD program has won unusual bipartisan support in Congress.

In a statement, Republican Cathy Rodgers, chairperson of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, lauded the program and added: “We need to make sure that the funds are used to connect every American.”

Rodgers additionally vowed that the members of the Energy and Commerce Committee were determined to make sure that BEAD dollars are invested in a “technology neutral way that avoids overbuilding and wasteful spending.”

To date, vast swaths of rural Colorado, particularly in the central and southern part of the state, are deficient in broadband coverage.  According to the site Colorado Broadband Mapping Hub, roughly 10% of the state is currently either underserved or unserved altogether.

That means that just under 191,000 households lack internet access.

Colorado officials began submitting information to Washington last year in the hope of qualifying for BEAD funding. That process included tweaking the controversial broadband maps put together by the Federal Communications Commission that were supposed to show the degree of coverage in certain areas, but in some instances overestimated that coverage.

As part of that process, some 15,000 challenges on the part of both Colorado officials and residents were sent to the FCC, with around 6,7000 as of this spring accepted.

The BEAD funding for the state ended up being larger than was anticipated, according to Brandy Reitter, executive director of Colorado’s Broadband Office.
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Speaking with the Colorado Sun newspaper, Reitter remarked: “I’ve given people estimates over the last 12 months that it could be $400 million to $700 million. But we got $826 million.”

​By Garry Boulard

Skirmishing over where the U.S. Space Command will set up its permanent headquarters continues in Washington, with Colorado still seen to be in the running for the project.

In 2021, the Air Force Department announced that the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, had been selected as home to the Command, beating out six finalists that included the Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, and most importantly, the Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs.

Some analysts thought that Peterson had a leg up on the competition, because it has served as the provisional headquarters for the Command and is part of a larger concentration of military installations. Colorado Springs is also the home to the Air Force Academy.

But while the Redstone decision appeared to push matters in one direction, new reports are indicating that the Biden Administration is reconsidering Alabama due to the state’s restrictive abortion laws, which were earlier approved by Governor Kay Ivey.

“The belief is that they are delaying any move because of the abortion issue,” a government official was quoted as saying in the publication Business Insider, referencing a possible Biden pullback from Redstone.
In response, Alabama Republican Congressman Mike Rogers, chairman of the Housed Arms Services Committee, has told Politico that “Huntsville has won the competition and they’re going to get the permanent base.”

Rogers added that any notion that funding or authorization for the Space Command being set up somewhere else is “mistaken.”

For her part, Governor Ivey has issued a statement asking that the entire matter be settled soon: “Alabama is eager for our country to win the space race, not slow walk our way there,” she said, before adding: “Let me repeat what everyone already knows: Alabama is the only rightful home for Space Command headquarters, and supporting this mission is critical to the advancement of our national security.”

Colorado Democrat Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper are pushing for the Biden Administration to reverse the Redstone decision in favor of Peterson. The Senators reportedly have spoken to the President on the matter.
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Meanwhile, a draft of a bill in Congress has been revealed that would prohibit funding for any new construction projects at Peterson Air Force Base unless and until the Air Force makes a final announcement in favor of the Redstone location.

​By Garry Boulard