The largest redevelopment project in the history of the city of Golden, Colorado, is set for work to begin early next year. The Coors family, founders nearly 150 years ago of the Coors Brewing Company, has announced plans to build some 1.3 million square feet of mixed-use space that will include multifamily residences, shops, restaurants, offices, and even a hotel. The project, according to reports, is a tribute to the Coors family’s roots in Golden, where businessmen Adolph Coors and Jacob Schueler opened a brewery in 1873. The company merged with Molson, Incorporated in 2005 to become the Molson Coors Brewing Company and the third largest domestic producer of beer, with revenues of around $241 million. CoorsTek, a non-brewery division of the original Coors Company manufacturing ceramics, was launched in 1910. Plans for the downtown Golden project call for creation of a new CoorsTek headquarters. With design and infrastructure planning already underway, the project is expected to ultimately see around 275,000 square feet of new office space. By Garry Boulard
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A final concept design is expected to be completed by the summer of 2023 for upgrade work to county roads in Colorado that travel through the Cottonwood Pass. Located in the south central part of the state, the Cottonwood Pass traverses the Continental Divide, and is made up of a series of rural county roads sometimes used by local residents as an alternative to the east-to-west Interstate 70. Now the Colorado Department of Transportation is making plans for a series of upgrades at some 14 different locations along those county roads. While not finalized yet, improvements could see the building of curve softening, improved surface and sign distancing through the removal of obstructions, as well as road widening in some sections to allow for vehicle passing. As planned, the project will be done in cooperation with the transportation departments of Eagle and Garfield counties, with a focus on the roadway between the town of Gypsum and Colorado Highway 82, some 44 miles to the south. In a statement, Jason Smith, who is the transportation director of the CDOT’s Region 3, said the state agency is determined to “ensure the safety improvements are a good fit for these communities and the locations they care deeply about.” Region 3, of the CDOT’s five transportation regions, takes in all the northwest section of the state. It is expected that an initial design concept for the project will be completed this fall, to be followed by a series of public input meetings. By Garry Boulard Union craft workers for the first half of this year enjoyed an average wage increase of 3.6%, according to a new report just issued by the Construction Labor Research Council. Brick and stone masons, electricians, plasterers, plumbers, and pipe fitters are among those classified as craft workers. According to the Settlements Report, which is published by the council, wage growth has been particularly seen in the “sizes of increases the past year and a half.” This year’s increase comes after a dormant 2020, with a 0.2% decline. That number improved to around 3.3% last year. Painters experienced a 4.8% increase, with cement mason and electrician wages both up by 4.3%. Smaller increases of 3.2% were recorded for insulators and painters, while roofers received an overall 2.9% wage increase. Generally, union craft workers have been enjoying settlement increases near or above 3.0% for the last five years. The increases were at their lowest point of 1.7% in 2010 during the Great Recession. Regionally, the states of the Northwest, comprising Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, saw the greatest wage increases, at 5.6%. The states of the west north central region, which is made up of the Dakotas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, and Nebraska, were on the lower end of the scale, with an average 2.6%. By Garry Boulard A long-popular shopping center with a modernistic design in Prescott, Arizona is being listed for sale for exactly $15 million. The property went for around $10 million in a 2017 auction, although that bid was never finalized. Opened in early 2002, the Prescott Gateway Mall is located at 3280 Gateway Boulevard on the east side of the city and is known for housing a variety of retail and commercial tenants, including the stores Famous Footwear, Mattress Firm, and the novelty goods and apparel store Spencers. Encompassing just over 318,500 square feet, the mall includes an open-air lifestyle center, and an interior mall known for its intricate beam and exposed wood paneled ceiling. Uniquely, the mall is made up of both indoor and exterior outward-facing retail space. Listed with the realty company BHGRE Commercial, also of Prescott, the mall comprises three separate buildings, all regarded as Class B structures. Currently, the mall is 80% leased, down from 89% in 2020. By Garry Boulard A request for proposals on building a new hospital in Valencia County has a scheduled deadline of August 16. That date is an extension of a previously issued RFP with a due date of June 17. County officials have for years wanted to see the construction of an acute care hospital. Earlier this spring, the New Mexico Department of Finance and Agreement approved an appropriation of $50 million to plan, design, and build such a facility. The hospital project has been one that has long challenged local officials and been the subject of endless county meetings as well as a few lawsuits. Earlier reports have indicated that the facility would most likely measure anywhere from 12,000 to 20,000 square feet, providing around-the-clock emergency room space, up to a dozen examination rooms, a lab, and pharmacy. A site for the planned facility has not yet been decided upon. Members of the New Mexico State Legislation last year approved a bill allowing for the use of funds received through the federal American Rescue Plan Act for the construction of a health facility. In December, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham approved the legislation containing the $50 million for the Valencia County project. County officials have been trying since at least 2006 to get a new hospital built, noting that residents in need of care are required to take a more than one hour drive to Albuquerque for help. The argument for a new hospital in Valencia has also been boosted by the fact of the county’s population has risen from 66,100 in the year 2000 to nearly 80,000 today. By Garry Boulard In an exclusive nearly 2,000-word study, the New York Times is reporting that the nation’s housing shortage is no longer confined to just the expensive enclaves of the East and West coast. The problem is now truly national in scope, with shortages appearing everywhere from the Midwest to growing areas of Texas, and most of the Western states. “Today more families in the middle of American who could once count on becoming homeowners can’t be so confident anymore,” the paper reports. “And communities that long relied on their relatively affordable housing to draw new residents can no longer be sure of that advantage.” Using statistics gathered by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, the paper estimates that currently the nation needs around 3.8 million housing units to keep up with demographic demands, a figure that has doubled in the last decade. Not only has the supply issue gotten worse in most states, as well as in the District of Columbia, but some 75% of the nation’s metropolitan areas are also feeling the crunch. In a list of 15 cities that had enough housing in 2012, but are now lacking, eight were in the West, with the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler metro area going from a nearly 2% housing surplus a decade ago to a 5.8% deficit today. Similarly, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho went from a 0.3% surplus in 2012 to a 5.3% deficit. Trying to trace the roots of the shortage, the paper notes that the nation’s home-building industry suffered a loss of around 1.5 million workers during the Great Recession and has been lacking enough workers ever since. Additional factors: the rising cost of land and building supplies. Matters are only made more complex by community restrictions: “Local residents often oppose new housing,” while “local governments require development fees, studies and public meetings that drag out construction and drive up its costs.” The article notes that in the 1920s the federal government actively encouraged local communities to get rid of zoning laws that tended to make housing projects more expensive. “Members of Congress of both parties have increasingly called for such an idea, in which the federal government would give priority for grants to local communities that ease zoning restrictions or build denser housing,” the New York Times study concludes. By Garry Boulard Located at 101 S. Union Boulevard in Colorado Springs, the Union Printers Home is one of the architectural wonders of central Colorado. The 5-story, 100,000 square foot limestone and sandstone structure was built by the National Typographical Union and opened in the spring of 1892, designed to serve as a care facility for members of the union who had tuberculosis. Sitting on a 26-acre site made up of a farm, gardens, and a dairy, the property was purchased eight years ago by the Valor Health Network, which is based in Crested Butte, Colorado. Last year a group of investors, operating under the name of UPH Partners, bought the home and site for $18.5 million. Now that entity wants to upgrade the building, with the hope of turning it into a mixed-use space that will house offices, residential units, and restaurants and bars, among other features. The new owners say they also want to maintain the historic integrity of structure, which to the surprise of many is not listed on the National Register of Historic Places. If all goes as expected, the renovation and upgrading of the building could be completed by late 2023 or early 2024. Besides tuberculosis, the original home was built to provide a medical facility for members of the typographical union suffering from chronic lung disease due to having inhaled the carbon-based ink used in printing newspapers in the late 19th century. By Garry Boulard Funding has been secured for work on the border between Arizona and Mexico. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has approved legislation providing up to $564 million in state funding for that work. The measure also funds new security technology, mobile towers, and safety equipment, also along the border. “With this investment, we are giving our law enforcement professionals another critical resource they need to successfully do their jobs,” Ducey wrote in a statement accompanying his signature. Members of the Arizona State Legislature weeks ago approved funding for the project, which is designed to complete sections of the wall were still left incomplete after federal funding was withdrawn early last year. The legislation was co-sponsored by State Representative John Kavanaugh, who has maintained that since the curtailment of the border construction that had been undertaken by Customs and Border Protection migrations have greatly increased, “overwhelming law enforcement and the Border Patrol.” Reports indicate that the new funding may also pay to build protection infrastructure for wastewater treatment plants, canals, and area defense installations. According to sources, just under 20 miles of the wall project had yet to be built as of the spring of 2021. Altogether, during a four-year period between 2017 and 2021, around 226 miles of bollard fencing had been built on federal land along the Arizona border. By Garry Boulard On a 329 to 101 vote, Congress has passed an unprecedentedly large Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. After weeks of debate regarding what should and shouldn’t be in the big bill, the final legislation comes with a record $840.2 billion price tag, funding a 4.6% pay raise for all military personnel. The annual authorization legislation in recent years has been steadily increasing in cost: in 2017 funding came to $618.7 billion. Up to $275 million in the new legislation will go for next-generation capabilities in electronic warfare, artificial intelligence, and hypersonics research and development. Funding is also being provided for the completion of the 3,100-mile Continental Divide National Scene Trail, which runs through Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. The bill additionally includes funding for the construction of two mission headquarter facilities at the Kirtland Air Force Base. Other features of the legislation include funding for the Digital Marshall Plan, as proposed by Arizona Representative Ruben Gallego, which is designed to build out 5G communications systems for all member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The bill, which is $37 million more than what President Biden had originally requested, will in the weeks ahead have to be reconciled with the Senate’s version of the legislation. By Garry Boulard A city in southeastern New Mexico is receiving up to $1.7 million in state funding for a comprehensive flood mitigation project. Roswell has been repeatedly subject to torrential floods, with its drainage infrastructure often overwhelmed. Last month up to 3.8 inches of rain fell on the city, leading to the collapse of a culvert over the Berrendo Creek. Water lines underneath the culvert were also damaged. Rains additionally caused the flooding of up to twelve homes in the city’s Holly Loop Subdivision. Now funding through New Mexico’s State Road Fund will be used to repair the bridge, while also targeting additional mitigation strategies. The funding is being administered by the New Mexico Department of Transportation. In announcing the funding, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said repairing the culvert would cost around $500,000. “But for $1.7 million, we can do the flood mitigation,” she remarked, adding that the focus would be on preventive infrastructure projects throughout the city. “Let’s make sure we are solving these problems, not just for today, but for the long haul,” the Governor was quoted as saying by the Roswell Daily Record upon the announcement of the funding. Design work on the culvert project is already underway, with the actual work expected to begin in a matter of weeks. The State Road Fund is generally used for highway maintenance and paid for by revenue generated by diesel and gasoline taxes, as well as vehicle registration fees, among other sources. By Garry Boulard |
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