An auction is now set for a popular Aurora, Colorado apartment house that is currently 100% leased.
The four-story Colony House Apartments, listed with the Genesee Commercial Group, is located at 152 E. Del Mar Circle on the west side of the city in the Jewell Heights-Hoffman Heights neighborhood.
That neighborhood is populated with other apartment complexes, as well as residences.
Built in 1976, the Colony House sits on a less than 1-acre site and has 37 apartment units. Those units were all upgraded two years ago with new flooring, electrical boxes, and paint. The building has also seen the installation of a new elevator.
The Colony House, with an on-site swimming pool and laundry facilities, measures just over 28,000 square feet.
The rental market in Aurora has seen consistent growth in the past several years with the average one-bedroom unit currently going for just over $1,600. Units in the Colony House have been listed for around $1,100 a month.
A two-day online auction for the property is scheduled to begin on February 14, with a starting bid price of $1.6 million.

​By Garry Boulard

As the year 2021 nears its end, the Washington-based American Institute of Architects is reporting that the demand among clients for design services has been slightly decreasing, especially compared with a decided stretch of growth recorded earlier this year.

With any number above 50 reflecting growth, the overall score for the group’s Architecture Billings Index stood at 51.0 in November. At the same time, new project inquiries accounted for a strong 59.4 on the index.

In July, the score came in at 54.6, followed by a September showing of 56.6.

In April of 2020, one month after the Covid-19 outbreak and national economic shutdown, the index was in a freefall, dropping to an all-time low of 29.5.

In a statement, Kermit Baker, chief economist with the AIA, said that the “period of elevated bill scores nationally and across the major regions and construction sectors seems to be winding down for this cycle.”

Baker added that “ongoing external challenges like labor shortages, supply chain disruptions, spiking inflation, and prospects for rising interest rates, will likely continue to slow the growth in firm billings in the coming months.”
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Regionally, the latest index reveals the strongest numbers in the Midwest at 57.6, followed by the South with 53.7, the West at 50.9, and the Northeast, which has lagged for much of this year, at 45.5.

​By Garry Boulard

The City of Farmington has issued a Request for Proposals for work that will see the building of a new substation to be operated by the Farmington Electric Utility Services.

Owned by the city, Farmington Electric Utility Services operates nearly forty substations, and in recent years has taken on an effort to upgrade and modernize many of those facilities.

As planned, the Bergin Substation Control Building will be a prefabricated light framed structure featuring a battery room and protective relay panels with automatic and manual transfer switches.

The structure, to additionally include a modern HVAC system capable of maintaining a 72-degree temperature year-around, will have an interior fall finish made of 26-guage coated steel sheets with butted seams.

The exterior will be required to have a 20-year warranty “against all forms of degradation.” That exterior will also be tan in color.  

The current substation, located off Begin Lane, was built in 1981. Earlier this year work was completed on the construction of a new irrigation bridge leading to the facility and crossing the Citizens Ditch.

According to city documents, the substation must be built to American National Standards Institute and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers standards.
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The RFP has a submission deadline of January 25.

​By Garry Boulard

A Request for Qualifications has been issued for a project that will add two lanes to a busy four-lane east to west throughway in Denver.

The project on 56th Avenue will be bordered by Peoria Street to the west and Pena Boulevard to the east.

As planned, the project will also see the building of a multi-use path that will be designed to connect with area bike lanes and a trail system within the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge.

Funding for the project is coming out of the massive $937 million general obligation bond project approved by Denver voters in the fall of 2017 known as Elevate Denver.

That bond, in the years since its passage, has been used to pay for any number of road, sidewalk, library, park, and recreation center construction and upgrade projects throughout the city.

Work on the 56th Avenue widening will additionally include the building of curbs and gutters, as well as drainage, utilities, and lighting systems.

Not only one of the busiest streets in Denver, 56th Avenue is also a major connecting route between downtown Denver on the west and the Denver International Airport to the east.

City documents indicate that 56th Avenue seerves up to 24,000 vehicles a day.

The RFQ has a submission deadline of January 8.
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It is thought that work on the widening project will begin before next spring, with a completion date of late 2023.

​By Garry Boulard

More than 66% of the nation’s metro areas saw an increase in construction employment this past November over November of 2020, according to a new analysis.

Compiled by the Associated General Contractors of America, the numbers show South Falls, South Dakota with the highest increase at 19%, followed by the Beaumont-Port Arthur metro area at 16%.

The Atlantic City metro area and Westbury, Connecticut, both also saw a 16% job increase.

In a statement, Ken Simonson, chief economist with the AGC, said, “It’s not surprising that construction employment has picked up in most metros over the past year, given the strong economic rebound most of the country has experienced.”

Simonson added, however, “With record job openings in construction, it’s clear that even more metros should be in the plus column if contractors could find the workers they need and get materials delivered on schedule.”

Of the 25 top job growth metro areas, nine were in the West. The Sierra Vista-Douglas metro area in Arizona was up by 15% over November 2020, as was metro Midland, Texas.
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Albuquerque enjoyed a 12% jump between November 2020 and November 2021.

​By Garry Boulard

Work is expected to begin this spring on the construction of a three-story U-Haul self-storage facility in Los Lunas.

The building will measure around 90,000 square feet, and will go up on a nearly 10-acre site to the west of Interstate 25 and east of Willow Road NW.

The facility will feature up to 650 indoor storage rooms designed to be Americans with Disabilities Act compliant. Those units, as with most U-Haul facilities across the country, will also have high-tech security and climate-control options.

In a statement, Tom Neil, president of the U-Haul Company of Northern New Mexico, remarked that “opening a convenient self-storage facility with clean, spacious storage options is important to meet customer demand.”

Neil added that there is currently “insufficient high-quality storage in Los Lunas and we will change that with a building that will make the city and local residents proud.”

There are, to date, fourteen owned-and-operated U-Haul facilities in the Land of Enchantment, in addition to nearly 110 U-Haul neighborhood dealerships.

Founded in 1945 and based in Phoenix, U-Haul currently has more than 2,000 self-storage facilities nationally.

The company launched its self-storage operations in 1974 as segregated chain-link protected spaces within existing buildings. U-Haul began to build its own storage facilities in the 1990s.

In the last several months, the company has announced plans to put up new facilities in Las Cruces; and both Durango and Loveland in Colorado.
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Work on the new Los Lunas facility is expected to be completed sometime in 2023.

​By Garry Boulard

A durable and modern one-story office complex some 6 miles to the northeast of downtown Albuquerque is being listed for sale for $1.1 million.

The Tiffany Plaza, located at 2620 San Mateo Boulevard, was built in 1976 and contains nearly 11,000 square feet of building space.

The structure sits on a less than one-acre site off a busy throughfare populated with mostly 1970s-era one-story commercial and office structures.

Renovated in 2017, the plaza, as listed by the Albuquerque-based Absolute Investment Realty, is made up of two structures, and features a carport.

Currently the home to such businesses as Umbrage & Umbrage CPA, the Ultrasound Specialists of New Mexico, and the Aesthetic Glo Medspa, the plaza is presently around 40% leased.

The plaza, designed in a manner suggesting the sleek southwest Googie architectural style, has formerly served as the home to the Albuquerque Career Institute and the Leon Shirley Architect firm.
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The Tiffany Plaza features a total of eight suites, and a series of small private courtyards.

​By Garry Boulard

Critical rural infrastructure projects in 46 states are now in line to receive more than $5.2 billion in federal construction funds.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the funding will go for the building of high-speed internet, clean water, and electricity system projects in both residences and businesses in rural areas.

In announcing the funding, Tom Vilsack, secretary of the Agriculture Department, remarked: “When we invest in rural infrastructure, we invest in the livelihoods and health of people in rural America.”

Projects in New Mexico are receiving a total of nearly $20 million in grants and loans, which includes $9 million for the building of a high-speed network for the Mescalero Apache tribe.

The City of Truth or Consequences is receiving $7.5 million in financing for the phase two replacement of water lines; while the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority is getting a $1.8 million grant to install fiber and wireless networks in both New Mexico and Northern Arizona.

The Lower Rio Grande Public Water Works Authority, meanwhile, is receiving a combined loan and grant financing for the upgrading of a water system in the southern New Mexico town of Berino.

The town of Aguilar in southern Colorado is receiving $5.7 million in loans and grants for the building of an augmentation reservoir; with $85.5 funding the modernization of a water system in the town of Aristocrat Ranchettes in northeastern Colorado.

The Agriculture Department is additionally awarding nearly $8 million in loans and grants for the Morrison Creek Metro Water & Sanitation District to build a new wastewater treatment plant in northwestern Colorado; while $4.5 million will go to the North La Junta Sanitation District in southeastern Colorado, also for a new wastewater treatment plant project.
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Altogether, nearly 360 individual rural infrastructure projects nationally are receiving USDA grant and loan support.

By Garry Boulard

A staff report for the El Paso County Planning Commission, based in Colorado Springs, has recommended a change in the maximum density and minimum lot size for a popular subdivision in Colorado Springs known as the Dancing Wolf Estates.

Located at the intersection of Colorado State Highway 83 and Hodgen Road on the far northeast side of Colorado Springs, the Dancing Wolf Estates is a planned unit development launched roughly 25 years ago.

In a move to somewhat reconfigure the estates, a proposal has gone before the El Paso County Planning Commission allowing the subdivision’s developers to divide the size of the current parcels at Dancing Wolf into 2.5-acre sites.

According to documents submitted by the developers, that reduction will allow for more development at Dancing Wolf, while making the subdivision “more community oriented, more affordable for potential residents, and easier to maintain, especially related to noxious weeds that are common in our open areas.”

The parcel size change will also allow for greater commercial development, which, “spread out into the community reduces commuting distances between residential and commercial areas alleviating congestion in commercially heavy areas.”
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The developers are additionally planning to build a walking and hiking trail that will connect with the County Regional Trail running along Hodgen Road.

​By Garry Boulard

Plans have been announced for the construction of a new station that will belong to the Colorado Springs Fire Department.

The new facility will be built near the intersection of Colorado State Highway 83 and the InterQuest Parkway on the northeast side of the city and is expected to cost around $8.3 million to build.

The facility will in part serve the needs of the Kettle Creek North subdivision, which is still in the planning stages and is expected to see the construction of around 250 homes.

The project is being funded out of some $20 million set aside by Colorado Springs for wildfire suppression work and is one of three new stations that the Colorado Springs Fire Department hopes to build in the next several years.

Fire Department officials say the new stations are needed to keep up with a population increase that has seen the number of residents in Colorado Springs jump from 360,000 two decades ago to nearly 480,000 today.
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The department currently has around two dozen stations of varying sizes located throughout Colorado Springs. Work on this newest station could launch in early 2023.

By Garry Boulard