While road crews work to transform downtownâs busiest intersection, a Front Range developer is crafting plans to transform one of downtownâs biggest blights.
Richmark Real Estate, a developer from the Front Range, is under contract to acquire the old City Market site at 200 Rood Ave. and a neighboring parcel, with an eye toward building hundreds of apartments. Not only will this add more housing downtown but it also activates a long-dead property, both top issues for local leaders.
âRealistically, this isnât going to be affordable housing. But I am excited for this,â said Grand Junction City Council member Abe Herman, who has been a vocal advocate for more housing. âThis is the kind of development you want in downtown.â
The sharp bend where Second Street crosses Ute and Pitkin avenues in Grand Junction has been a tangle of competing interest amid planned upgrades to the Interstate 70 Business Loop, but a proposed transit hub could cut this Gordian knot.
For years, Grand Junction has been interested in turning Second Street into a promenade that would incorporate wider sidewalks and landscaping for a space more friendly to pedestrians and bicycles. One concern has always been finding a solution to get those people across Ute and Pitkin.
Meanwhile, the Colorado Department of Transportation has been working through upgrades to I70-B starting near Mesa Mall leading to its most recent work on the fifth phase of that project at the First Street and Grand Avenue intersection.
A new Grand Junction City Council will be sworn in Monday, kicking off the typical process of long-range planning but with an unusual twist not afforded most councils — millions
So how do you make the rest of downtown look like Main Street?
Thatâs a question that groups like the Downtown Development Authority have had on their minds for years and now seem poised to tackle.
Worries of economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic have subsided, revealing a healthy city budget, federal relief funds filling both residentâs pockets and government coffers and, importantly for Downtown Grand Junction, new businesses taking root just off Main Street.
Amid the confluence of events, it seems the DDA could be closer to finding their answer than ever before.
âI think thereâs a lot of money out of the federal, state and city budget. I donât think anyone knows the full extent of where those dollars at the federal and state level will go, either,â said Brandon Stam, executive director of the DDA. âI think thereâs opportunity for projects that may have been too big to bite off. This might be a rare opportunity to have funding for s
The Downtown Development Authority is looking for feedback from the public as it moves forward with a feasibility study that is looking at converting Fourth Street and Fifth Street to two-way traffic.
So far the DDA, which is partnering with the city of Grand Junction, has engaged consulting firm Bohannon Huston to do the study, DDA Executive Director Brandon Stam said. They have been gathering feedback from a stakeholder group and from technical advisors, but are looking for more input from the general public. On May 4 there will be a public meeting for people to give their opinions.
âThis is really just another step of having that public meeting to get more feedback before we come up with some different design concepts for that corridor,â Stam said.