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Colorado - Mon. 06/01/26 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
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CDOT, BRONCOS REACH AGREEMENT ON BURNHAM YARD PURCHASE
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Patrick Smyth, a spokesperson for the Denver Broncos, announced last Thursday that the Broncos and the Colorado Dept. of Transportation reached an official agreement for the NFL team to purchase Burnham Yard, the preferred site for a new stadium. The closing is now expected this fall. Closing had originally been expected in mid-May. In March, CDOT and the team agreed on a $48.5 million total for the purchase of the 58.5-acre former rail yard. Those with knowledge of the deal and the property estimate the land will still require another $10 million to $20 million in environmental remediation. The agreement stipulates the Broncos will be responsible for remediation.
The Broncos have expressed interest in developing 5 million to 7 million square feet of space beyond the new stadium site, with Broncos President Damani Leech, in April, saying the team’s development around the stadium will total 150 acres. That area will include an entertainment district and two neighborhoods to the north and south of the stadium.
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DIA ENDS RESERVATION SYSTEM FOR TSA LINES
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Officials at Denver International Airport announced that it will no longer offer its system of allowing travelers departing DEN to reserve a place in the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) check-in/screening lines. Airport officials indicate that with average wait times at the new East and West security lines at five minutes or faster, the reservation system is “no longer necessary.” Travelers will still be able to use any existing reservations, and DIA will keep the reservation in use for new reservations through June 27. In 2024, the airport opened its new 17-lane West Security Checkpoint and intended to process about 200 passengers per hour. Then, in 2025, officials opened another 17-lane security checkpoint on the East side of the terminal. Both projects came as part of a $2.1 billion terminal renovation at DIA.
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DENVER TO HOST 2026 TRANSPLANT GAMES
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The Transplant Games of America will be held June 18–23, 2026, in Denver and are expected to draw roughly 12,000 participants from across the country. Organized by the nonprofit Transplant Life Foundation, the six-day event brings together transplant recipients, living donors, donor families, caregivers, those awaiting transplants, donation and transplant professionals, supporters, volunteers, and spectators. The Transplant Games include a "mini-Olympics" of more than 20 competitive events, along with more than 60 special programs. There are three divisions of competitions for state teams, with 43 teams participating from around the country. Former University of Colorado sports broadcaster Mark McIntosh, an organ recipient himself, is the chair of the 2026 games. Complete information is at transplantgamesofamerica.org.
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FINALLY, TRAIL RIDGE ROAD IS OPEN FOR THE SEASON
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National Park Service officials Friday announced that Trail Ridge Road, the highest continuous road in the United States, reaching an elevation of 12,183 feet, is open. Trail Ridge Road historically opens for the Memorial Day Weekend, but a late-spring snow storm this year forced a delay in the opening for a week. With the opening of the Trail Ridge Road section of the park, the park service has also opened its timed entry reservations, which are required to access the area at certain times of the day. There are two reservation options for RMNP, one for the Bear Lake Corridor and one for the Trail Ridge Road section. Visitors can reserve the Bear Lake Corridor from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m., or access the rest of the park via Trail Ridge Road via reservation from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Alpine Visitor Center and Trail Ridge Store are currently closed. Any visitors who do not respect barricades and enter closed areas will be cited.
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ONE OF THE FEW LARGE RANCHES IN EAGLE COUNTY FOR SALE
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In the 1990s, Bud and Betsy Knapp purchased a 287-acre property near Edwards in Eagle County. Cleon T. “Bud” Knapp had been publisher of Architectural Digest and when he sold the magazine along with Bon Appetit magazine, he and his wife began designing their Colorado ranch estate, which is detailed in a monograph “Living Beneath the Colorado Peaks,” in 2018. Now, following the death last year of Knapp, the ranch is for sale for $66.5 million. The rustic log and rock lodge and cabins at the property were constructed using traditional tools and methods, such as drawknives, scopes and hand adzes. The interiors feature Native American blankets, Western-themed paintings and artifacts. Some of the art and furnishings are included in the sale.
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ASPEN COMMUNITY SURVEY STARTS JUNE 8
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The city of Aspen conducts a community survey every two years to collect responses to questions about city services, community conditions and local priorities. The 2026 survey will be distributed to Aspen households beginning June 8 and will be open through mid-July. The survey will measure 10 "facets of livability" and ask residents to rate the city’s performance in each area. In addition to standard municipal government questions, the city plans to ask four questions to provide more information about community engagement, customer service and voter preferences related to the municipal election. Among those questions is, “How important is it for the city to dedicate more resources to each item over the next two years?”
The options include mitigating construction impacts, enhancing community facilities, customer service and responsiveness, community engagement and civic participation, and other options related to infrastructure, emergency preparedness, affordable housing and permitting. A supplemental online-only survey will open in late June and will be available to the broader Aspen area, including people who work in Aspen but do not live within city limits. City staff anticipate presenting the results of the 2026 survey to the city council in September.
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MONUMENT CELEBRATING HWY. THROUGH DE BEQUE CANYON UP AGAIN
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It took years of work, but on May 16 more than 100 people assembled on the south side of Interstate 70 to rededicate the 95-year-old obelisk called the Pioneer Monument. In 1931, when it was first built and dedicated, it stood at the entrance to Plateau Canyon to honor the pioneers who first settled the Plateau Valley, as well as to commemorate the opening of what was then called the Colorado River Highway through De Beque Canyon. Prior to 1931, motorists had to follow the Plateau Canyon road upstream to the De Beque Cutoff, then follow that northeastward to De Beque, a route that was eight miles longer than the canyon highway. When I-70 was being built in the 1960s, the Pioneer Monument was moved and placed on land near the former Gay Johnson’s Truck Stop. But it had deteriorated over the years, so the Plateau Valley group worked with CDOT, Palisade Historical Society and others to restore the monument.
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TODAY WORK BEGINS ON ANIMAS RIVER TRAIL
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The city of Durango will begin construction on the section of the Animas River Trail running between Rank and Memorial parks beginning today, Monday, June 1, and is projected to continue into 2027. The project will replace the current asphalt trail surface with a 10-foot-wide concrete path, install new lighting along the trail, place new landscape features and improve a spur trail connecting the ART to Rio Vista Circle. Also, the Demon Bridge will be replaced with a new, wider bridge. Aside from the bridge replacement, the city intends to keep the trail open during construction. Temporary detours will be necessary, but the city will provide signage and directional arrows to guide pedestrians and cyclists and other trail users. To stay updated on construction and detour information, more information will be available on the project’s website, engage.durangoco.gov/animas-river-trail-improvements.
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THE RECOGNIZED LIFE & THE SECRET LIFE OF MARY RIPPON
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Many Coloradans look forward to the Shakespeare Festival performances every summer at the Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre on campus at the University of Colorado in Boulder. The Mary Rippon Theatre was completed in 1939, held its first play in 1944 (Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet) and became home to the Colorado Shakespeare Festival in 1958. The theatre was named for Mary Rippon, hired in the second semester of its existence in January 1878, and the first woman to teach at a state university anywhere in America. For 20 years she was the only woman faculty member at the university and served as unofficial dean of women. She came to be known as “a revered mother figure to all young women on the campus of the University of Colorado” teaching and counseling students for 57 years at CU.
Rippon is memorialized with a stone in the northwest corner of Boulder’s Columbia Cemetery. The stone is engraved with an open book and two columbines. As her biographer, Silvia Pettem, says, the book and flowers reflect the separate lives of Mary Rippon. While her academic life was well known and respected, it took Pettem to reveal her hidden life. Pettem's book “Separate Lives: Uncovering the Hidden Family of Victorian Professor Mary Rippon,” is considered such a precious resource at History Colorado that one can only read it on-site...it can’t be checked out. Pettem details Rippon’s “other” life with a secret marriage, a child, and a secret divorce, all carefully concealed at a time when professional women could not legally or socially maintain a career if they were married or had a family.
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STAN KROENKE: WITH GLOBAL CHAMPIONSHIPS OVERCOMING ROUGH SPOTS
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Coloradans are still trying to deal with the sudden collapse of the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference finals of the National Hockey League Stanley Cup Playoffs. For the Avalanche owner, Stan Kroenke, his National Football League team, the Los Angeles Rams, lost in the NFL Conference Championship game against the Seattle Seahawks. However, both of those teams, as well as the Denver Nuggets, another team owned by Kroenke, have won championships in the past 22 years. For Kroenke’s team in the English Premier League, Arsenal, based in North London, it has been 22 years since they won the league championship. That changed this month, as Arsenal became league champions on May 24. Now, they are in position to win the UEFA Championship, which is the European Championship. Kroenke’s road to the Arsenal championship, as well as the Rams Super Bowl win, has been rocky.
Kroenke ran into trouble with his home-state fans when he moved the St. Louis Rams to Los Angeles. That brought lawsuits not just from St. Louis but also the NFL owners over who would be paying for the move. His problems in the world of the Premier League came when Arsenal fans accused him of reaping profits from the team without making a meaningful investment. Following that, he drew the ire of supporters who hung him in effigy for participating in the failed European Super League project, which was believed to be a cash grab that would have seen the game’s elite clubs form a breakaway competition. Through it all, Kroenke was rarely heard from, saying nothing in public. Critics dubbed him "Silent Stan." However, he not just survived, he won championships. Kroenke believes that having a broad portfolio of teams helps the entire network, because he encounters “similar problems across leagues and similar opportunities” even in entirely different sports.
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CDOT ADOPTS 10-YEAR PLAN WITH 250 PROJECTS IDENTIFIED
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The Colorado Transportation Commission, the 11-member board that directs the Colorado Dept. of Transportation and its budget, has unanimously approved the 10-year plan for CDOT that includes more than 250 projects across the state. Included in the plan are several major upgrades on the Interstate 70 mountain corridor and other major mountain roads. The plan has more than $300 million for projects in northwestern Colorado over the next decade, including these major undertakings:
- Improvement on I-70 in Garfield and Eagle counties: replacing guardrails and paving with concrete throughout Glenwood Canyon
- I-70 interchanges in Garfield County: focused on interchanges at Exit 97 in Silt and Exit 105 in New Castle
- I-70 West Vail Pass safety improvements: adding a lane in the uphill, eastbound direction and deceleration in the downhill, westbound direction
- U.S. Hwy. 40 Red Dirt Hill in Grand County
- U.S. Hwy. 40 passing lanes between Craig and Steamboat Springs
- U.S. Hwy. 40 Fraser safety improvements
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MARKET UPDATE - 05/29/2026 Close
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(Courtesy of Alpine Bank Wealth Management*)
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Canadian dollar (per U.S. dollar)
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Mexican peso (per U.S. dollar)
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30-year fixed mortgage rate (Freddie Mac 05/28/2026)
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*Not FDIC insured. May lose value. Not guaranteed by the bank.
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Alpine Bank is an independent, employee-owned organization with headquarters in Glenwood Springs and banking offices across Colorado's Western Slope, mountains and Front Range. Alpine Bank serves customers with retail, business, wealth management*, mortgage and electronic banking services. Learn more at alpinebank.com.
*Alpine Bank Wealth Management services are not FDIC insured, may lose value and are not guaranteed by the bank.
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