CITY-BLOCK OF FORMER GREYHOUND STATION IN DOWNTOWN DENVER SOLD

The 2.5-acre city block on 19th Street, the site of the former Greyhound bus station, sold last week to a joint venture between Chicago-based Golub & Company and New York-based Rockefeller Group. Property records show the property sold for $38 million. The purchasers have not finalized plans for the parcel, but zoning permits structures as high as 40 stories for residential, commercial, civic and entertainment uses. A large scale, Class A, mixed-use development is planned.

SITE OF GREYHOUND RACE TRACK IN COMMERCE CITY FINALLY REDEVELOPING

It has been 12 years since the greyhounds chased Rusty around the track at the Mile High Kennel Club in Commerce City. The dogs raced there since 1949, but since racing ended, the site has been abandoned in the area dominated by highways, railroad tracks and refineries. Now, construction has begun on a dense mixed-use development, with 800 housing units planned on the 65-acre site. The new $300 million neighborhood is named, aptly, Greyhound Park, The first structure to be built is a 223-unit affordable apartment building called The Landing at Greyhound Park. There also will be single-family houses, townhouses, apartments and a 30-acre park.

MGM MAKES $11 BILLION BID FOR U.K. GAMING FIRM ENTAIN

MGM Resorts International has made an $11 billion offer for the British gaming company Entain which owns the British gambling brand Ladbrokes. The combination would create one of the few large gaming companies in the world with a significant online and brick-and-mortar operation. The move follows the $4 billion deal completed by Caesars Entertainment Inc. to buy U.K.-based William Hill PLC. MGM has been under pressure because the COVID pandemic has kept its biggest moneymakers, its hotels and casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, closed or operating at sharply reduced capacity for nine months now.

SALES TAX REVENUE IN GARCO UP TWO PERCENT IN 2020

The COVID pandemic caused retail establishments to close for a period last spring and operate at reduced capacity for a portion of 2020, but nonetheless, sales tax collections in Garfield County were up 2 percent for the year. The 2 percent increase came despite the fact that retail sales in Glenwood Springs were actually down. Retail sales were up in the county, along with liquor and marijuana sales, building materials, manufacturing and landscaping nursery sales. Food services (restaurants and bars) and accommodations (lodging) were down 2.8 percent for the year.

BIGGEST REAL ESTATE DEALS IN PITCO IN 2020

Here are the five biggest property transactions in Pitkin County in 2020, a year in which real estate sales hit a record high of $3.1 billion: The top deal, the Westin Snowmass Resort and Snowmass Conference Center, was $70 million for 374,587 square feet of commercial space. No.2, the Centennial Apartments, sold for $50.5 million. The largest residential property sale was No. 3, the 2.2-acre, 17,000-square foot property at 41 Popcorn Lane, which sold for $32 million. No. 4 was the residential property at 34 Placer Lane, a $31.85 million sale. No. 5 was the residence at 288 Willoughby Way, which sold for $29.659 million.

LOOKING TO 2021: WHEN WILL HANGING LAKE TRAIL, I-70 REST AREAS OPEN?

Dec. 18, fire officials finally declared the Grizzly Creek Fire was 100 percent contained. The fire burned over 32,631 acres. While fire officials said early on the immediate area around Hanging Lake was largely spared from the fire and the trail and bridges were intact, the fire did cause considerable damage around the lower areas of the trail. Officials with the U.S. Forest Service and city of Glenwood Springs have not identified an opening date for the Hanging Lake Trail yet, but it is anticipated it will open in the spring. The Colorado Dept. of Transportation anticipates opening access to Grizzly Creek and the Shoshone Interstate 70 exit in March.

COLORADO RESORT AREAS SET RECORDS FOR REAL ESTATE SALES

Fueled by demand from Front Range buyers, as well as buyers for big cities in California, Florida and Texas, real estate prices and sales are booming across resort areas in Summit, Grand, Routt, Eagle, Pitkin and San Miguel counties. In fact, by October, the total real estate sales in those six counties was nearly $1 billion higher than all sales in 2019. Sales in Telluride and Mountain Village are expected to surpass $1 billion for the first time this year. Eagle, Grand, Routt and Summit counties have the highest percentage of Front Range buyers on record in 2020.

EAGLE COUNTY MARIJUANA SALES SOAR

Tax on marijuana products in Eagle County brings funding for mental health programming and in 2019, the county projected the tax on marijuana would generate about $580,000 for mental health programs. Last year, the tax actually brought in more than $650,000. This year, through October, marijuana tax collections had almost reached that level, bringing in $649,000. By year end, it is expected the tax will generate between $700,000 and $725,000. The Eagle County Mental Health Advisory Committee has proposed expenditures totaling $739,000 in 2021.

PITKIN COUNTY REAL ESTATE IN 2020 REFLECTS SALES ACROSS THE STATE

From Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2020, the total sales value from all types of real estate transactions in Pitkin County, residential units, condominiums, commercial, vacant land, agricultural land, fractional properties, etc., hit more than $3.2 billion, a new annual record. Sales in 2020 were achieved despite the halt of showings and most transactions for two months in the spring due to the pandemic.
Following the spring, every month since June had greater sales activity than in 2019, with many months recording double the activity. Aspen and Pitkin County were very much like other resort areas in that there were a number of big dollar sales. In a report published Dec. 31 by Brittanie Rockhill, broker associate with Douglas Elliman, in Aspen during 2020 there were nine sales over $25 million, three times the prior record. On New Year’s Eve, there still were 90 pending sales in the upper Roaring Fork Valley, with a total value of just under $460 million. New Year’s Eve 2019, there were 18 pending contracts with prices totaling $81 million.

POPULATION GROWTH ACROSS U.S. SLOWS, NOT SO MUCH IN COLORADO

New numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau show population growth in 2019-2020 slowed to its lowest level in 120 years:

• Between 2019-2020, the country as a whole grew about 0.35 percent
• That’s about 1.1 million
• However, Colorado and the West continued to grow
• Colorado had the 12th-highest growth rate at 0.85 percent
• That’s just under 50,000 people
• Idaho was the fastest growing, 2.12 percent
• The state has added about 760,000 people since 2010
• That’s the 8th-highest in the country

WHERE NEWCOMERS TO DENVER CAME FROM

Denver had a net migration increase of 7,200 people from 2014-18. Here is where they came from:

• California: 1,197
• New York: 1,131
• Florida: 795
• Illinois: 745
• Kansas: 617
• Connecticut: 365
• Virginia: 358
• South Carolina: 311
• District of Columbia: 302
• Louisiana: 302