|
Colorado - Mon. 01/27/25 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
|
|
View in Browser
|
|
|
| |
DANA CRAWFORD: DENVER’S HISTORIC REBUILDER DIES AT AGE 93
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
Dana Crawford, who marshalled the efforts to resurrect Larimer Street, the historic Oxford Hotel, the redevelopment of Union Station, and helped found Historic Denver, died last week. She was 93. Crawford, who was born and raised in Salina, Kansas, came to Denver in 1953 and in the early 1960s persuaded a group of friends and associates to purchase and renovate the 1400 block of Larimer Street before it could be flattened by the Denver Urban Renewal Authority. She then renovated the Oxford Hotel in 1990 and in 2011 formed a group which won the bid to redevelop Denver’s Union Station. Her partners in the project named the hotel in Union Station the Crawford Hotel in her honor. Longtime partner from the Oxford Hotel days, Walter Isenberg, president and CEO of Sage Hospitality, said of Crawford, "Our city wouldn't be where it is today without Dana.” "She was a visionary …she saw what others couldn't see.”
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
RTD LAUNCHES ITS “ART DISTRICT CONNECTOR” BUS LINE
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
The Regional Transportation District alters its schedule three times per year, according to ridership changes, traffic patterns, maintenance and rider feedback. In addition to making new service time changes last week, RTD announced a new bus line. The new line, called the “Art District Connector,” with the label “ART” on each bus, will run from the Alameda Station to the 40th/Colorado Blvd. Station and provide a special connection through the heart of downtown Denver serving the Baker, Five Points and Elyria-Swansea neighborhoods and providing connections to the Santa Fe Art District, Denver Theatre District and RiNo Arts District. The ART bus will operate on 60-minute intervals.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
RENTS IN METRO DENVER FALL APPRECIABLY IN Q4 2024
|
| |
|
|
| |
The average rent of an apartment in the metro Denver area in the fourth quarter last year was about $1,850. That was close to $70 less than in the third quarter and down 1.5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2023. The Apartment Assoc. of Metro Denver said the $70 drop in one quarter very likely was the largest price drop for the region “ever.”
- The association's year-end report documented the highest rates in the metro area were in Douglas County at an average of $2,013.
- The lowest were in Adams County at $1,705.
- Denver’s average was $1,867, though it had the highest rent per square foot at $2.26.
- The largest decreases in apartment costs were seen in parts of Aurora, Westminster and Downtown Denver, where prices fell by more than $100 a month.
The primary factor in the rate reduction was a surge of new apartments coming onto the market. Developers delivered some 20,000 units last year, leading to more competition, which means dropping prices to attract renters. The increased inventory also led to an increase in vacancies, which surged to nearly 7 percent, the highest level in years.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
JUNIOR LIVESTOCK AUCTION AT NATIONAL WESTERN STOCK SHOW SHATTERS RECORDS
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
The 119th junior livestock show at the National Western Stock Show last week was a memorable one. It is the last one that will be held in the Beef Palace Auction Arena. The Junior Livestock Auction in 2026 is moving to the Sue Anschutz-Rodgers Livestock Center. It also was a record-setter, led by the record-high bid of $210,000 for the grand champion market steer. The top eight animals in the reserve and grand champion categories, hogs, sheep, goat and steers, also set a record of $637,000, topping the previous record set in 2023 of $585,000. Most of the proceeds go to the exhibitors, with 10 percent to the National Western Scholarship Trust, which provides scholarships for agriculture studies and rural medicine at colleges in Colorado and Wyoming. In 2025, 110 students won scholarships.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
CITY OF DURANGO TAKES OVER VISIT DURANGO OPERATIONS AND WELCOME CENTER
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
As anticipated, the Durango City Council last week approved a resolution to authorize the merger between the city and Visit Durango, a destination marketing and sustainable tourism nonprofit organization. The merger will bring the operations of the Durango Welcome Center under city management. Visit Durango was funded by city and La Plata County lodgers tax revenues. The Durango City Council will receive an ordinance, likely in February, to establish a Prosperity Office and Tourism Advisory Committee, which will complete the merger.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
STEAMBOAT RECEIVES $5 MILLION FOR YAMPA RIVER/WALTON CREEK PROJECT
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
The city of Steamboat Springs has been working for years to address issues resulting from gravel mining operations in the 1970s and 1980s at the confluence of the Yampa River and Walton Creek. Conceptual design work for restoring the river path and stream flow were completed this summer. Now, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has awarded a $5 million grant to the restoration project, bringing to $7.9 million the funding available. Colorado Parks and Wildlife is supporting the project as the backwater ponds, gravel deposits and artificially raised river banks have produced spawning areas for nonnative northern pike, which feed on everything from invertebrates to trout.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
REAL ESTATE BUYERS GET A TURNAROUND IN SUMMIT COUNTY IN 2024
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, real estate in Summit County, as in most resort areas in Colorado, has been clearly defined as a sellers’ market. Beginning in 2020, prices jumped 15 to 20 percent each year through 2022 and that continued into 2023. Sellers were listing properties at record-high prices and, even at that, buyers were making bids over the listed prices. That changed in 2024, as buyers had the ability to actually negotiate as the market trended away from the pandemic-induced price spikes. As a result, in 2024, according to the Land Title Guarantee Co., transactions increased from 1,221 in 2023 to 1,269 last year, while the value of sales reached $1.9 billion, up from $1.6 billion. In 2024, the average sales price increased about 10 percent, but the listed-price-to-sold-price ratio dropped to 95-97 percent.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
2025 INTERNATIONAL SNOW SCULPTURE CHAMPIONSHIPS
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
Last week brought cold temperatures to the mountains, which were ideal for the 2025 International Snow Sculpture Championships in Breckenridge. This year, there were nine international teams and three U.S. teams competing in the week-long contest. Team Germany won the 2025 championship with its “Apex-zero-gravity series.” Taking the silver medal was Team Mexico’s “Descendant,” and the bronze medal went to Team India’s “Mind in Meditation.” Team Mexico also won the Lothar Luboschik Artist’s Choice award. Team South Korea won the People’s Choice award for “In History We Remember.” All of the completed snow sculptures will be on display outside of the Riverwalk Center through Wednesday, Jan. 29 at 5 p.m.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
JEREMY BLOOM OUTLINES NEW DIRECTION FOR THE X GAMES
|
| |
|
|
| |
Jeremy Bloom, who grew up in Loveland and became an Olympic freestyle skier and standout football player at the University of Colorado, took over as CEO of the X Games in December. He was in Aspen for the X Games which ran from Thursday through Saturday. This year’s version of the X Games featured some new twists, like AI judging and betting on events. Bloom, while in Aspen, expanded on the new look for the X Games, slated to begin in 2026.
Basically, the X Games will form a league, with 10-athlete teams composed of five men and five women each. There will be an eight-city tour starting in 2026, with teams having their own nicknames and an identity linked to each city or region. The eight-city tour/league schedule will have four stops in the winter and four in the summer. The team contracts will also include salaries, travel stipends and health care, giving the X Games more of an NFL/NBA/MLB/NHL feel and less of the one-shot or two-shots-a-year approach.
Thirty-five cities from around the world have put in bids to host the Games as part of its expanded schedule. Bloom has a keen interest in locating a team and stop in Denver, and with that, keeping a tour stop in Aspen. However, he notes the other bid cities “are not only inviting us to their cities, they’re paying for us to go.” As such, Bloom concedes, “we have some work to do to remain in Aspen.”
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
CPW, TOURISM OFFICE LOOK TO DOUBLE THE NUMBER OF DARK SKY STATE PARKS
|
| |
|
|
| |
Colorado Parks and Wildlife, in conjunction with the governor’s office and the Colorado Office of Tourism, has initiated efforts to gain designation of 12 more state parks as International Dark Sky Parks. Currently, there are 12 Dark Sky Parks in Colorado, but only one, Jackson Lake, is a state park. The rest are national parks or national monuments. Those being proposed as Dark Sky Parks are (plus Sweetwater Lake):
- Crawford
- Eleven Mile
- Elkhead Reservoir
- Golden Gate Canyon
- Highline Lake
- John Martin Reservoir
- Mueller
- Rifle Gap
- State Forest
- Steamboat Lake
- Staunton
- Trinidad Lake
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
MARKET UPDATE - 01/24/2025 Close
|
| |
|
(Courtesy of Alpine Bank Wealth Management*)
|
| |
|
Canadian dollar (per U.S. dollar)
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Mexican peso (per U.S. dollar)
|
| |
|
|
|
|
30-year fixed mortgage rate (Freddie Mac 01/23/2025)
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
*Not FDIC insured. May lose value. Not guaranteed by the bank.
|
| |
|
| |
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.
|
| |
|
|
| |
| Make changes to your subscription or unsubscribe here. |
| © 2025 Alpine Bank. |
| |
|
|
