Greeley, Colorado – The Greeley municipal council voted on Tuesday 5-2 to approve the plans of an entertainment district of $ 1.1 billion which would transform the west side of the city.
Plans for the Greeley WestSide project Call an arena with three ice sheets for young hockey, a water park, a hotel and a conference center. Future development would include housing, retail and a transit center.
City of Greeley
Water Valley Company will work with the city of Greeley on the 300 acres project, which will be linked to the south by motorway 34 and to the north by motorway 257, between County Road 17 and highway 257.
“We hope that this project will help stop the sales tax leak in our community,” said Greeley City Director Raymond Lee before Tuesday’s vote.
City of Greeley
The arena will also become the new house in Eagles of ColoradoThe Ahl affiliate of the Colorado avalanche which announced his intention to leave Loveland last summer.
“One of our biggest fears is that our community becomes a community of rooms and a community of rooms, from the point of view of the sales tax, cannot support the type of growth that we must have as a community as a whole,” said Lee.
According to Lee, Greeley is expected to become the house of 260,000 people in the next two to three decades.
City of Greeley
Franklin Hubbard and Stacy Thompson moved to Greeley two years ago. They said they often take their children to Denver for entertainment.
“About once a week,” said Thompson, referring to the frequency to which their family goes to Denver.
Hubbard said he is impatiently awaiting what the Greeley West Side project could bring.
“Having something more local would be great,” he said.
City of Greeley
But not everyone is on board. The longtime resident Ulli Limpitlaw is worried, other projects will go by the way if this project is approved.
“We have so many things in Greeley who need to fix that will not be done because the money goes there,” said Limpitlaw, who has lived in Greeley for 44 years.
Limpitlaw is also concerned that development will distance visitors from the city center. Denver7 took this concern to the municipal director of Greeley.
“I think there are two different experiences,” said Lee. “West Greeley will give you the high end. The city center will give you more intimate feeling. And we think that these two options really talk about the essence of what our community is really, and it is a community for everyone.”
City of Greeley
After approval, the city will now work on the zoning of the project. The plans show the design and construction planned until 2026, in the hope of opening phase I of the project by July 2028.
- As part of Denver7 | Your voiceJaclyn Allen went to Greeley to hear residents of everything, from immigration development to water rights at downtown festivals. Hear their celebrations and concerns in this story or in the video player below
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