In October, the Colorado Eagles hockey team will take the ice to begin a new season at Blue Arena in Larimer County.
Martin Lind, the team’s owner, said it will be one of their last seasons at Blue Arena, which has been home to the minor league affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche since 2003.
Starting with the 2028 season, Lind expects the Eagles to begin playing in a new, 8,600-seat arena in Greeley. The arena, which will include three sheets of ice for youth and community hockey, will be a key feature of the new entertainment district in development known as the West Greeley Project — also referred to as the Catalyst Project.
The price tag for the entire project, which was proposed by Lind’s Water Valley Company, has been projected at $1.1 billion. For the entertainment district piece, city officials estimate the cost will be about $832 million. The city anticipates paying for the project until 2038, when the generated revenue is projected to exceed the debt repayments.
To fund design work, the city council recently approved an ordinance allowing city officials to use city assets as collateral. That funding mechanism has become the primary target for a group with concerns about the risks the city is taking on.
Empty land along Weld County Road 17 and U.S. 34, pictured here in May 2025, is set to be transformed under the West Greeley Project. (Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)The citizen-led campaign “Greeley Deserves Better” on Monday began gathering signatures for a ballot initiative to repeal the ordinance. Co-chaired by Pam Bricker, former executive director of the Greeley Downtown Development Authority, and Dan Wheeler of Wheeler Properties, Inc., the campaign argues a decision with such significant financial repercussions should have been put to a vote of the people rather than being decided solely by the city council.
The West Greeley Project is a significant development on the west side of Greeley at the intersection of Weld County Road 17 and U.S. 34. The entertainment district is expected to be the new home of the Eagles with a 30-year lease, in addition to a luxury hotel with 350 rooms and a water park that is anticipated to attract 350,000 visitors a year. The city will own all of it.
“Greeley always seems to come in second when it comes to getting cool and neat projects with big employers,” Lind said. “Greeley has been at the brunt of the jokes in Northern Colorado. This project is going to make Greeley the epicenter of the entertainment districts for all of Northern Colorado.”
Pam Bricker shares a laugh with people at the Greeley Downtown Friday Fest on Friday July 4, 2025. Bricker and other volunteers were gathering signatures for the Greeley Deserves Better Initiative.(Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)Differing expectations
Though supporters see the project as an economic and cultural benefit to the city, some worry about the cost to the city and are skeptical of the project’s ability to bring in the crowds supporters are expecting. Echoing these concerns, City Councilman Tommy Butler and Councilwoman Deb DeBoutez voted against advancing the project in April.
“If the numbers all lined up and said, ‘Hey, this is going to pay for itself,’ then this would be a much harder decision for me,” Butler said. “At no point have I felt that the numbers lined up for that.”
Karen Jarman, a petition circulator for Greeley Deserves Better, wonders who will be able to afford the high prices associated with enjoying the project’s key features.
“Many of these people are not going to want to spend $300 for a hotel room or $100 for a hockey game and $63 for a water park,” Jarman said. “So if you’re looking for a family of four to go to the hockey game, we’re talking at least $400. Most of the people in Greeley cannot afford that.”
Councilwoman Melissa McDonald, who supports the project, said the repayments will not rely solely on profits from the arena, hotel and water park, but also revenue generated by the retail spaces that will be constructed and the homes that Lind is developing as part of the project.
“We have the hotel, the arena and the water park. But if you bring in a big box store out there, it’s going to pay for itself way sooner,” McDonald said.
Allena Portis, Greeley’s chief financial officer, said the project will be “self-funded,” requiring no tax increases on residents.
Louisiana-based nonprofit Provident Resources Group is issuing the debt for the entertainment district and will be responsible for the debt payments, Portis said. It will pay that debt using the project’s net operating income, as well as some sales tax and a public improvement fee.
A general improvement district will cover the costs for the project infrastructure, using a mill levy and an assessment on property owners in the project.
An aerial photo shows the proposed site of the West Greeley Project at Weld County Road 17 and U.S. 34 in May 2025. (Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)Greeley will be responsible for economic development payments, according to Portis. The city is slated to pay $12 million starting in 2028, with the payment increasing each year.
“We’re responsible for, basically as for a loan that’s outstanding, it’s probably going to be around $45 million dollars that’s outstanding,” Portis said. “As the excess cash flows come in, we’ll be paying that off.”
Portis said work is ongoing to save as much money for the development payment. Savings could come from excess revenues or expenditure savings they can earmark from now until 2027, she said. If not enough savings is accrued for the first three years for the payment, the city could issue a certificate of participation, cutting the city’s payment from $12 million to $3 million.
However, instead of paying $12 million for three years, the city would end up paying $3 million for 20 years.
Under the recently approved ordinance, the city will issue certificates of participation worth $115 million, which will result in the leasing of 46 city buildings, such as the town hall, the police department building and three firehouses, to Zions Bancorporation, National Association. Then, in 15-25 months, the city will issue $641 million in bonds to repay the debt and regain ownership of the properties.
Though Greeley Deserves Better describes the financing as “public risk” for “private reward,” Lind argues the city will ultimately benefit. On projects like this, he said, the investment in the arena comes from the amenities surrounding it.
“It’s a complete paradigm shift in the market,” Lind said. “It’s going to bring (back) all the sales taxes that has been leaked out of Weld County to Larimer County is going to be reversed for all the entertainment. So, it’s a monster deal for Greeley to pull this off.”
The city projects the development will create 2,480 temporary construction jobs and about 1,300 permanent jobs. During construction, it’s estimated the project will generate about $173 million. Annually, the development is projected to bring in about $44 million annually from operations and visitor impacts.
But Geoffrey Propheter, a University of Colorado Denver associate professor of the school of public affairs, questions whether the expected tourist numbers are realistic.
“How many tourists are going to come to Greeley because of the Eagles?” he asked. “Next to none. Are tourists going to come to Greeley for some reason? Yes. Might they watch an Eagles game while they’re there? Yes. Are they there because of the Eagles? Probably not.”
Propheterer has a 15-year academic career in peer-reviewed academic research on capital projects, government subsidies projects, public financing and budgeting. He has an emphasis on property tax policy and administration, land and economic development, sports and urban affairs.
He said Eagles fans who don’t live in Greeley will most likely make the trip to watch their team, but to say the Eagles and other amenities in the district will be the reasons why tourists come to Greeley might be far-fetched.
“That’s how supporters (of projects) will do the math,” Propheter said. “That’s their reasoning for how they account for this sort of economic activity is they say any money spent inside the project area is because of the project area, and that’s a lie.”
Greeley City Councilman Johnny Olson, one of five city council members who have supported the project, remains confident the project will draw in visitors.
“It gives us a reason to have things come in around it. Reasons for our community to grow in a more strategic way,” he said.
Like Lind, Olson views the district as game-changer for Greeley. He said it will give the community an “anchor tenant” he anticipates will draw hearty revenue to the city, as well as keeping residents and their money in Greeley.
Formerly a regional director for the Colorado Department of Transportation, Olson said a 2014 study showed about 40% of Greeley residents shop, dine or venture to surrounding communities for entertainment.
“We don’t keep that draw. We don’t have enough executive homes. We don’t have enough things to keep that strategic growth around,” Olson said. “This West Greeley Project gives us that anchor tenant. It gives us the ability to expand it.”
Gathering signatures
Greeley Deserves Better’s path to repealing the ordinance will first require getting 4,586 signatures, or 10% of the Greeley voting population, by Aug. 7, Bricker said. If they’re successful, the city council will have 30 days to either approve the initiative and repeal the ordinance or send the issue to the ballot this November.
Bricker and Jarman are confident their initiative will succeed, citing a poll conducted by Pulse Decision Science that indicates 87% of those polled support a repeal.
The effect of this anticipated success, however, is unknown even to the initiative’s supporters, as the city is already in the process of leasing the properties to fund the projects’ pre-development phase, which is anticipated to be completed by July 2026. Additionally, repealing the ordinance will not repeal the council’s decision to pursue this project, although it would likely delay the process.
Jarman said their goal isn’t ultimately to prevent the West Greeley Project but to allow residents to vote on a project with such a massive price tag.
“We’re not trying to stop progress,” Jarman said. “Many of us believe strongly in progress, but we also believe strongly that the people of Greeley need to have a say in what they’d be held liable for.”
Petition circulators plan to collect signatures at various events and public spaces, including libraries, coffeehouses and in front of the Weld County Courthouse. For more information, go to greeleydeservesbetter.com.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( ‘Greeley Deserves Better’ begins drive to repeal West Greeley financing )
Also on site :