Many people have never been inside the ornate and historic courthouse building at 9th Street and 9th Avenue, but they may have more reason to go there in the future, Weld County Commissioner Scott James told a group of business leaders recently.
That’s because the building may become a museum or some other publicly used space as part of a $490 million plan that county officials have put together to build new judicial and administrative buildings downtown to reinvigorate the area, James said. He suggested that as plans move forward, county officials will ask residents what they think should be in the historic courthouse building in the future.
“It’s beautiful and ornate, and people should see it,” James said at the Aug. 1 Greeley Area Chamber of Commerce Common Grounds event, which happens on the first Friday of every month.
At the same time, county officials are working alongside city officials, school-district officials and Greeley’s Downtown Development Authority board on plans that will include a new city hall, a new school district building and a 1,000-space parking garage, based on a presentation at the Common Grounds event.
Greeley city officials signed a preliminary agreement in October with Richmark Vertikal LLC, a joint venture between Richmark Cos. LLC in Greeley and Vertikal LLC in Louisville, on plans to build an 80- to 100-room hotel and a 200-unit apartment complex. The city council on Aug. 5 gave initial approval to a $10.7 million pre-development agreement with Richmark Vertika.
Richmark is a real estate company in Greeley; Vertikal has worked on Origin hotels in Golden and Westminster in Colorado and hotels in other states. Richmark Vertikal representatives also have been working on various land purchases to create spaces for a new city hall and school-district offices, Adam Frazier, president of Richmark Cos., said in an interview. He said he expects to be able to discuss more details of those downtown plans, soon.
All in all, once everything is complete, hundreds of people would be downtown day or night, Frazier said.
“This will increase our daytime employment population downtown significantly, and (we’ll) bring down a few more residences and night-time lodging guests, and the restaurants will have more night-time visitors as well,” Frazier said.
On Aug. 1, Jeff Darnell, president and CEO of Windsor-based Level 5 Collaborative, showed some preliminary plans to business owners. County officials hired Darnell to help negotiate potential property trades to accommodate the new county buildings downtown.
Darnell showed a drawing of several downtown blocks indicating that the new judicial center is generally set for the block where the current First United Methodist Church sits at 917 10th Ave.
As it turns out, the church congregation has voted to sell the building and is excited to move to a spot further west, Al Strauss, a pastor at the church, told BizWest recently. He did not give details about the church’s sale price or about any address for a planned new church.
“… We’re excited about a rebirth of downtown and a rebirth of Greeley, and we’re confident that God will be in the midst of all of it,” Strauss said.
County commissioners capped one piece of the economic-development process when they voted recently to pursue the downtown plan, which includes the judicial center and the new administrative center.
Downtown business owners and others lobbied for the county buildings to go downtown, including at a public meeting in March. And making sure Greeley’s downtown stays vibrant is a matter of civic pride, James said Aug. 1.
“Richmark, the city, the county and School District 6 all want this,” James said.
Models created by consultants showed the downtown option to be several million dollars less than the O Street option, Darnell said.
And while the planned timeline has not yet been made public, some of the new buildings could be complete and open for business in 2030, based on the presentation Darnell showed to the group. Darnell said preparation could be generally 12 to 18 months and construction of new buildings might be three or four years.
All three options presented to the commissioners were close in projected cost (with an $8 million difference). The West Block downtown option allows the county to use land it already has to phase the project over time at the lowest projected cost to residents, county officials said in a press release.
County officials also held four public listening sessions in April and May regarding the two main locations suggested for a new judicial center, the press release said.
Another new building is expected to be a parking garage, Darnell said. About $1 million of the cost of the garage is expected to be paid for through tax-increment financing from the Downtown Development Authority, which voted to approve the amount at a recent meeting.
The county’s conceptual plan shows City Hall, the school district building and a new hotel all on the same block.
Drew Notestine, a family owner of Thomas and Tyler LLC real estate office, residential and commercial space, which owns several iconic buildings downtown, is bullish on the county’s decision to build new buildings downtown.
“We’re excited about the decision, and we think it was the right decision,” Notestine said.
Kelli Johnson, an assistant city manager, said in an interview that city officials have been working with county and school district officials as well as private developers to figure out which buildings will go in the four or five blocks being discussed for redevelopment. She said no decisions have been made.
“The concept plan is a plan we’re all considering at the moment,” Johnson said. “… we are working through what the space looks like … for a new city hall and space for private development and a private hotel downtown.”
The current City Hall property at 1000 10th St. may become something else, Johnson said.
“The catalyst for the city’s conversation was, how do we get better land ownership among government entities; how do we consolidate that to create a thriving downtown …,” Johnson said. “What do we do to encourage additional space for development?”
City officials are considering using various government funding mechanisms to do any new building, including a financing tool called certificates of participation, Johnson said. Such funding is common for government entities to use, she said, pointing out that the tool has been used in the past to build new fire stations. (Certificates of participation also are being used as bridge financing for the city’s Catalyst project in west Greeley, the subject of a petition drive by opponents of the financing plan.)
People at the Aug. 1 event were largely enthusiastic about plans for civic buildings and other uses, downtown, however.
“I think it’s going to support downtown,” said Tami Grant, deputy director of the Weld County Department of Human Services, which has offices downtown. “The partnership is super-unique.”
Alexis Unnerstall, who works downtown, also had positive things to say. Unnerstall said she was speaking as a private resident.
“I think this is fantastic for downtown,” Unnerstall said.
Frazier said he looks forward to working with all of the parties involved.
“I’m excited for the city staff and the county and District 6 staff to have participated up to this point, and we’re really excited to see what happens,” Frazier said. “Everyone has been doing an amazing job. We couldn’t live in a better community.”
County commissioners in March hired two firms, PCL Construction and RJA Engineering, to research and verify the costs of building the judicial center. Costs came out within several million dollars of each other, Darnell told the business group, but the downtown option was less expensive.
This article was first published by BizWest, an independent news organization, and is published under a license agreement. © 2025 BizWest Media LLC.
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