Colorado Real Estate Journal - March 16, 2016
Retail is following rooftops into the town of Erie. The first King Soopers store in Colorado where customers can order online and pick up groceries in their car will open late this year on 20 acres at the northwest corridor of Highway 7 and Sheridan Parkway in Vista Ridge Marketplace. Several other retail/commercial projects are expanding or in the planning stages: Nine Mile Corner, an approximately 45-acre development, is proposed for the southeast corner of Highway 287 and Arapahoe Road. The town is partnering with Evergreen Devco Inc. to develop the town-owned property, which is within an urban renewal area. Nine Mile Corner will include retail along the highway, likely with medium and high-density residential to the east, said Evergeen Devco’s Tyler Carlson. Four Corners is a roughly 46-acre mixed-use development at the southwest corner of Erie Parkway and County Line Road that will include approximately 10 acres of community commercial. Erie Four Corners LLC, which is affiliated with RMCS Inc., recently purchased the site for $7.78 million, according to public records. Coal Creek Center is an existing, approximately 33-acre, Walgreens-anchored development at the southeast corner of County Line Road and Erie Parkway. Burger King, the town’s first national restaurant chain, is under construction, and a child care center and speculative office building are being proposed. Also, an approximately 17-acre commercial development at Vista Ridge is being marketed by David Hicks Lampert. It will include room for a retail anchor and inline space, as well as pad sites. Erie’s residential growth, demographics and location between Boulder and Northern Colorado are playing into demand for new retail, said Paula Mehle, economic development coordinator for the town of Erie. “We are getting a lot of residential development. Our downtown is exploding,” said Mehle, who said Erie residents who used to leave the community to do their shopping will have more opportunity to keep their sales tax dollars within their community. With a population of approximately 23,000, Erie added 1,200 residents last year, she said. Average annual household income is $109,000, 57 percent of those 25 and older have college or advanced degrees, and average housing prices are $300,000 and up. The town also is at a crossroads for people commuting between Boulder and the Interstate 25 corridor. “We are central to everything,” Mehle said. “When you’re dealing with retailers, they have to see rooftops. They don’t believe in the rumor mill or what we say will happen,” said Phil Irwin of Irwin & Hendrick, who is involved with Coal Creek Center. “We’re getting all these new homes going up. They’re finally believing that this market is going to be an extremely strong market,” he said. Coal Creek Center – and Erie itself, for that matter – is surrounded by housing, and prices are reasonable relative to nearby Boulder. “You can sell your house in Boulder and buy a house and a half here in Erie, and it’s brand-new. “It’s a really neat little area that I think people are finally finding out about,” Irwin said. South of Walgreens, 12,000 sf of inline retail is being planned, and plans also are in the works for a 12,000-sf Class A speculative office building. “If you want to look for an office space out here, you would find that there’s zero,” Irwin said. “We just feel there is a pretty strong market building for office.” Carlson of Evergreen Devco said three primary factors drove it to seek a partnership with the town to develop Nine Mile Corner. “The town of Erie staff and board of trustees are very business-friendly,” he said. “Being welcomed into the community is always really important, especially when you beginning a really large project like this,” he said, adding a partnership is vital given project complexities. Second, “It’s just good real estate,” he said, noting both Highway 287 and Arapahoe are important commuter corridors. Third, “We do see a need in the market for a different type of neighborhood shopping center. Right now the retail that is in the Erie trade area is fairly traditional. We’d like to do something different,” he said, adding the goal is to create a project that is “uniquely Erie,” reflecting the community’s history and character. Evergreen Devco is finalizing its contract agreement with the town and will be marketing Nine Mile Corner at the International Council of Shopping Centers convention in Las Vegas in May. It hopes to complete key details, including securing an anchor, rezoning the property and finalizing a public-private financial package this year, which could lead to construction in early 2017. The 125,000-sf King Soopers store at Vista Ridge Marketplace will include a fuel station, along with approximately 7,100 sf of inline retail space and three pads that Crosbie Real Estate Group is marketing on behalf of the grocery chain. The store will offer King Soopers’ ClickList option, which allows customers to order online and have groceries brought to their car when they arrive. Mehle said Erie residents are enthusiastic about having a second grocery store in the community, which sits in Boulder County on the west and Weld County on the east, where much of the new development is taking place. “They are so excited to have another opportunity for grocery shopping, to be able to contribute to their own sales tax within their own community,” she said.