2025 Market Facts VRP - Flipbook - Page 59
ECO NO MI C PRO FI L E & MA R K ET FACT S 2025 | 51
PROFILE
114,363
POPULATION
49
SQUARE MILES
COURTESY WATER VALLEY CO..
A rendering of the proposed $1.1 billion hotel-hockey arena- water park
development in west Greeley that is part of the Cascadia project.
38,901
HOUSEHOLDS
GREELEY
Big choices to shape
Weld’s largest city
GREELEY — What will Greeley’s future look like by the end of 2025? It will depend
on big decisions yet to be made by city officials, by the Weld County commissioners, and
probably by voters.
The City Council in May approved a complex, risky financing plan for a $1.1 billion
entertainment district on city-owned land near Weld County Road 17 and U.S. Highway
34 that would include an ice arena, hotel and water park and anchor Windsor-based
developer Martin Lind’s proposed Cascadia mixed-use development.
However, a group called Greeley Deserves Better began collecting signatures to derail
the city’s plan, which would authorize the city to mortgage 46 public buildings — including City Hall, the Police Department, City Center North, the Ice Haus and three
fire stations — as collateral for the private development. The plan includes using $115
million worth of “certificates of participation” to lease those city facilities to Salt Lake
City-based Zions Bancorp. to pay for the first phase of the core entertainment district
dubbed “Catalyst.”
To add further intrigue, the city must figure out how to finance Catalyst and also
fund a $126 million civic campus downtown. With those two projects looming, the city
had to put several other projects on hold, including purchase of the JBS USA headquarters building in the Promontory business park.
And then there’s Weld County, which has to decide whether to join the city and Greeley-Evans School District 6 in the upgraded downtown civic campus or build on 100
acres of land it already owns on the north side of O Street on the city’s northern edge.
Only one thing is certain: The Weld County seat retains a steady growth and an
economic health that continues to draw national recognition. Propelled by agriculture,
energy, education and health care, Greeley’s population has surpassed that of Boulder
and may pass that of Fort Collins as well.
One in three jobs in Greeley is still related to agriculture, contributing more than $1
billion to the local economy through companies such as Leprino Foods and Pilgrim’s
Pride Corp. Energy also remains a strong component, with Chevron retaining a crucial
servicing hub for the Niobrara-DJ Basin.
Increasingly, however, the health-care sector has become a key driver to Greeley’s
growth. Banner Health’s North Colorado Medical Center and UCHealth’s Greeley Medical Center serve area patients. The University of Northern Colorado is renowned for its
programs to train nurses and will add an osteopathic medical school thanks to millions
in grant money from the state and the Weld Trust. Aims Community College is adding
an acute-care nurses’ aide certificate program as well as one for doulas. The Institute of
Business & Medical Careers offers accelerated career training in business and medicine.
UNC’s Monfort College of Business continues to produce a new annual crop of
young entrepreneurs, and Aims has been expanding its partnerships with data-analytics,
automotive and energy companies. Aims also is building a $25.5 million Workforce Innovation Center and a $21.8 million aviation-technology center.
Mixed-use development continues to sprout along several downtown blocks, and the
city and its Downtown Development Authority are working on tax-increment financing
to attract even more.
$68,650
MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD
INCOME
FOR SALE
OPEN
TAX
$427,000
MEDIAN HOME
SALE PRICE
1,885
NO. OF BUSINESSES
7.01%
CITY, COUNTY,
STATE SALES TAX
26.7%
BACHELOR’S DEGREE
OR HIGHER
City of Greeley
www.greeleygov.com
John Gates, mayor
John.gates@greeleygov.com
Raymond C. Lee III, city manager
Raymond.lee@greeleygov.com
John Hall, director, economic development &
urban revitalization
John.hall@greeleygov.com
Greeley Chamber of Commerce
www.greeleychamber.com
Jamie Henning, president & CEO
jaime@greeleychamber.com
Greeley Downtown Development Authority
www.greeleydowntown.com
Bianca Fisher, executive director
bianca@greeleydowntown.com
Upstate Colorado Economic Development
wwww.upstatecolorado.org
Rich Werner, president & CEO
rwerner@upstatecolorado.org
