Access to The Ranch to open up

Within the next month or so, getting to The Ranch will be a little easier.

Centerra Parkway, a 1.5-mile connection from U.S. 34 to Crossroads Boulevard, should open soon, meaning many visitors will not have to drive on Interstate 25 to access the Budweiser Events Center and other facilities at The Ranch.

That was just a part of Monday's mid-year update given by officials with McWhinney, the developer of the Centerra complex which is spread over several thousand acres around the intersection of U.S. 34 and Interstate 25. In addition to Centerra Parkway, Rocky Scott, president of Centerra, said Kendall Parkway also is under construction. That road will connect the east and west portions of Centerra, going under I-25 just north of The Promenade Shops at Centerra.

But the start of improving the intersection of U.S. 34 and I-25 is still at least two years away, Scott said, noting design work is ongoing with the Colorado Department of Transportation.

Meanwhile, Jack Wolfe, president of commercial and mixed-use for McWhinney, said 30 people have been added to the McWhinney team since the first of the year as progress continues on additional projects under construction or planned. Those include the Grand Station at Centerra east of The Promenade Shops, the grand opening of Chapunga Park on the east side of the shops on Sept. 29 which will feature 89 pieces of sculpture and art work, and 450,000 square feet of new office space to go with the already completed 750,000 square feet.

All that goes with the recently opened Medical Center of the Rockies, Wolfe said. In addition, another 1,000 housing units are planned for the west end of Centerra, near Houts Reservoir and Equalizer Lake, west of the medical center, to go along with 1,100 housing units already completed.

The first phase of the Grand Station at Centerra, a1 million-square-foot, 110-acre facility for shopping, dining, entertainment, fitness, residential, hospitality, office, medical, civic and cultural use, is tentatively scheduled to begin by late this year or early next. But that hinges on an Oct. 2 vote scheduled by the Loveland City Council on parking structures at the complex and how those structures will be funded, Wolfe said.

But tenants that have already committed to partner with McWhinney on the project, include the Hotel Valencia, which will build a 180-room hotel, a Courtyard by Marriott, which will build a 110-room hotel for business travelers, a Hilton Garden Inn, which will build a 110-room hotel for business travelers and Club One, a fitness and wellness club.

"What we are trying to do is create a place for people to come. Once they get here, they will go to Fort Collins, to Greeley and to surrounding areas. It will benefit everyone," Scott said.