WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. — The city of Wheat Ridge is moving forward with plans to redevelop an old factory site.
Seventeen years after the Jolly Rancher factory on Ward Road closed, city infrastructure and private developments are opening on the land.
City leaders said the recent opening of the nearby Regional Transportation District’s Gold Line Station has helped encourage companies to locate in the area.
“It took 10 years for the (G Line) station to open and really for the market to be there,” said Kenneth Johnstone, community development director for the city of Wheat Ridge. “A couple of years ago, voters approved bond funding with a half-cent temporary sales tax increase and we had great voter support for that… The voters approved $12 million specifically for that area and it’s going to the pedestrian bridge. It’s going to a trail that will connect down to the frontage road on I-70."
He said on the exact site where the Jolly Rancher factory once stood, Toll Brothers, a luxury home builder, is building 200 townhomes.
Johnstone said it took a while to make the property a place where businesses desired to locate and they expect more businesses to choose the area soon.
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