Development Retail Development Sixty-one new retailers and restaurants arrived in, or planned to join, the Arvada community during 2010. New businesses included A Taste of Home Cooking, Edible Arrangements, El Tapatio Restaurant, Etta’s Place, FoxFish Photography, Golden Spoon Frozen Yogurt, RockA-Billy’s, Scrumptious, and Tokyo Joe’s Restaurant with two adjacent food venues planning to open in 2011. $530,350 of capital investment was reported during 2010 for retail/restaurant tenant finish and capital improvements. AEDA’s aggressive approach to retail development resulted in “jump starting” renovation of the 11,000 sq. ft. historic commercial building at 5600 Olde Wadsworth Boulevard, the major expansion of King Soopers at W. 80th Avenue and Wadsworth Boulevard, two significant retail prospects, and three shopping centers targeted for rejuvenation.
According to Katy Press, Principal of K/P Consulting & Associates, “In what has been a stressful period for retail, AEDA continued to bring new ideas and solutions forward to assist all aspects of retail within the City, proving to be a meaningful ‘player’ in the Arvada retail landscape.”
Building Commercial and Industrial Development Ninety-three new office/industrial companies either located or began the building process to locate to Arvada during the year. $2,458,994 in tenant finish and capital expenditures was reported in 2010 by 24 of these businesses. Significant investments were made by Asana
Mark Auble of PrimeStar Solar noted, “We are very appreciative of all that you and the City of Arvada have done to support PrimeStar Solar…When we occupied our Arvada building in October 2008, the Company’s headquarters employment was 59. Today we are at more than 100 and growing.” PrimeStar Solar as Jefferson Economic Council Outstanding Business Award winner in Jefferson County 6
Studio & Wellness Center, Dale Long office building, Harmony Veterinary Center, Horan McConaty, Quest Product Development, Streets Fitness Center, and RT Welter & Associates. It was estimated that over 135 new non-retail jobs were created in Arvada through the new business activity. It should also be noted that Arvada experienced some job losses as a result of economic conditions. AEDA worked to minimize the impact to the community. County enterprise zone administrators reported the following in 2010 for Jefferson and Adams counties: capital investment in the Arvada/Jefferson County Enterprise Zones was $2,543,108 with 79 new jobs. Adams County Economic Development reported $141,857 in capital investment and 7 new jobs. The combined year end figure reported in 2010 for Arvada was $2,684,965 with a net total of 86 new jobs. New commercial projects in 2010 included the tenant finish completion of an 11,616 sq. ft. office building at 5945-5955 Ward Road, a new 17,467 sq. ft. office/ commercial building at 14982 W. 69th Avenue occupied by Quest Product Development, and the Horan McConaty 7,997 sq. ft. building.