Highlands Ranch
Herald
Douglas County, Colorado • Volume 25, Issue 48
October 18, 2012
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourhighlandsranchnews.com
Ranch builds toward future Chamber leader eyes commercial growth By Ryan Boldrey
rboldrey@ourcoloradonews.com
Phia Stricker, 15 months, climbs over the pumpkins Oct. 9 at the pumpkin patch at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Highlands Ranch.
IN SEARCH OF THE GREAT PUMPKIN PHOTOS BY RYAN BOLDREY The pumpkin patch at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church has every shape and size. Pumpkins from Farmington, N.M., arrived Sept. 29. The church will sell pumpkins from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. MondayFriday and 9 a.m.-7 p.m. on the weekends until they are gone. Proceeds will help fund mission trips to Guatemala; Rapid City, S.D.; and the Yakima Indian Reservation in Washington, as well as support the Navajo Reservation in Farmington. Coley Wilcox, 3, hoists a mini pumpkin he found in the pumpkin patch at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Highlands Ranch on Oct. 9. Pumpkins range in size from one pound to 60 pounds and in cost from 50 cents to $45.
Eldorado students rehearse real life Fifth-graders put civic, financial lessons to use By Ryan Boldrey
rboldrey@ourcoloradonews.com Eldorado Elementary School students from Highlands Ranch had the opportunity this past week to put some of their studies to practical use. Over the past eight weeks, fifth-graders at the school have been learning about saving, investing and budgeting money, as well as what goes into the costs of running a business, how businesses interact with one another and supply and demand. In other words, just what is that real world really like? A trip to Young AmeriTowne in Lakewood Oct. 10 gave the students a pretty fun glimpse into that world as students spent the day playing the roles of bankers, grocery clerks, postal carriers and media representatives and served their fellow students as policemen and medical doctors. The town even elected two of its own to serve as the mayor and judge of Young AmeriTowne.
Young AmeriTowne Mayor and Eldorado Elementary School fifth-grader Nick Perri examines some documents while his classmate and Judge Cassidy Palmer listens to a case Oct. 10 in Lakewood. Photo by Ryan Boldrey As mayor, Nick Perri got to fill out a business license; fill in for the judge, Cassidy Palmer, when she was on break; design a website for the town; and support local business while he was on break. But first he had to be elected by his peers. “I think my friends and the whole fifth grade just liked my speech,” Perri said about being elected. “I talked about how I
was good with computers and how I had experience in being a leader. I’ve been a student representative a lot and captain of teams several times in football, baseball and soccer.” Perri and Palmer both got a heavy taste for civic duty in their roles, as Palmer collected $2 fines for rule breakers who were AmeriTowne continues on Page 14
Albeit just 31 years old, Highlands Ranch is already home to more than 2,000 businesses, laying claim to more than 2 million square feet of office, commercial and industrial space. Yet just because the community is nearing residential build-out, don’t think for a second that means the final touches are being put on the area’s business landscape. According to a recent economic report out of Douglas County, that landscape could still potentially triple in size. “That’s not to say that we are building up and out in explosive quantities, but the tide is defiMarsik nitely shifting toward, with the residential buildout (at) majority complete, what does the commercial infrastructure look like and where does that grow,” said Highlands Ranch Chamber of Commerce President LaRae Marsik. Marsik, in her second month leading the chamber, but a longtime resident, agreed that the general perception seems to be that once a lot of the current construction in the northwest corner of the Ranch is complete, that the town will be at build-out. A drive down Lucent Boulevard today takes one past the construction of Children’s Hospital, as well as the expansion of multiple car dealerships, new office buildings and the continued development at Town Center. But there could still be room for a lot more business opportunity in Highlands Ranch. “We have the quintessential commerce population right here,” Marsik said. “We have very savvy consumers that are looking for how to spend their dollars. When a new restaurant comes in, people flock to it.” While many parts of the state have struggled the past few years during the economic downturn, Highlands Ranch has continued to expand on the business front. And as part of the bigger picture, Douglas County has made numerous big announcements in recent months, welcoming in the likes of Hitachi Data SysRanch continues on Page 14
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