Villager Corridor Introducing

Covering business

in the DTC & Denver south

the

A supplement to The Villager Newspaper August 27, 2015

I n t r o d u c i n g t h e C o r r i d o r. b i z

BY JAN WONDRA STAFF WRITER

With this issue, The Villager Media Group launches our newest special section called theCorridor.biz. Covering business news and information around the I-25 corridor, from around Colorado Boulevard southward, through Arapahoe County into Douglas County.

“We’re responding to the huge increase in economic activity in the Denver south area,” said publisher Bob Sweeney. “Most don’t realize that over 25 percent of the entire earned business income of Colorado is being fueled here in the south I-25 corridor.”

“We’re creating a new communications resource, expanding our business coverage of the vital corridor we’ve served for 33 years,” said co-publisher Gerri Sweeney.”

The special section will publish at least three times during the remainder of 2015 and come out the last Thursday

of the month beginning in 2016.

“TheCorridor.biz will fulfill a void in the Denver south business community by providing industry insights and by telling the story of the I-25 corridor,” said Mike Fitzgerald, president and CEO of the Denver South Economic Development Partnership. “We fully support this endeavor.”

Each issue of this special section will take on a specific business topic. This month, we explore the growing financial-services sector, with the caveat that there is so much activity that all of it cannot possibly be covered in a single special section.

Every issue will also include timely business news and information from businesses surrounding the corridor.

“It’s exciting to see The Villager raise the awareness and celebrate business opportunities and economic growth along the south I-25 corridor,” said Arapahoe County Commissioner Nancy Sharpe. “Congratulations to The Villager for taking a leadership role.”

Upcoming issues will focus on health care, real estate and development, and education. The 2016 editorial schedule will explore multiple business categories based on input from the business community. Businesses interested in becoming corporate partners in upcoming issues should email info@thecorridor.biz.

“It’s vital for businesses, educational institutions, governments and nonprofits to have a responsible and reliable news media reporting on developments and trends,” said Doug Tisdale, executive vice president of economic development, South Metro Denver Chamber and former mayor of Cherry Hills Village. “The Corridor.biz promises to be just that!”

According to the Sweeneys, the anticipation is for theCorridor.biz special section to grow in size, as businesses come to realize that The Villager’s commitment to covering corridor business news is profound and longterm.

Are you asking enough questions about the way your wealth is managed?

In life, you question everything.

The same should be true when it comes to managing your wealth.

Do you know what your broker is basing their recommendations on?

Do they stand by their word? Do you know how much you’re paying in fees? And how those fees affect your returns? Ask your broker, and if you don’t like their answers, ask again at Schwab. We think you’ll like what our Financial Consultants have to say.

Learn more about our modern approach to wealth management by visiting the Lone Tree branch today.

THANK YOU to our initial corporate partners in the launch of theCorridor.biz: GOLD SPONSOR –

BRONZE SPONSORS – Wealth Management at Charles Schwab PL A NNING I POR T FOLIO M A N AGEMEN T I INCOME STR ATEGIES I BA NKING

Brokerage Products: Not FDIC Insured • No Bank Guarantee • May Lose Value

PAGE 2 | THE VILLAGER • August 27, 2015 the

Colorado’s ‘Wall Street of the West’

BY JAN WONDRA STAFF WRITER

For longer than there has been an I-25 corridor, the nine-county metro Denver and northern Colorado region; Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson, Larimer and Weld counties and specifically 17th Street in Denver, have been called the “Wall Street of the West.” Within this geographic area lies the largest concentration of financial services entities between Los Angeles and Chicago.

“It’s huge,” said Mike Fitzgerald, CEO of the Denver South Economic Development Partnership. “The impact of financial services located along the corridor spreads across the entire state, the nation and around the world.”

In fact, our region represents the greatest, most concentrated financial corridor outside of the northeastern U.S, some 3,150 financial service companies. And a significant portion of the real news is happening here in

FINANCE COMPANIES IN COLORADO

MAJOR BANKING &

The expanding financialservices sector in the south I-25 corridor

Financial institution (Alphabetically listed)* Headquarters

Specialty

Bank of the West Bellco Credit Union Cherry Creek Mortgage Citywide Banks CoBank Colorado State Bank and Trust Elavon (wholly-owned Subsidiary of US BankCorp) First Bank Holding Company First Data Corporations Guaranty Bank and Trust JPMorgan Chase & Co KeyBank Pulte Mortgage Specialized Loan Servicing LLC U.S. Bank Urban Lending Solutions Vectra Bank Colorado VISA Debit Processing Services Wells Fargo Bank Colorado Western Union

Full service banking Full service banking Private, Consumer mortgages Private, Commercial lending Rural, Agribusiness Personal, small business, commercial banking Merchant payment services Full service banking Global payment services Full service banking Multi-national banking services Community banking Mortgage banking Loans Full service banking Loans and mortgages Full service banking Credit card processing Multi-national banking Global payment solutions

the south I-25 corridor. We are home to a branch of the Federal Reserve Bank, a deceptively quiet and growing Visa global technology center and the global headquarters of Western Union. The Denver Mint, one of only six U.S. Mints, lies to our north

San Francisco, CA Greenwood Village, CO Greenwood Village, CO Denver, CO Greenwood Village, CO Denver, CO Atlanta, GA Lakewood, CO Atlanta, GA Englewood, CO New York, NY Cleveland, OH Engelewood, CO Littleton, CO Minneapolis, MN Pittsburg, PA Denver, CO Douglas County, CO San Francisco, CA Englewood, CO

in downtown Denver. Never mind that we print pennies here and the fact is that we make money – more coins than any mint in the world.

According to the DSEDP, one third of all financial services employment in the nine-county area

is within the area of the south I-25 corridor; more than 11,000 of the more than 38,970 financial services jobs in the nine-county region. In 2013, the latest data for which wage information is available, those jobs had an average salary of $71,210,

At Fidelity Investments, we’re helping people live the lives they want.

We are proud to be recognized by the Denver Post as one of the:

Fidelity has always believed in a better way — finding that people feel more confident, can make clearer decisions, and achieve better results when they have access to the expertise needed to successfully manage their money. We are proud of our associates and treat them with the same respect and courtesy we do our customers, because we believe our people are central to our success.

At Fidelity, we invest in you by providing opportunities to develop your talents and pursue your passions across a large, diversified company.

Learn more about Fidelity and our Denver location at:

Denver.FidelityCareers.com

Fidelity Investments is an equal opportunity employer.

20407_20_AD_TPW_ABQ.indd 1

8/14/15 1:16 PM

compared to a national average of $69,320. Given that this includes jobs from bank tellers to bond traders, all financial-services jobs are not equal. The average annual salary in the investments sub area exceeds $230,000, compared to the national average of $205,000.

The economic impact of financial-services jobs within our region was in excess of $2.8 billion in 2012, when we were continuing to climb out of the recession. Given Colorado’s robust economic recovery, that figure is rising substantially.

Among the newest entrants to the corridor, CoBank’s national headquarters is being completed in Greenwood Village, just west of I-25 near the Arapahoe Light Rail Station.

“Obviously, we chose the location to be in the midst of the energy here,” said CEO Bob Engel. “A lot of financial institutions are here in the corridor.”

Why is the financial services sector expanding in our geographic area? It is expanding, in part, because of our reputation as what the DSEDP calls “a global commercial gateway.”

Our business corridor is a place where the combination of a highlyeducated workforce, an entrepreneurial mindset, strong business schools, access to transportation, business-friendly government and great quality of life come together.

Add to that access to capital for startups and global expansion.

This has made the area south of downtown, including the area from Colorado Boulevard south along the I-25 corridor, a hotbed of activity. We are home to six of the nine companies on the 2015 Fortune 500 list based on 2014 revenue, including Arrow Electronics, Liberty Media, Envision Healthcare Holdings, EchoStar, Cimarex Energy and IHS. Their combined revenue is more than $77 billion. Three south metroarea businesses, LED Supply Co, Survtech Solutions, and Stoneside Blinds and Shades, are on the Inc. 5000’s list of fastest-growing private companies.

Of course, there is no way that one special section can cover all this action, especially when you consider that the term “financial services” covers three sub-areas: banking, investment services and insurance. Together, those three broad categories represent 44 North American Industry Classification System codes.

According to the DSEDP, there were approximately 580 banking and finance companies operating in the Denver south area in 2013, with more than half of them providing mortgage banking, loan correspondence and loan brokerage services.

There were approximately 1,000 investment companies operating in the south I-25 corridor area as of 2013, most of them small firms with fewer than 10 people. Nearly three quarters of them offer investment advice, as well as security brokering and dealing.

The trend south appears to show no signs of slowing.

“We’ve always been in the Denver south area, because of our Merrill Lynch division,” said Jodi Rolland, president of Bank of America.

“As a financial services company, we are expanding here and across Colorado. We’re here for the longterm.”

Source: the Denver South Economic Development Partnership: Financial Services Industry Cluster, 2014 Profile, prepared by Development Research Partners, Inc.

August 27, 2015 • THE VILLAGER | PAGE 3 the

Financial hub brings synergy to south I-25 corridor

The center of financialservices companies

The south I-25 corridor – spanning Colorado Boulevard on the north and past Lone Tree to the south – is a hotbed of activity in the financial-services market. The robust business corridor is becoming the lifeblood of the community and encompasses large corporations, small businesses and large commercial interests.

From Fidelity Investments to National Bank Holdings Corp. to Charles Schwab, the financial industry is developing deep roots within the southeast business corridor, enterprise that is flourishing in today’s strong economic market.

Fidelity expands

Fidelity has just inked a lease for an additional floor in its expansive Fiddler’s Green Office Center, bringing the regional facility to 100,000 total square feet. The space will soon accommodate more than 200 new employees.

After opening little more than two years ago with 100 people, Fidelity, one of the world’s largest providers of financial services, now exceeds 500 associates in the Denver area, including at five Colorado investor centers.

“Fidelity has seen exceptional growth in their personal investing business,” said Sherri Kroonenberg, general manager and senior vice president at Fidelity Investments in Greenwood Village. “They looked at a number of their existing sites and their future growth – and basically it was a strategy to look at their existing location and/or a new geographical location. There was also a

geographic decision that the Mountain Time zone or even Pacific was desired.”

Kroonenberg, a Green Mountain High School and Metropolitan State University graduate, earned her master’s degree in business administration from the University of Denver.

In its search for a new regional center, Fidelity also considered multiple options between Broomfield to Colorado Springs.

“It was really the hub of financial services companies and the access to talent here [in the south corridor]. … We sit right at that I-25/Arapahoe [interchange] and we are right on the light rail line and that does play an important part,” said Kroonenberg, a Highlands Ranch resident.

Kroonenberg says when you have a large hub of financial-services companies, there will be stronger chamber of commerce organizations, highly focused economic-development councils and a concentration that attracts a strong and talented workforce of licensed associates and others who desire a long-term solid career.

John Herbers, president and CEO of the DTC/Greenwood Village Chamber of Commerce, emphasized that financial-services companies bring good, high paying and clean jobs.

“If a person wanted to work for some of these companies in this corridor, you could work your entire career there,” he said. “These corporations would have the career path for you to just keep progressing on up the ladder to achieve whatever level of success you wanted.”

Herbers, an accomplished businessman and corporate consultant in his own right, noted that these companies provide good jobs with good companies that are solid national brands.

Drivers traverse the south I-25 corridor approaching Arapahoe Road.

Schwab succeeds at RidgeGate

“We wanted a convenient, accessible location in which to consolidate three of our Denver buildings and bring together the majority of our Denver employees within one campus,” said Brian McDonald, Charles Schwab’s vice president of client service and support at the Lone Tree Campus.

“The RidgeGate community provides a wealth of resources, amenities and visibility for Schwab that makes it a great location,” he said. “Size, flexibility, the existing RidgeGate community, and the great support of local and state government all contributed to the selection of this site.”

McDonald said the Schwab staff at the Lone Tree Campus eagerly anticipates the new extension of light rail that will provide improved public access.

Charles Schwab has 10 major

employment centers throughout the United States. The Lone Tree facility is the corporation’s third largest, with three additional branch offices in Denver. Colorado employs 2,500 Schwab staff, as the number of total employees hovers around 14,000 throughout the country.

The Lone Tree facility is comprised of 47 acres and boasts approximately 747,000 square feet of office space. At full build-out, the facility has the potential to accommodate up to 4,500 occupants, McDonald said. A third office building will open in November.

Schwab does not have any additional expansion plans for the expansive Douglas County complex, which is highly visible from I-25.

$5 billion holding company

The National Bank Holding Corp. moved its corporate offices to Greenwood Village and opened its third brand of banks in the state

under the name Community Banks of Colorado.

The holding company has assets totaling $5 billion. The banking entity now has 54 locations in Colorado with the recent acquisition of four banks in southwest corner of the state. The other two banking institutions do business in the greater Kansas City region and Texas, boasting 101 total bank locations.

“Here are the facts: First of all, greater Denver is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the country. … It makes for a great home base for businesses,” said Patrick Sobers, executive vice president of consumer banking with Community Banks of Colorado.

“You also have the fact that Colorado is home to half a million small businesses. These businesses employ half of the state’s workforce.

This is a win-win situation.”

Are you asking enough questions about the way your wealth is managed?

In life, you question everything.

The same should be true when it comes to managing your wealth.

Do you know what your broker is basing their recommendations on?

Do they stand by their word? Do you know how much you’re paying in fees? And how those fees affect your returns? Ask your broker, and if you don’t like their answers, ask again at Schwab. We think you’ll like what our Financial Consultants have to say.

Learn more about our modern approach to wealth management by visiting the Lone Tree branch today.

Wealth Management at Charles Schwab PL A NNING I POR T FOLIO M A N AGEMEN T I INCOME STR ATEGIES I BA NKING

Brokerage Products: Not FDIC Insured • No Bank Guarantee • May Lose Value

Charles Schwab’s Lone Tree Campus encompasses 47 acres and at full build-out could accommodate 4,500 employees. The campus is the company’s third largest regional center in the nation.

Photos by Tom Barry

There are eligibility requirements to work with a dedicated Financial Consultant.

Branch located at: 9899 Schwab Way #100, Lone Tree, CO 80124 Wealth management refers to products and services available through the operating subsidiaries of The Charles Schwab Corporation of which there are important differences including, but not limited to, the type of advice and assistance provided, fees charged, and the rights and obligations of the parties. It is important to understand the differences when determining which products and/or services to select.

The Charles Schwab Corporation provides a full range of brokerage, banking and financial advisory services through its operating subsidiaries. Its broker-dealer subsidiary, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (member SIPC), offers investment services and products, including Schwab brokerage accounts. Its banking subsidiary, Charles Schwab Bank (member FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender), provides deposit and lending services and products. ©2015 The Charles Schwab Corporation. All rights reserved. (0614-3466) ADP80835-00

PAGE 4 | THE VILLAGER • August 27, 2015 the

Joining a community of leaders

BY SHERRI KROONENBERG, GENERAL MANAGER/SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AT FIDELITY INVESTMENTS hen Fidelity Investments began the search a few years ago for our next major regional site, the criteria included an attractive business climate, a positive quality of life, excellent schools and commuting options for employees. Another determining factor in the final decision was the strength and breadth of the financial services industry in the region.

Most importantly, we needed an abundant, highly‐educated workforce with the talent and skills important to our customers and business. We were looking for people who believe each customer interaction is an opportunity to improve people’s lives and who would deliver exceptional service, handling each inquiry with integrity and a personal attention to detail.

W

Finding a fit in Denver

Fortunately we had some ex-

Sherri Kroonenberg perience here in Colorado and knew that the greater Denver area could meet our needs. That experience started when we opened our first Investor Center for individual investors here in 1986. Today, we have grown to five locations spanning from Broomfield to Colorado Springs and including two in downtown Denver.

The opportunity presented by the region was further illustrated when Fidelity’s Asset Management organization located a divi-

sion in Denver focused on sector investing. The Asset Management group has continued to expand here and recently decided to locate a new Fixed Income team in the Denver office.

It was Denver south that held the right mix for the Personal Investing Regional Center, which opened in Greenwood Village in 2013 and officially established Colorado as Fidelity’s 11th regional site. We have grown to more than 600 employees in Colorado and are hiring now to fill another 100 positions in Greenwood Village.

Creating a culture of community

Today we are proud to be a part of this dynamic and growing business corridor, which includes so many of Colorado’s leading businesses. The culture at the firm creates a compelling case for employees to join and stay with Fidelity.

We take an “invested in you” approach to how we support our

The money tree

BY DOUG TISDALE, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AT THE SOUTH METRO DENVER CHAMBER It is very tempting to live in the past. There is often a golden hue that shrouds the memory of days gone by. And aside from the comfort that the familiarity of the past brings us, we are advised that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. We also realize that our lives are the gift we are given each new day. That’s why it’s called the present. And those who seek to create a better life for themselves and their families develop a clear vision of the future.

A successful life – a prosperous life – is one that simultaneously recalls the past, relishes the present, and plans for the future.

Economic development is a process that requires a careful balance of looking to the past, considering the present and contemplating the future. The corporate visionaries and the entrepreneurs who created

the phenomenal economic engine that we enjoy here in the south metro Denver region have understood that for six decades. I know that, as I watched it in action from the beginning.

In 1956, my father took his family on a road trip. He packed up his wife and two children and we headed west, with Denver as our destination. Denver was still very much a cow town, but economic development on a massive scale was on the horizon. In November 1955, The George L. Martin Company (today’s Lockheed-Martin) announced plans to build a huge defense plant in south metro Denver. Being a real estate salesman, my father understood the unique value of land – and the importance of location.

While touring the Front Range, we spent many hours on the Valley Highway. (Note to Millennials: you call it I-25.) The benefits of real estate along that corridor, especially on the south side of Denver, were immediately apparent to my father.

Doug Tisdale He found a newly platted subdivision near the county line between Arapahoe and Douglas counties.

Lots were a minimum of one acre.

Even better, if you bought two oneacre lots, you got the third lot for a penny. And just to prove that this was a prime location, in the middle of the development there was a tree that blossomed with dollar bills. It was The Money Tree, each branch

employees. This includes innovative development programs, award-winning benefits offerings and continually investing in technology to enhance the experience of our people. We also create opportunities for employees to build community within Fidelity while helping the community around us.

Our internal community building starts with five Employee Resource Groups, self-organized groups of Fidelity employees who have common interests relating to areas such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or the military, or who share an affinity based on similar sets of experiences. Many employees are involved in multiple ERGs and these groups are playing an integral role in supporting the surrounding community, as well as professional development of employees.

Fidelity’s history of supporting the communities where we work and live has also been incorporated into the culture of our Denver operations from the very

beginning. Last year, more than 10,000 Fidelity employees volunteered with local schools and nonprofits, and in Denver, half of our employees participated in a Fidelity-supported volunteer event.

In addition to the broader community, Fidelity also has supported the financial services community in the area. We are a founding member of the Colorado Investment Services Coalition, formed more than two years ago. This coalition focuses on key areas vital to the industry including talent/ workforce development and attraction by cultivating mutually beneficial relationships with the colleges and universities.

We are looking forward to continued success here and to working with other businesses in the region to continue the momentum that is underway in the Corridor. Thecorridor.biz creates a great opportunity to showcase just what makes this area special and understand the issues that make a difference to the businesses located here.

covered with crisp new one dollar bills. Rich soil indeed. So my father bought three acres.

George Martin built his new plant. And George Wallace later designed the finest corporate office park in the United States, the Denver Technological Center, creating a magnet for large and small companies that wanted the openness of the area to stimulate their employees and investors to create a vibrant economy. The communities in the south metro Denver region grew and prospered alongside their corporate residents and neighbors. To make access to the DTC even easier, Wallace convinced the Arapahoe County commissioners to build a general aviation airport near there, with Centennial Airport becoming one of the busiest airports in the United States. Today the area we call south metro is one of the most dynamic economic regions in our country, and in the world, which leads us into contemplating the future.

Our past is a storied one, and the vision of that Money Tree still lives in my memory. Our present is an exciting one, where we have weathered economic turmoil and prospered during economic

expansion. But our future is even more exciting. Our economic development is no longer constrained by the boundaries of any city or county or state, or even by the borders of our country. Our economy is a global one. Business products and services circle the globe in a nanosecond through the power of the World Wide Web, and in mere hours through the utility of Centennial Airport. We understand that here in south metro. The people who live and work in The Corridor get it.

And all of us can draw inspiration from The Money Tree. I know I did.

Doug Tisdale is the executive vice president for economic development at the South Metro Denver Chamber. He is the former mayor of Cherry Hills Village and a licensed attorney who has practiced commercial transaction law throughout the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia for 40 years. His father gifted him the 3 acres bought in south metro a number of years ago and he leveraged that into one acre in Cherry Hills Village.

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Pig Roast every 3rd Saturday.

August 27, 2015 • THE VILLAGER | PAGE 5 the

Where is Colorado’s middle-market funding?

Colorado’s puzzling gap in both middle-market companies and middlemarket funding resources

BY JAN WONDRA STAFF WRITER

Colorado’s Middle Market compared to national data and to large and small companies State Total U.S. Colorado

Small (<$10M) 18,812,008 449,818

Number of Firms Middle Market ($10M-$999M) Large ($1B+) 136,603 2,266 2,168 46

Total 18,950,877 452,032

Small (<$10M) 99.27% 99.51%

Share of Firms Middle Market Large ($1B+) ($10M-$999M) 0.721% 0.012% 0.480% 0.01%

Total 100% 100%

Source: May 2015 Middle Market Power Index, American Express and Dun & Bradstreet

Colorado has an estimated 2,168 middle-market firms, making up just 0.48 percent of overall businesses – or less than one half of one percent. The middle-market is defined as businesses generating between $10 million and $1 billion in revenues. That’s a pretty big middle.

This becomes important when you realize that while the middle-market makes up less than 1 percent of U.S. businesses (0.7 percent), it contributes slightly more than $1 in $5 (21 percent) of U.S. business revenues, and employs more than 1 in 4 workers (28 percent) in the private sector. Nationally, there are more than 136,000 middle-market firms, which employ an average of 368 workers and generate $45.1 million per firm per year.

Colorado’s ranking might mean that while we’re good at funding startups and incubators, and we outperform the total U.S. in our percentage of small businesses. Colorado may not be doing a good job at keeping them, or allowing expanding companies the financial wherewithal to grow their way out of the “small business” category.

There might be a financial reason contributing to Colorado’s ranking near the bottom of the list of states,

ing, according to Weeks, we cannot be considered diversified.

“Middle-market companies are different than start-ups,” said Varilek.

“They need access to expansion capital, major, multimillion dollar credit lines. This is different than venture capital funds. And if they cannot find these, this is when they pick up and start looking for a new home. So yes, the SBA should look at identifying at least one, approved middle-market funding resource in Colorado. Our role is to fill gaps in financial funding, so there is a continuum of options.”

While it might be easy to downplay the lack of middle-market companies and matching funding resources in the state, there are other reasons that striving for middle-market parity with the national average is important.

“The middle-market companies are the source of leadership – the heart and soul of your community,” said Weeks, whose research focus is the middle-market. “They are indispensable to the fabric of the community.

They put down deep roots in a place.

They fund libraries and hospitals.

They lead business support for infrastructure efforts. They sponsor things that the huge companies don’t. Why? Because while sales and growth are

good, if a company gets too big it loses its connection to local or regional effort. Your middle-market companies add vibrancy to your city and your region.”

Colorado business investment firms can be different in one important way from other states, according to Varilek.

“In Boulder, the local investment groups say, ‘I want to do a deal that I can ride my mountain bike to.’ In the Denver south corridor, perhaps that equates to making deals you can access via light rail?”

Varilek says that Colorado is important in another critical way.

“It is 50 percent of the population and 50 percent of the industry of the western region. Colorado is perfectlypositioned to attract the millennials because they are after the work/life balance and quality of life that is Colorado,” Varilek said.

Asked how the Denver south area could tackle the middle-market gap, Weeks said, “Look at who is here already that you can help grow, instead of focusing only on attracting business in. It’s the concept of economic gardening – growing what you’ve already got.”

That pesky minimum-wage question

cent. Today it is almost 18 percent for all teenagers and it is 30 percent for black teenagers and 30 percent for latino teenagers. And remember that one is counted as unemployed only if he/she has actively looked for work in the last four week.

A bigger issue than the impact of a substantial minimum wage increase on teenagers is what will happen to jobs for other hourly workers.

Wages tend to move in tandem so doubling the minimum wage is likely to double all hourly wages. My guess is that will lead to many more jobs currently performed by humans being replaced by technology. Is a job at $8 an hour better than no job at $16? We need to move slowly and pay attention to the results.

Economist Tucker Hart Adams is Senior Partner of Summit Economics LLC.

Colorado has gotten used to being high up on the list of “most desirable” this or that – best places to live, fastest economic growth, greatest number of jobs created per capita. We even proudly proclaim we’re home to the largest number of brew pubs in the United States. So when the latest American Express and Dun & Bradstreet report came out ranking our state 48 out of 50 states for share of middle-market firms, the data bears examination.

Surely we have been generating start-ups and incubator firms. Surely Colorado has outperformed in attracting our share of Fortune 500 companies? So where is the middle-market?

“The need is absolutely real in Colorado,” said Matt Varilek, chief operating officer of the U.S. Small Business Administration based in Washington, D.C. “You have correctly identified the gap. We have 287 SBA-approved, participating investment funds in the United States for the middle-market, and none of them are in Colorado.”

The definition of a middle-market company might not be what you think. According to the first-ever Middle-market Power Index from American Express and Dun & Bradstreet,

By Tucker Hart Adams, Senior Partner of Summit Economics LLC Back in 2006, when I wrote an article for a national publication titled “Sense and Nonsense about the Minimum Wage,” a Google search of “minimum wage” turned up 1.98 million hits. Today that has increased to 35.1 million. Raising the minimum wage is neither a new topic nor one declining in interest.

Let’s begin by agreeing that it would be ideal if everyone could find a full-time job with health care benefits, sick leave and a two week vacation that paid a living wage.

Since the federal poverty level for an individual is $11,790 and for a family of three it is $20,090, it takes $5.67 an hour for an individual and $9.66 an hour for someone supporting a spouse and child (or a single parent supporting two children) to lift them out of poverty.

I’m not arguing that it would be easy or even possible to support a family on $20,000 a year. If one parent works fulltime and one half time, the total climbs to $30,000, but that is still less than half the U.S. average.

So, what is the solution?

One way being proposed to address the issue is to boost the minimum wage, currently $7.25 for a non-tipped employee ($8.23 in Colorado), to $15 ($31,200 a year). However, all actions have consequences.

The question we need to consider is whether the results of such a policy will lead to a better or worse outcome for society. Clearly individuals earning the higher wage will be better off.

But, in the end will there be more people working or fewer? And will the total income for all of those with jobs be higher or lower than before?

The federal minimum wage was first established in 1938 at 25 cents an hour ($4.23 in today’s dollars). It rose to $1 ($8.77) an hour in1956, $2 ($9.68) an hour in 1974, $4.25 ($7.45) an hour in 1991 and to its current level in 2009.

Today only 4.3 percent of the 75.9

million hourly workers earn only the minimum wage. This is well below the figure of 13.4 percent in 1979, when data were first collected on a regular basis.

Minimum wage workers tend to be young. About 20 percent of teenagers earn the minimum wage, compared with only 3 percent of workers 25 and older. Only 2 percent of married workers and 2 percent of full-time workers earn the minimum or less. Race and ethnicity have little impact – 5 percent of blacks versus 4 percent of whites or Latinos. Women are slightly more likely to work for the minimum wage than men – 5 percent versus 3 percent.

The most fundamental concept

which are home to middle-marketsized companies.

“After you asked me about it, we did some investigation,” said Varilek, who still has a home in Thornton after moving to D.C. in 2013 from his role as SBA Region VIII Administrator. “Other states have one or more SBA-approved financial resources for middle-market companies. Colorado has none. So yes, this might have an impact.”

Julie Weeks, the lead American Express researcher adviser on the project, said, “There’s a huge different in the business needs of a $10 million company and a $999 million company. The middle-market looks different from what’s below it and above it. It isn’t just that larger are global or smaller are local. One reason that Colorado ranks lower is that you don’t have as much manufacturing or wholesale trade. You could perform better in this size business if you had more technology or clean manufacturing. Nationally, manufacturing accounts for 17 percent of middlemarket – in Colorado it’s 3 percent.

Understand that the middle-market area is the supply chain.”

If a state is doing well economically, and the middle-market is lack-

in economics is the Law of Supply and Demand. Very simply, it states that when other things are held constant and the price of something is raised, less of it is demanded and more of it is supplied. This applies to minimum wage workers – when the minimum wage is increased, demand falls (fewer jobs are available) but supply increases (more people want the jobs). Common sense tells us that the least skilled people are the ones who will lose their jobs.

History shows that this has occurred. When was the last time someone filled your gas tank, vacuumed the floor of the car, washed the windshield, checked the oil level and put air in the tires? Or carried your gro-

ceries out to your car? That doesn’t happen at $7.25 an hour. But, it once provided a modest income and taught good work habits – like setting the alarm and getting to the job on time, along with the consequences of not doing that.

I remember being told in graduate school that when there was no minimum wage or it was so low as to be irrelevant, there was almost no teen unemployment. As the minimum wage was raised, the jobs teenagers used to fill disappeared. I couldn’t find data on teenager unemployment prior to 1948, when the minimum wage was 40 cents an hour ($3.96 in today’s dollars).

But in 1948 the teenage unemployment rate hovered around 10 per-

PAGE 6 | THE VILLAGER • August 27, 2015 the

George M. Wallace, Denver Tech Center pioneer

By Rosemary Fetter The father of the booming Denver Tech Center, George MacKenzie Wallace came from a middle class family, the eldest of three sons in a strict Scottish-Presbyterian family. His father, a construction superintendent “with strong old world principles,” taught him the value of hard work. According to a 1974 interview, he sold newspapers at age 10 and organized his first business at 12, selling pairs of guppies for $1 apiece. Superior high school grades got him into Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., a topnotch engineering school. He graduated in 1940, a brilliant student who was one of only eight in a graduating class of 125 to be offered a job.

During World War II, Wallace worked for the firm of Babcox and Wilcox in California, helping to open steam power plants for combat and merchant ships. On the strength of a $150/month salary, he married Alice Whitaker of Rochester, his high school sweetheart, on Valentine’s Day 1942.

He later told reporters that he picked the romantic holiday so he could remember his anniversary. (According to her mother, when Alice first met George, she recorded in her diary, “George Wallace thinks he knows everything. I don’t like him.” Obviously, she changed her mind.) Although he talked a great deal to the press about his wife and two children, he admitted he wasn’t a great family man. Apparently his passion for problem solving surpassed anything else in his life.

The entrepreneur and his wife moved to Denver from Cleveland, Ohio, in 1954. Disenchanted with the

The creative George Wallace was one of Colorado’s more colorful developers.

corporate setting in Cleveland, he once told a reporter, “I never did feel comfortable enough there to buy a house.

I had to punch a time clock when I came to work in a 70-year-old building, where I sat behind a desk in a cubbyhole without a window. I had to go outside to learn if it was raining.”

One night he came home and told his wife he had to quit. He asked her to write down the place where she wanted to live for the rest of her life, and he would do the same. They both chose Denver. The couple built a small house in southeast Denver, where Wallace organized his own business, G.M. Wallace and Co., which sold power plant equipment, oil filters, and pumps all over the West. He moved his office downtown, but George still wasn’t satisfied. He yearned for a more natural kind of workplace, where a pleasant environment would stimulate employees to do their best work. He began looking at property in late 1959, and in 1961 he took out a bank loan to purchase 40 acres of dry farm land,

Dawn The

without water or services, at southeast corner of Belleview Avenue and I-25 in Arapahoe County. He originally intended to buy only four acres for his own building at the modest price of $200, but the smaller parcels had already been gobbled up by speculators.

The owner insisted that he purchase at least 40 acres for $2,000.

The following year, vandals keyed his pricey new car, parked in a lot near his downtown office. He determined to move “to some place that had plenty of parking.” Another plus, much appreciated by future workers and residents of the Denver south corridor, was the noticeable absence of smog, a major problem in Denver at the time.

Cleaner air has continued to be a draw for development over the years.

Wallace’s decision must certainly have been influenced by the inner city urban decay and a rising crime rate impacting Denver (and many other urban centers around the country) in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Improved highway transportation made life

easier for commuters, who fled to the suburbs to seek an environment more conducive to family life.

At that time, I-25 had only four lanes and there was very little development south of Hampden Avenue.

Wallace wanted to create an industrial park, the best working environment in the United States. He knew that a pleasant atmosphere would not be enough to draw major businesses to a near-desert several miles from the city.

An avid flier with one of the country’s first private pilots’ licenses (No. 135), he understood that his new business Mecca would require a general aviation airport. He subsequently spearheaded creation of the booming Arapahoe County Airport (later Centennial Airport).

Wallace had a fondness for flashy, expensive things – sparkling diamond rings and white monogrammed silk shirts, a Rolls Royce Camargue, and his bright yellow Cessna Skymaster.

But he also loved the outdoors and Colorado’s fabulous mountains, flying a twin-engine airplane every morning to survey his sparkling glass and steel empire, lovingly punctuated by manicured greenery. He lost financial control of the DTC in the mid-70s but stayed on as executive director of DTC until two years before his death.

A straight shooter, he never tried to hide behind subterfuge. He had a short fuse and a colorful vocabulary, once telling a reporter that he expected to be remembered “by all the nasty things I’ve said.” He showed undisguised contempt for people who didn’t appreciate his vision or, worse, stood in his way. He also could be narrow-minded.

Because of a racial slur he allegedly

made at a private luncheon, his flying pal, Governor Roy Romer, fired him from the Metropolitan Transit Board, setting light rail to the Corridor (nicknamed Wallyrail) back about twenty years.

Many of his associates remember meetings with Wallace after he became ill – red face, fists pounding on the table, steamrolling style, punctuated by drags of Marlboro cigarettes and hits from his oxygen tank. And, although he denied it in public, Wallace had difficulties with alcohol and took occasional “sabbaticals” for his health. He died in 1994 at age 77.

In many ways, Wallace was ahead of his time. A staunch believer in “the greenhouse effect” long before its acceptance, he had concerns about the environment, pollution, and the future of this planet, which he gave about 400 years. He even had an idea for a mass transit system in outer space once the U.S. colonized Mars.

Deemed an impractical dreamer by more down-to-earth colleagues, Wallace had a vision for the entire I-25 southeast corridor (Denver south), the first developer to see the “big picture.”

Although he may have been short on social skills, his imagination, determination, and drive jumpstarted one of the most productive business areas in the country, which now stretches from the junction of I-25 and I-225 to the Ridgegate development.

He made a lot of enemies, but they certainly respected him. And, he was never boring.

Excerpts from “Stage Trail to Light Rail, the Dynamic Denver South Corridor,” by Rosemary Fetter, due to be published in November.

With the “dawn” of theCorridor.biz section, The Villager is taking this opportunity to look back at the early development and history of the I-25 Corridor. The Villager has been covering the area for more than 30 years. Look for the next edition of theCorridor.biz in the next issue of The Villager.

To contribute photos or stories of the early years of The Corridor, please send to Becky at info@thecorridor.biz.

of

from the early files of The Villager With the “dawn” of thecorridor.biz section, The Villager is taking this opportunity to look back at the early development and history of the “I-25

issue ofuntil thecorridor.biz in thetime, Septemberthe 24, 2015city’s issue of The Villager.The 31 Years Ago Corridor”. Look for the next Up this Denver Technological have any photos or stories concerning the early years of “The Corridor”, please send them to Becky Osterwald at info@thecorridor.biz.

Aug.If you 30, 1984 policy was to annex only if an Center development company, Greenwood Village opens its area could bring in more tax located just north of Greendoors to growth revenue than it would cost the wood Village at 7887 E. BelWith a decision that could city to provide it city services. leview Ave., announced the nearly triple the size of seven- That meant usually only com- acquisition of the Meridian square-mile Greenwood Vil- mercial property was consid- Business Park last week. lage, city officials established ered.

“We are very proud to puran open-door policy for conNow, inquiries from Cherry chase this great piece of real sidering the annexation of sur- Creek Vista, Sundance and estate, which we are dedicated rounding residential areas.

Huntington Acres homeown- to developing in the same qualIn a study session held Satur- ers’ associations about joining ity manner as the Denver Tech day, the council drew a “green- the city, plus an opportunity Center,” said George M. Wallace, line” for possible city expan- to extend its control over area executive director and founder sion, but agreed that future traffic, have prompted the of the DTC. annexations need not be limit- council to review its position.

Wallace described the planed to the greenline’s 13-square ning already done for the propmile confines.

DTC gets 1200-acre tool ery by Hartford as “first class,” The greenline runs from City Twelve hundred acres of land and pointed our that since the Hall south along Quebec Street south of Centennial Airport has preliminary development infrato Arapahoe Road, east along been bought by the Denver structure — roads and water — Arapahoe to Parker Road, Technological Center from the were already in place, the DTC north to I-225 and west back to Hartford Insurance Group for a had an opportunity to start dethe city limits. rumored $100 million. velopment immediately.

Old Hickory Smoke House is finger-lickin’ good It was one of those days — one of those lazy days.

No one cared to cook; no one cared to dress for dining out. The inspired solution was carry-out.

There had to be something different from the usual take-out pizza, and we scoured the newspapers for an idea that would excite our taste buds. That

taste discovery became barbecued spare-ribs. The newly opened Old Hickory Smoke House is a small unpretentious diner with in-house or take-out service, owned and operated

by John and Vicki Gatteys.

Kumpf Lincoln Mercury — 1984 Marquis Brougham 4-dr, only $10,795.

Safeway — Rib Eye Steaks $5.59/ lb.; Fresh ground round - $1.99/lb.; Fresh rainbow trout - $1.79/lb.

Yarbro’s is back home Yarbro’s is back in business in the University Hills Mall following the fire which gutted its premises. The Pharmacy, which was temporarily located at Yale and Monaco during the mall’s rebuilding period, is home again, now with three pharmacists, Stan Hren, managing the pharmacy; Fred McClain; and Fran Hatch, who brought to Yarbro’s his customers on the closing of his own Super Drugs, which was located across from Writer’s Manor.

The store now stocks 31,000 Hallmark cards, as well as several lines of cosmetics including Revlon and Physician’s Formula; gift items including elegant dolls and school supplies. Clark Crandall is president and business manager, working alongside his parents Cy and Marvel Crandall who run A-1 Travel, Inc.

CHV — one safe city Cherry Hills Village has received notoriety lately for its mention in a book published in 1982 called “The 110 safest cities in the U.S.” While Cherry Hills police were modest about the declaration, they also agreed there is good reason for the village’s reputation, and it is not all due to the work of their department.

The city’s 21 commissioned officers are well trained and respond quickly with an average response time of three to five minutes.”

“Word gets around,” Chief Charles Wood said.

Furthermore, the Cherry Hills police maintain a reputation of being traditional, not only in their appearance, driving black and white cars and wearing navy blue uniforms, but also in their demeanor.

“We are not a welfare or social agency. Our men and women look like police officers and act like they are expected to act,” Wood said.

Wood believes the department’s K-9 unit adds a modicum of fear to prospective burglars, most of whom hit the village he dubs professionals.

“The average person is deathly afraid of a police dog that can find you a smell and outrun any human.”

August 27, 2015 • THE VILLAGER | PAGE 7 the

The high price of doing business A lot of the risks we’re looking for just don’t apply to small community banks.

Small bankers say regulations have stifled commercial loans hen it comes to bank lending, it is not always a question of good and bad risks, or even a matter of who you know. For those who may picture the neighborhood’s budding entrepreneur awaiting an even chance at the American dream in the office of the kindly local banker, think again.

“We may know the customer very well and feel like they’re worth the money, but it doesn’t matter what we feel,” said Don Childears, CEO of the Colorado Bankers Association.

What does matter is bigger than a cashbox and thicker than a wad of cash. To hear today’s bankers tell it, federal regulators have taken most of the judgment out of lending and replaced it with literally thousands of pages of unwavering and broadly applied regulations.

“Not even big banks that can throw hundreds of employees and lawyers at this can understand and be absolutely compliant,” Childears said. “The volume of legislation and regulation is stupefying.”

The financial industry and federal regulators have been at odds for decades and not without reason. Deregulation hastened the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s and ‘90s, sending nearly a third of the nation’s S&Ls into failure and costing taxpayers billions of dollars.

The 2007-08 financial crisis, considered by many economists to have been the worst since the Great Depression, culminated in taxpayers again paying a hefty price, this time to save large banks that were deemed “too big to fail,” with federal protections creating the moral hazard of higher-risk investments.

The ripple effect of the crisis and the accompanying Great Recession was profound with foreclosures and unemployment among the nation’s long-term consequences.

Caught in the crossfire of the push for “reregulation” were smaller and medium-sized banks that specialize in loans to small business. Although the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 was designed to curb abuse and unnecessary risk among larger financial institutions, it was arguably the smaller banks – and the small businesses that depend on them – that paid the biggest price.

Jay Davidson, CEO of First American Bank in Greenwood Village, says Congress and government regulators painted with too broad of a broad brush when they effectively threw smaller community banks into the same mix with Citigroup and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. “My balance sheet is as simple as it comes,” he said. “I take in deposits.

I invest in loans and bonds. I don’t do insurance. I don’t do derivatives.

I don’t play games. The big guys are extremely complex.”

Square peg, round hole

Whether it was intentional or not, small and medium-size bankers in the Denver Tech Center say the effect of the sweeping regulation has been fewer loans to those who need them most – small businesses.

The recurring example, they say, is the local entrepreneur who walks into his neighborhood bank to get a

- Chris Myklebust, Colorado banking commissioner loan. Although the banker may know an applicant personally and have confidence in his reputation, none of that matters when it comes to the law, which requires a third party to verify loan worthiness, even if the banker has no intention of ever selling the loan to another financial institution.

“We’ve basically got to have them hire an accountant to come in.

That not only takes a lot of time, but it causes a lot of frustration and it is fairly expensive for most small businesses,” Childears said. “There was loss in the secondary market, but it seldom came from bank loans. Most community banks keep the bulk of the loans they make.”

Additional reporting requirements have also meant added expense that is invariably passed on from the lender to the applicant. John Phillips, chief financial officer of First American State, says the situation has caused many banks to pull out of certain markets altogether.

“The risks of making a mistake are significantly greater. It doesn’t make the yield worth the risk,” he said. “I think that can be seen in the decline in the number of banks in the United States. In 1985, there were over 14,000 separately chartered banks in the United States. Today, that number is less than 6,000.”

In the wake of a major U.S. city declaring bankruptcy, Phillips says regulators have added to the problem by swooping in to prevent another Detroit, without recognizing that the Mile High City is no Motor City when it comes to economic centers like the Denver Tech Center.

“We don’t have a lot of manufacturing here and it’s harder to get financing on the commercial real estate that people work in,” Phillips said. “The very big office buildings get financed by the big national banks, but the smaller businessman who wants to invest in a smaller office building or shopping center, that’s the kind of commercial realestate lending that has really shrunk.

Treating every city and state with a one-size-fits-all regulation just doesn’t work.”

Fixing Dodd-Frank

The concerns of smaller bankers are starting to resonate with at least some powers that be, including Chris Myklebust, the newly appointed Colorado banking commissioner. Although most banking laws are passed at the federal level, Myklebust’s examiners work in concert with U.S. regulators, and the commissioner says he does what he can to administer the rules with common sense.

“Even though enforcement is my

The volume of legislation and regulation is stupefying.

- Don Childears, CEO of Colorado Bankers Association

job, I try to see if there are changes we can recommend to the federal government. A lot of the risks we’re looking for just don’t apply to small community banks,” he said. “I only have certain available staff, so I have to look at how can I make the biggest influence and do the least amount of harm. I want my examiners to be focused on safety and soundness.”

Congress, which passed DoddFrank in 2010 amid partisan dispute, is also listening. In April, Republican Sen. Cory Gardner held a field hearing on the subject in Denver. Rep.

A N O T H E R

Mike Coffman. R-Aurora, attended in support of supporting small business.

“As a former small business owner, I know how crucial it is to have access to credit in order to maintain and hopefully grow one’s business,” Coffman was quoted as saying.

“When credit is not available, there is no hope for hiring new employees or for buying new equipment. We must provide a solution in a simple and cost-effective way, which will have a real and positive impact on small businesses.”

Democrats, including Reps.

S U C C E S S F U L

Diana DeGette and Ed Perlmutter, who had been more skeptical of deregulation, have also expressed a willingness to consider a second look at some aspects of Dodd-Frank. State Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, who is challenging Coffman in 2016, says she has heard some concern from banks and other businesses in the 6th Congressional District.

“We still need to calibrate this,” she said. “We had gone from one extreme, where there was nobody keeping an eye on Wall Street, but I’ve heard from other people in the community that it’s harder to get access to capital. The right fix isn’t going back to a complete free for all.”

Whatever winds up happening, local bankers say change cannot come a moment too soon.

Phillips, who has worked in banking for four decades, says the time is well past due.

“The last seven or eight years have been as challenging as any period of time that I’ve seen,” he said.

P A R T N E R S H I P

Jay Davidson (middle), CEO, First American State Bank with Bob and Judi Newman, Philanthropists, at the Newman Center on the DU Campus

“First American State Bank approaches their customers the same way we approach our causes, with dedication and devotion.” ~ Bob and Judi Newman

www.fasbank.com • 303.694.6464 For scheduling, venues and ticket information, please visit: www.du.edu/newmancenter.

PAGE 8 | THE VILLAGER • August 27, 2015 the

U D C O R I N T G N I

Covering business

in the DTC & Denver south

the A supplement to The Villager Newspaper, covering the I-25 Corridor and Arapahoe County from the ONLY newspaper that has been in the community for 33 years.

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A complete list of The Villager’s 2015 awards: Best Business Feature Story: Peter Jones“Sam Hill’s Barbershop: The buzz of Englewood since 1909”(1st place)

AT 2014 CPA CONVENTION

Best Series: Tom Barry“Missing teen found in San Diego”(1st place) Best Feature Story: Peter Jones“Arapahoe’s historical touchstones”(1st place) Best Photo Essay: Tom McTighe, Glory Weisberg “Denver Debutante Ball”(1st place)

We make the ACT & SAT so ea sy even not. a ... OK, maybehelp your R • PAGE 9

THE VILLAGE December 26, 2013 • th marks its 10 year under Sam Hill’s Barber Shop s. The business began that name in the mid-1940 and Bath House.

Society as the OK Barber Shop

Photo courtesy of Englewood

• home fashion • philanthropy

om 303-229-2006 | beth@fullpassage.c wood Village, CO 80111 6021 S. Syracuse Way, Suite 109, Green

Historical Preservation

• health • lifestyle

since 1909 The buzz of Englewood

st exists in the 21 century. like I can usually do a company?

“There’s guys in here who one – who hour at least.

The off-color history is just man – and we do mean man This is where a in 15 to 20 minutes,” is a to grab a Playboy. the oldest man’s hair “I don’t reasons that Sam Hill’s happens to wander into 10 in said 49-year-old Lozano. a wom- of the Continued on page continuously operating business le cutting male sanctuary that barely of comfortab kind feel it for 25 the city of Englewood. . an’s hair. I haven’t done barbershop a in out “Hang years.”

I hear anything and everything Like Floyd’s iconic barbershop fourth and Show, Sam here,” said Lozano, the 104- on The Andy Griffith Hill’s Sam as in

By Peter Jones hall owner Oller latest Hill’s is as much a social When businessman Mike ent. Anyfor a trim, year history. who’s who of bar- a haircutting establishm gets his turn in the chair chaos that The shop’s customthe one who recalls the it doesn’t take long for the ber-chair experts has included in Mayberry when Floyd er and his barber to cut loose. the city’s mayors, area business lead- ensued pretty manicurist will get a of “What did you think media figures, rang- hired barber ers and local Floor- the idea.

Michael Fox’s the Broncos game last night?”

The from ing This boy’s club may raise television’s Blinky Rick Lozano asks. s, but had wax to Denver hair of political correctnes “You know, we haven’t charm, accordrejoins the Clown. was 99 that is part of its a defense all year,” Oller customers “I had a customer who away. ing to some longtime with a sigh. years old, who just passed since at a shop where little has changed Lozano pitiful,” “That was coming in here was in the hair He’d been since Franklin Roosevelt agrees, as he cuts back The tubs the ‘40s,” Lozano said. find the White House. [Note: around Oller’s ears.

The customers you won’t bathhouse g from Sam’s days as a are women.

The blame for the plummetin defense waxing nostalgic not cut a wom- were removed at least a decade becan be placed squarely on Sam Hill’s has Rio, says – not since for- fore that.] coordinator Jack Del old setting,” Oller Sam an’s hair in decades the in like “I wisdom al suffered the convention mer owner Dick Konecne like this are as rare as Konecne fastidious female said. “Places Hill’s Barber Shop. left, greets owner Dick this a particularly Colorado Gov. John Love, the nearest ra- hen’s teeth.”

For more than a century, in the mid-1960s. The Pasqua has been customer, grabbed Seventy-year-old Alan Sam Hill’s Barber Shop owners the word South Broadway hangout at Sam’s outside since 1909, though its sex, zor blade and scraped window. has been getting his cuts has been in operation a sort of town hall for sports, Hill’s Barber Shop owners – business “women” from the shop Photo courtesy of Sam in my – under three of its four be counted on one hand. business, politics and everything “If a woman sat down 1950s when $1.50 can late the an to since hour a half in between. first flatare any chair, count on could get a teenager his The unofficial “experts” top. to get “It’s still the best place Suyour haircut,” he said. “Those Clips per Cuts and Super Great know and those places – they don’t how to cut hair.”

Sam Hill’s Barber Shop taking its cut for a century

Business gels

knowlTo the best of anyone’s at edge, this unassuming business on turned 3456 S. Broadway first Barber its pole in 1909 as the OK As rumor Shop and Bath House.

BurJohn named has it, someone the filthy gess set up shop to clean d, residents of bar-filled Englewoo then-dry a trolley ride south of Denver. in Sam Hill bought the place the the mid-1930s and changed the on name, which is still painted s later. front glass, two ownership easy“He was a nice guy, really going,” Pasqua said of Hill. on the At one point, Hill served Englewood City Council. into “He was pretty heavily the city, what was happening in good so this was probably a pretty days,” meeting place back in those could Lozano said. “If these walls uld they say?”

Although, we can high school student . achieve their college goals

Hill’s Barber hair of Mike Oller at Sam Rick Lozano cuts the business in ldest continuously operating

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