Gunnison Rising slowly shifts to phase two

Activity at Gunnison Rising grinded to a halt over the winter, but the arrival of warmer weather has allowed construction crews to continue building the framework for what will become the community’s largest new development.

The 630-acre Gunnison Rising subdivision is a new development located just east of town that stretches along both sides of Hwy. 50. The project will be built out in multiple phases, two of which are already underway. Construction at the “government campus,” the project’s first phase on the south side of the highway, began in 2021, along with the installation of the subdivision’s main utility lines. This year, project leaders expect significant progress to the north on phase two — a neighborhood that will contain Gunnison Rising's first homes. 

The government campus houses a 38,000 square foot FedEx distribution center, as well as the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) new field office. Although both buildings are occupied, the rest of the property is still undeveloped. The primary roadways serving phase one are Ute Lane, East New York and eventually Hartman Boulevard, a road that is slightly east of the entrance to I Bar Ranch. This new intersection could eventually include Gunnison’s first traffic roundabout, but the plans are still awaiting approval from the Colorado Department of Transportation. If approved, construction is not scheduled to begin until next year.

The city has needed to overcome major grid capacity issues to make Gunnison Rising possible. This included the expansion of its electric and sewer infrastructure, as well as water line extensions into the subdivision. According to project manager Jeff Prosapio, the team is gearing up for a “big push” to complete the off-site electric feeds that come down from the city’s substation in town.

The route — which will act as the primarily electrical service for the entire Gunnison Rising development — moves through a mixture of private, state and Western Colorado University lands. The original alignment of the electrical conduit must be moved because it passes through sensitive archaeological sites near the southern end of the route. The team has met Western Anthropology Professor Mark Stiger in the field to mark off the areas he is most concerned have potential historic value, Prosapio said. The agreement is currently in its final stages.

While the city had enough power capacity to run the new BLM field office, the lengthy process of hooking Gunnison Rising up to electricity has forced the FedEx center to temporarily run on a generator. City Engineer Cody Tusing said it was known prior to the distribution center’s completion that there was not enough electricity in the existing system to feed the development. FedEx signed an agreement with the developer that said it would operate at its own risk until permanent power was supplied, he said.

“That was their decision outside of our purview,” Tusing said. “We always had enough electricity for the BLM, but that tapped us out.”

Some of the electrical service feeds were also misplaced due to a “slight miscoordination” between the civil and electrical engineer, Prosapio said. The crew’s electrician will have to come out, dismantle some of the electrical boxes, pull up the cable there and reconnect them in the correct location, a fix that will happen early this season. Phase one is not expected to be fully energized until November.

Over the summer, crews will continue installing the utility lines as well as a system of roads and sidewalks at phase two on the north side of Hwy. 50. While some of the streets will be extended, such as College and Georgia, others will have entirely new names such as Lewis, Waunita and Wilson. Prosapio said this work will likely carry over into 2024.

Phase two, a 52-acre parcel, is set aside for Gunnison Rising’s first, and much anticipated, residential neighborhoods. The final maps and engineering plans are presently under review to make sure they match the city’s code and construction standards. Once the plans are approved by city staff, lots can be sold. Gunnison senior planner Andie Ruggera said she expects approval within a couple of months.

The city has received a $1.8 million grant to complete Gunnison Rising’s first affordable housing development on the open parcel behind Western. The project will be developed by Archway Partners and contain 64 for-sale units reserved for locals making between 120-140% of Gunnison County’s area median income.

Prosapio described phase two as an extension of “what is going to look a lot like the rest of downtown” with residential neighborhood blocks, trail connections and the appropriate commercial amenities. Vertical construction is planned for early 2024.

According to local Bluebird Real Estate broker Brian Cooper, Gunnison Rising has generated a high level of regional interest from institutional investors and multi-family developers. Cooper has been officially named as Gunnison Rising’s sales and marketing director. The Bluebird team will represent all of the sales within the development and work closely with the public relations firm Verde Brand Communications.

Phase one is the only portion of Gunnison Rising that is publicly listed for sale, offering larger industrial lots — each approximately 3 acres and priced around $1 million. Four lots are still available for purchase following the BLM and FedEx, which brought two parcels for the distribution center. 

Individual lots in phase two are not quite on the market yet, with a significant amount of infrastructure still required to get them there. But Cooper noted there’s still a lot of pent up demand for a variety of housing options in the valley — with the need for more land and more development stronger now than it was in years prior.

“We’re out of land in a sense, and that’s why building has slowed down in Gunnison,” Cooper said. “This is an opportunity to correct that.”

(Bella Biondini can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or bella@gunnisontimes.com.)