Growing west: Greeley stretches toward Loveland, dusts off downtown as residential lags.

• Author: Lewis, David
• Position: WHO OWNS

"Go West young man, and grow up with the country," newspaper editor and Greeley, Colo., namesake Horace Greeley is alleged to have said. That's exactly what Greeley has been doing - moving west.

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The city's residences and retail both have edged west for decades, moving closer to the orbits of Loveland and Fort Collins.

And, while the city center turned toward the Rockies, its residential real estate scene in recent years took a decided turn south.

"For a time a year or so ago, Weld County had the dubious distinction of having the highest foreclosure rate in the nation," notes real estate broker Matt Revitte.

Yet while foreclosures soared and residential construction withered, downtown Greeley has been undergoing a quiet renaissance. Investors and entrepreneurs have been busy adding retail, restaurants, theater (see: Union Colony Dinner Theatre) and movies to downtown draws that include the Ice Haus, a municipal skating rink, and the City of Greeley Museums, a complex of museums due to include the nifty Greeley Freight Station Museum (see www.gfsm.org). Also significant is the transformation of the somewhat neglected downtown Regency Hotel into the renovated Clarion Hotel & Conference Center.

Scarcely anyone in Greeley can remember the last time downtown generated the kind of interest and excitement bubbling there today, notwithstanding remaining retail vacancies.

"Fifteen years ago the (Ninth Street) plaza was a ghost town," Revitte says. "But downtown continues to evolve and create itself. In the last couple of years there have been some serious investors in downtown; interest by entrepreneurs is infinitely greater than it was two years ago. Maybe the stars are aligning and it's going to pop."

Revitte has bought three central Greeley buildings in the past 14 years, including the 2007 "pretty expensive impulse purchase" for $250,000 of the Orr Building at 826 Ninth St.

Brian Florio co-owns Florio's Shoes of Distinction with brother Mark Florio. Florio's Shoes has been a downtown landmark for four generations, since 1922, and it moved to its 820 Ninth St. location in 1955.

"We've seen two-way streets, no-way streets, one-way streets," Brian Florio says. "Downtown was closed off almost 20 years ago to the day, and traffic was nonexistent for 20 years. It reopened in 2003, and this right now couldn't get any better. This is one of the best years we've ever had, but I don't know why."

Nor are Florio and his customers the...