Memorandum - News Articles. ~ ~
Boulder Urban Renewal Authority
1300 Canyon Boulevard
PO Box 791
Boulder, CO 80306
303•447-3276
303•441-4070
www.ci.boulder.co.uslbu ra
MEMORANDUNI
September 10, 2003
TO: BURA Board of Commissioners
FROM: Brad Power, Execuhve Director
SUBJECT: News Articies
Two recent articles from the Boulder Countv Busmess Renort are attached for your
mformation
• An article on the impact of the spendmg that takes place w~th the annual return of
the CU students m the fall, and
• An article outlmmg the current explorahon of issues related to the development of
a conference center in the downtown area.
y.,s~; ~4~J£ ~ '
-~w~ Valwnr, 22, Issue lt7 www BCSR com Aug 22 - Sept 4, 2009 '
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~a~l ~e~~.i~ ~~~.~s ~.s CIJ stude~ts arrive
BY CARON SCHWARTZ ELLIS
Slalf Wnter
60ULUER- a+L'mvers~ty ot Culoradu
students arnve m dcoves for tl~e talf scmes-
ter, rctaders grve thanks to them and their
parents for providmg wha[ many muchants
call one ot thcir birgtet retad se uons of the
ycar - sewnd only ro Chris[maa
A~wrding m a CO econum~~ unpac[ smdy
mmpd~d cadi~r this yc ir, die Boulder cam-
puis approeim«cly 27,000 sWdents, ~lung
with thea vtvwrs, sroke die local emnomy m
thc tunc ot almost $d00 mdl~on pcr ycar
Accordmg ro lucal mcahants, much ot
Ihat spendmg happcns durmg the hrst n~o
wc~ks of Ihe talt ~emeater, with the bieoeot
wad ot c.ish dropped the first ~v~e6end atter
durmsopen Th~stalldurmsopen~d \ug'_l
follmved by thc hrst dav ot classes ~1ug ?>
\(anah Gwmn, manager of Target on
?dth Strcet, sa~d Ihe ennre sturc i>
rearranged "We se[ up everythmg bas¢all,v
to do morc for the students mmmg 6a<6;'
she said "We remove some of the raiAs in
dothmg to makc room for pa(Icts of dcs6s
and plasnc storage bms, dorm rc&iger~tors,
hrtons and bookshclvcs"
The biggest weekend is Aug 2? and '_3,
~~han G~nnn sa~d thc smrc wd( stay apen untd
11 p m In ord~r ro ke.p up vnth demand, sh~
maeues the sales statf by abou[ l? to li a da~
Hm.e~er, she uould mt diswss re~enues
August ~s al good month for Concept~
said ~lanagcr G~~~nc Pellmenn "Ihc locall
o« nzd fumituFe s[ore lo<areA on 30th Strce
has bmught m desks and less cepcnsi~
upholstered tutmmre ror darm rooms, Pill
mann >a~d
%See Sludenls, page 37,
STi1~ENTS trom page tn
Pellmann said she's seen a lot of parents
m thc store along w~th students Not every
~ isrt results m a salq but [hat doesn't worzy
her "We get a lot of Iraffic through that if
mavbe they don't buy now they wdt buy
later;'she sa~d "They Anow we're here and
an ~ffordable storc m IIouldcr"
Concep[s owner Steve Hansen, who
works out of the srore'> Longmont head-
quarrees, said the back-ro-school season ~s as
b~g m Chnstmas Accordmg to Hansen, m
August thz Boulder store gets about a 30
percent mcrease m revenue over a q~pical
month He also said m~d-Oc[aber Pamnts
Weekznd is alao good for sales, becauie Idce
Pzllmann said, parents remember Con~epts
from thc¢ prev~ous visa
Storing stu3f
Organved Living caters to paren[s
helpmg their k~ds "settle mto dorms tor
the tirs[ nme;'sn~d Kevm 6all, vue prea-
~dent of marketmg for the Lcne<a, Kan -
baxd amragc spcualn shop `bur;oal ~e
to help the pnrent feel good nbout send-
m~ their 6id away Thue's a lot ot emo-
non [o th ~t first time, and a tot of tinnn-
~ial ime~tm~nt ~a ~~cll"
Th~ ~It un ha~ about 30 b~ ihoro, in~l~ id-
m~ unt rt Uroomhel8s ClaHron Cronnng
6a11 wuuld not d~adosc recenuc+
O~gm¢cd Livmg's 6ev ro su~~om m a
mar6ct >.~[urnted wrth store5 that ~arn
>roreg~ solunons, Ball sa~d, is "wc'n n
m~he player m that a lot ot people don't
~arr}' ill thz stuff we do tor a ~oll~ga a[u-
d~nt The mo~m wemn't budt tn a~conr
mod,ite the thmgs studen[s bnm~ with
dicm -~omputcr cywpmcnt and Db U
~qwpnunt th it neado ta b~ wocl.~d mm
thux rooma"
9n~~ \Icow ~I~ow on Unrvcroin I Idl ~s
pnmanly a g~ft shop, o~mer Su~anne Fras-
er called sales dunng the return of sW dencs
equal to b[other's Dav and graduatmn,
fallmg sLghdy behmd Chnstmas
In p[cparanon sltz~ ha~mg her annual
poster sale She'e also sto<l.ed up on house-
hold rtems Ll.e sho«er curtams and ham-
pers, and has a larger bool. ba, sele<hon
Fraser's pnmary goal ~s to "mtroduce
nzw luda to Ihe store," she sa~d "I get Ihem
mto the hab~t m wmmg to the Hill ro shop"
Back-ro-school mmputcr sales at thc
CompUSA on 30th Street ha~e been a~er-
agmg about 52,000, smd Genernl \Ianager
Dan Barbzr That's about an 18 to ZO percen[
bump over an averagA month, Barber sa~d
Chnstmas ~s b~e~er, he said, but students
who mis>zd gethng a compurer m the apung
for the hat aemtster ~6o can c~plam that
b(wt shoppers are parents, Barber said
"IPs mom and dad gettmg them set up w~[h
a bed and chnirs, and al•.m s on thz Lst is a
~omputer"
Computcrs are Fl~~n¢ off thz shtlves at
Computer Renuasarce, a used mmputer
tcinchise located on ~capahoe ,A~anue,
accordmgtooanzr)onLe~tz Ceitzseesthe
~amz pattern aa 6uoer -.,,udencs Inol. for
~omputeo ~t die 6~,~mm~q o[ ~nh ~~mc~-
tor bt~~me "smdtno ~.ho ~~ant throu~h
ona eemester a~d ue ,¢l ot xome to [6c
~omputer lab;' h~ ~a~d
CompuMr Renai>tan~e bmlds its imcn-
mry by ?0 per~ent m 3U p.rcan[ dunng
Uiose pcnods, Ceitz said '~~~ don t ha~c
the aame kmd of p.al.~ hl.e wu hwr remd-
ers who do 90 p~r..ent ot rc[ad in \o~enr
b~c and Dec~m6er O~~r th~ ~oune ot th~
ye ic July is 3 p~r~cnr ~.~d {ugm[ n 10 p~i-
cent ot our buvno, .,o i.S 1~6~ i'_i to 30
p~rccn[ mcrc,nc '
Uni~ers~ry L~i~~ ~:eo is rcidv ror the
onslaught as well, said Mi<hael Hoastzr,
ass~stant sales manager °1Ve've been
prepanng by maeasmg our ~mentory of
b~kes chat smdents buv-3300 mounta~n
bikes;' he sa~d The Pead Street 6~6e shop
also is scllmg"campus pa<I.s"of hghts and
locks, he sa~d
The last hvo weel.znds before school
starts are the biggest of the yeuq Hoaster
said Although he sa~d it was hard to quan-
tdy,"( guessnma[e we pro6ably do bnce as
much bu>mess on those wcekend as ~~e do
on a normal summer weekend"
Spring fever
The other busy t~me ~s m the spnng
"~vhen [he snow mcits;' Hoaster said "Peo-
ple get sprmg fever, then ~ee're bmy duough-
out the summer"
Eldora hfountain Sb~ Resor[ ~s trvmg
somethm~ddferentthis~earto~ttraathe i
smdent mar6et, smd Dire~ror of ~(ar~.enng
Rob Lmde The resort openzd a 1,300-
squarc-toot srorc on Canwn Boule~ ard to
sell Eldora se ~~on passes, h& ncbets, sl.i
and snowboard pro~ram~, dothmg and
aazs~onca
The umm, of opzmng the s;ore could-
n t bt bcacr, Lmd~ ~a~d "Stud~nts art com-
mg bac6 m ~olleg~ Th~e r~ e~at~a ibou[
be~ng ~t CL md sA~mg u pact ottht mll~~a
e~ptnence They wme ba~l. ~nth e~nte-
ment end money m thzv pocl.cts, ready m I
tal.c ~d~ antage of Ihe 6oulder hteaty le, and I
,I.ung ~s part ot that"
Location a impnrnnt roo, L~nde ~a~d 'iCo
~crv near i impm, n~ct m the Golden 8ut7 So
thcri e[he possibiltty of having brtal.tast,
buvmg i nc6ct and gomg up to Eldom '
Cmrtn~t Carari Schi~nrt~ Elfis ut (30~)
4d0-d9ip ~r c-rnnd ~szllioC+~btbr ~arn
but no olte sure how at would be fi~naea
BV NANCY NACHMAN-HUNT
Business Repart Currespandenl
60UI,DER-Once agam,lhc qucsnon
that has bcen pondercd and argued m th~s
aty for years has bubbled ro[he surEace
Should -oulder budd a conference/even[s
cenceP Md ~f it should, where should rt be,
how wdl rt be funded and wJl rt solve the
pty's declmu~g sales tax woes~
The answers at present scem to be per-
M1aps now is fin~llythe 4mc, probably do~m-
town, stdl ro be determmed and partly
Gty Manager Frank 6runo sayrs the ~dca
of some sort of av~o-usc faaLty malcu somc
sense ro h~m Md M1avuig i[ downtown, most
hkely on the c~ty-owned srte ad~acent ro thz
200-room St Jul~en Hotel peo~ect at Nmth
Strcet and Canyon Boulevard, makes even
more sense "IPs near whzrc the hotels and
restaurants are;' he says "Even [he presence
of Ihe RTD stahon downrown makes (a
downtown lo~a~~on) make sense"
IIut, he argues, such a cenrer should not
be v~ewed as the smgle salvauo~ for Boul-
dei s Oaggmg economy
"We need ro be lool.mg at all the p~eces
of the e<onom~c puzzle rether than one
mmponent ~s salvahon for the economy,"he
Says
Not surpnsmgly, buvness leaders are a
brt leu guarded m the~r support of the pro-
7ect-and for a do~mto~m locahon
'9 Ihmk ~nvould be gre~t for downro~m,"
says Sam Sussman, o~mer of E~ght Da}s a
~Veek, an unagmg and wpy cencer on the
WestEnd Sussmanalsosrtsondowntowds
BusmesslmprovemcntDutnct HcbeLeves
no~v, m the depths of another ecanomtc
do~m[urn m the aty, may be the hma when
the mnfzrence center ~dea w~ll finaRy st~rt
growmg legs
"I thmk t[ already has legs," he says "I
Ihmk the nty real¢es Iha[ rt needs to do
some[hmg proactrve for buvness It's been
restlng on ~ts laurels for years"
$4 million in revenue
He ntes sobenng s[ahstics that hc
believes wdl sp~rk acnon on Ihe pro~ett
"We've b~en lo.+mg market share Coc the
past seven ve~rs to Lowsvdle, Broamucld
Lafavettc and Supenor Untd recendv that
loss of market sh~re didn t mean anythmg
bewuse ~aleo ta< revenues were tiull mcrca.,-
mg Uut a(ter thc h~gh-tech debade, thz
whole thing biwme evident," he sa~ s
[ndeed, Uouldcr salcs caz rt~enut has
decreased 20 per~entsmre 2000, ~oulder
Cham6cr of Commerce President Stnn
Zemlcr s~ys A mnfcren~c centcr wnuldn't
ensz that defi~it Cle~rlv th~ oa need> tu
attrau n~w bu~mce, and re~nc tha acrug-
gling Crowroads \Ldl 6ut a ~onl~ttnic cen
ror wo~dd hclp
7.~nd~ ^~a~. rt~.~eild Snne m«h rt hc
wr~ rrcEAs
Mary Mn Mahaney, exe~ynive direcror of 1he
Baulder Conventlon end Visrtars Buaau, uld
hnding W operate e con(erence center could
come fram multlple aources. •Taxes tha[
Include Iodging, rv.taurznt taxes and admis-
sians taxas on evants~" could be used
Mahoneysays. She also says maney hom con-
trecb wM1h ma~ar users Iike Ihe Unrversiry o(
Coloretlo could be atlded to Ihe hnding poL
Sport & Le~sure, a conference centzr of
abou[ 43,000 square fce[ - thc appmn-
mate square footage avadable ac the down-
town sire - would generare benveen S3 i
mdhon and 54 milhon worth of re~enue
mro downtown annually In addmon, the
semndary and tertlary ~mpaas an the total
Boulder emnomy would be felt by Qonsts
and sound system pro~~decs and caterers
and the hst goes on, Zemler sa~s
The ~mpetus for th~s latest attempt ro
build a conference/eventsla~ ~cuse faal
~ty for 6oulder comts fram the Boulder
Comentwn and V~s~rors Bureau In 2000
the burcau, the chamber, the nty, the
Boulder Urban Renzwal Authontv und
Un~versity of Colorado-Bouldzr helped
pay for a pro~cct analvsis bv Com ennons,
Sports Rc Leisure Intcrnauonal [o deter-
mme whether a conf~rence center would
makesense for poulder
"E~erybody was exqt~J"says Mary Ann
Mnhonry, the bureau's eeecueve director
6ut CS:IL'a ~mllal analys~s wasn'[ all Ih ~[
en~our~gmg "What wu the success poten-
t~nl~ It waa about a C, about average,"
~lahonev s.n,
At Iht nm~ a C gradi d~dn'[ sccm ro war-
rant immzdwte acnon 6ut ~her se~cra!
orgamzanons, mdudmg CollaGe Children'~
\(uscnm, dropp~d thev mtcre,c m thz ci[v
CONFERENCE trom page zs
~ect anatys~s wasn't ute speafic), the bureau
andthechamberbegantotakeanotherlook
at the conference/events center ~dea
"4Ue said OK, ~f this is the square footage,
could we look at other uses, lilce cultural
arts programmmg and nonprofit events,
what would that look lilce~ That got a lot of
diffcrent orgamzahons exated," she says
Among them tl~e Vrllage Arts CoaLi~on,
an assoaatton of dance troupes, and CU
Interestmgly, the conCerence and events
fanhhes at CU have histor~cally been part
of thc argument against buddmg a uvic
faahty m Bouldcr Mahoncy counters that
argument. CU's miss~on ~s to educatc, not
to hold conferences, she says "Its facdihes
are not ava~lable year round and are not
available m muluple-day opportumues m
the summer."
Sussman adds that CU's Coors Events
Ccnter doesn't liave azr condmonmg - a
deal breaker m the summer months
Now, with CU's mterest, d~e mterest of
local arts groups and the prospect of a
downtown sue, the pro~ect grade has, m
Mahoney s eshmaUOn,~umped from C to B-
~~ I don't think we're
there yet Its more
tmportant to focus on
the need and then take
a systemnttc step-by-step
approach toget
ttdone~~
Frank Bruno
CITY MANAGER,
BOULDEH
plus or A-mmus
How the center would be funded is a
ma~or hurdle, and one that otl~er confer-
cnce/events center proposals never deared
successfully Two performing arts center
proposals m the 1980s succumbed because
voters dtdn't ]ike the fundmg mechamsms
Md an ill-fated attempt m the 1990s to
turn the Boulder Theater mto a conference
center also lost a lot of traction due to
fundmg questions
The conference/events center envi-
sioned today would Lkcly nced an operat-
mg subsidy of Uetween $200,000 and
$300,000 a year, accordmg to the CS3cL
study. Fundtng ophons aurendy bctng
cons~dered mclude a formula Uased on
mult~ple taxes
"Taces d~at includc lodgmg, restaurant
taxes and adm~ssions taxes on events,"
Mahoney says She also says money from
contracts with ma~or users lilcc CU could bc
added to die fundmg pot
Sussman says another way to suUs~d~zc
the center would be to have do~mtown fund
some of it through its Busu~ess Improve-
ment Distnct. That would reqmrc a speaal
eledion to extend the distnct's tax~ng
authonty for another four years, he says
Ciry Manager 6runo is cauttous about
discussing fundmg for the center
"I don't [htt:k wc'rc t;ierc yct," hc says
"It's more important to focus on the nccd
and d~en take a systemauc step-Uy-stcp
ayyroach to gct it donc ° Gncn that caveai,
he tays there is alsu a Icasc-purchase option
thai might be cons~dered as a fund~ng
mc~hanuui, tf thc ccn[cr idca shoull wmc
to frmuon
Zemlcr agrca witS B~uno tlia[ tall. ot
fundmg mav be putUng the cart before thc
horse "I sUll sec u. m fcasibiLty mode R'e
still necd to put the pmces together;' he ;ar s
Hotcliers are guarded ui their support of
the pro~e~t largcly bccause of die wxcr-
tamty about how it would be funded
Bmce Porccll~, ~~hu fur years has hca.led
the St. JuLen Partncrs' cf(ort to Uudd thc
ho[el at Nmth and Canyon, which is cur
rcndy wider construct~on on diat comcr,
has mscrvaUUns
"The center lias to bc m Ime w~th thc
capaaty and mfrastmcture that's already
here A conference center ~sdt an econom-
ic cure-all," he says "It has to be donc m a
way that makes sense ancl on a scale thaPs
nght for Bouldcr"