The commercial corridor along U.S. Highway 160 east near Three Springs may see more traffic as businesses relocate from other areas.
A new warehouse and Target Rental, a heavy equipment rental store, are moving to the area. Tile & Light Art of Durango and Southwest Appliance recently opened new buildings in Grandview, and an expansion at Alpine Lumber is underway.
The area offers flat land with highway visibility and commercial designations for the city and the county, which makes it attractive, business owners said.
There is a shortage of county land set aside for commercial development and that preclassification can cut up to six months off of a businesses building application, Planner Daniel Murry said.
The area also provides city water and central sewer, which can be attractive to businesses, he said.
Tile & Light Art owner Paul Beasley started looking about five years ago for a new site for his business, which offers countertops, tile and lighting. He was looking for about an acre, with room for a showroom and a warehouse, and good highway access.
He searched in Bodo Industrial Park, along U.S. Highway 160 west and near the Durango-La Plata County Airport.
“We just kept coming back to Three Springs because it seemed to make the most sense,” he said.
The business moved from north Main Avenue to Design Center Road in May and it’s seen far more customers from Pagosa Springs and Bayfield since the move, Beasley said.
“We had a record year in 2016, and 2017 is going to surpass that,” he said.
Target Rental owner Jim Duke’s search for land mirrored Beasley’s experience.
“I spent six months looking for land because we are literally running out of area for our business,” he said.
The business has been the same Bodo building since 1995 and focused mainly on smaller equipment that homeowners might need until 2011, when the company bought the local Bobcat dealership. The purchase allowed the business to expand into heavy equipment, such as excavators.
“We took basically two businesses and fit them into one building,” he said.
In addition to more space, the company is hoping access will be better for customers at their new site just east of the Bridge to Nowhere. “We’re calling it the Bridge to Target Rental,” Duke joked.
Access for big trucks is tough in Bodo and at the busy Sawyer Drive and U.S. 160/550 Highway intersection near his shop.
He expects Target Rental’s new 8,632-square-foot building to open in the spring of 2018. To meet the need for warehouse space, investor Pete Turner plans to start work soon on a new 11,200-square-foot building on Owen Road, off of Davidson Creek Road.
He expects to rent the building, which he designed to be flexible. It could be split into five units, but tenants could rent multiple units. Each unit can have 500 feet of office space, he said.
The 9-acre subdivision Turner plans to build in Rancho Vedado was approved in 2005 and it’s been slow to fill up, Assistant Community Development Director Nicol Killian said. But it may see more interest as Three Springs develops.
“There is a lot more synergy out there,” she said.
Alpine Lumber bought its site near Valle Escondido Drive from another lumber company, AC Houston Lumber Company nine years ago, and for several years, the company has been improving the facility, General Manager Eric Marr said.
The most recent project is a 2,600-square-foot addition to the business’ existing building that is likely to be complete by November, he said.
It would be tough for the business to move, even if that was part of the business’ plan because it needs quite a bit of space. It sits on seven and half acres, he said.
Marr described the site as the business’ “forever home” after years of investment. “There’s really no sense in us getting closer to town because town is coming closer to us,” Marr said.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
This story has been updated to correct Nicol Killian’s title.
