A 62-unit housing development is coming to Three Springs, with construction scheduled to start in spring 2024.
Elk Grove will offer homes in the $590,000 range. Each home will be about 1,300 square feet and will attempt to supply the area with affordable housing, said Jack Sheehan of Wesley Properties in Sedona, Arizona.
“We’re going through the subdivision process with the city,” he said.
Wesley Properties is no stranger to the Westfork and Three Springs areas. The group also headed the process of building the Maverik gas station and is trying to further develop Three Springs.
In addition, the city of Durango Planning Commission approved the preliminary development plan for a new McDonald’s adjacent to the Maverik. The fast food restaurant location is also being developed by Wesley Properties. According to a Wesley Properties development map, construction on the McDonald’s is supposed to break ground this fall.
“I’ve been in the area for 20 years, and I’ve been in construction the whole time,” said Project Manager Wes Hill. “People really need housing, and we’re just trying to offer a product that’s less expensive than everything else.”
The $590,000 units do come in below the median home price for in-town Durango homes ($760,000) and the median price for La Plata County homes ($640,000), according to Durango Area Association of Realtors statistics.
The units will be single-family, three-bedroom homes, Sheehan said.
This is part of a much larger project to expand the area by bringing in a Starbucks and a UHaul storage facility just east of the last roundabout on Wilson Gulch Drive. A Hilton Home2 Suites is also under contract to be built right next to the Starbucks.
One of the reasons why Three Springs was sought after for land development was because of Colorado Department of Transportation’s U.S. Highway 550 realignment project, which will allow easier access from U.S. Highway 160 once it’s finished.
Other developments penciled in to start construction include a Toyota dealership across the street from Morehart Murphy Subaru in 2024. Hill said he’s been working hard for the last 20 years to try to bring bigger name stores to Durango.
“I try really hard to get things that Durango needs, such as a Target, I mean, or like a grocery store out here. It’s a challenge,” he said.
He says part of the challenge is that bigger chains tend to focus in particular areas of the state such as the Front Range. Distribution is part of the problem because if a chain only has one store in a remote location, it’s expensive to transport products for a single isolated location.
Hill said if the city can expand Three Springs, it will alleviate traffic in Durango by offering shopping and housing options off Wilson Gulch Drive.
It also appears the planned growth of the area has caught the attention Durango School District 9-R as well. During the school district’s joint meeting with the city on Aug. 23, there were discussions of the possibility of building a new elementary school, according to the city of Durango’s X (formerly Twitter) account.
Also on the Wesley Properties development map is a 40-acre area marked for a school site planning for Durango School District 9-R east of Three Springs Boulevard.
tbrown@durangoherald.com
