By Jen Schumann | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice
City officials are negotiating to relocate Grand Junction’s Resource Center to North Avenue, but residents and business owners have thus far been left uninformed.
Despite past assurances a new location should limit its impact on businesses, Rocky Mountain Voice has confirmed that city officials are in the process of acquiring 2851 and 2851 ½ North Avenue, a strip mall surrounded by businesses and residences.
Councilmen Dennis Simpson and Scott Beilfuss confirmed the deal is underway, but said the Council has not yet considered it in a formal session.
“We’re in the process of negotiating to buy 2851 and 2851 ½ [on North Avenue]. I guess there are two different properties probably [to combine],” Simpson said.
Beilfuss confirmed an offer by the city for the North Avenue property has been made.
“I know there’s a property on North [Avenue] that we’ve made an offer on. I believe they’ve accepted, but they’re still doing due diligence on these properties – so that takes months,” Beilfuss said.
Beilfuss noted that the relocation must move quickly, as the city has committed to closing the current resource center.
“The ordinance was that we close the present location April 15 – so it’s coming fast. It’s pretty hard to get anything commercial done around here in a couple of months,” he said.
Simpson brought up concerns about how the city will finance the purchase.
“I don’t know where they’re going to get the money to pay for that,” Simpson said.
Beilfuss shared that money has been set aside in this year’s budget for housing.
“We have the $2 million set aside for housing that we could use for purchase, but then there’ll be remodel money and all that stuff, so that would come out of reserve funds possibly, you know, unless they have some other area. But we have some extra money in reserves for things like this,” Beilfuss said.
He also noted that grant funding may be available, though he was unaware of any current applications.
Simpson confirmed that while the City Council has been informed, there has been no public discussion or vote on the matter.
Simpson confirmed that city staff have been leading the search for a new location.
“They’re encouraging the Council to consider it, but it hasn’t been formally proposed in such a way that the public would hear about it,” he said. “Council has received an email — not necessarily pushing it, but letting us know that staff is negotiating on that property.”
An employee of a business currently located in the strip mall confirmed that their employer is already planning to relocate because of the expected purchase of the building for the resource center.
Rocky Mountain Voice has reached out to multiple business owners in the North Avenue area to gauge their awareness and reaction, but has not yet received responses.
Councilman Randall Reitz previously stated in a City Council meeting that progress was being made in identifying a new site for the Resource Center, but he did not specify its location. This omission raises further questions, as previous city discussions emphasized site selection should significantly reduce impact to businesses.
The concern over business impact was echoed in past discussions about the challenges at the current resource center, where downtown business owners voiced frustration over crime, loitering and economic impact tied to the facility.
Yet the North Avenue site is surrounded by both businesses and residences.
This raises an important question: Has the city quietly changed its approach to relocation without informing the public?
The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb 19, but this topic is not on the agenda as of publication.
Beilfuss also pointed to the larger challenge of addressing homelessness in Grand Junction, stating that while relocating the resource center is a step, housing remains the biggest need.
“A lot of the people going into homelessness right now are elderly who just can’t afford rent anymore. You go by homeless camps, and half of them have walkers and wheelchairs. There’s a lot of people with disabilities who need help,” Beilfuss said.