By Brandon Leuallen | The Business Times
Why was GJ Auto Sales selected as the site for the Colorado Department of Transportation’s Downtown Grand Junction Mobility Hub when other nearby options existed, including city and county-owned land?
Neither CDOT nor the City of Grand Junction has answered that question, despite multiple requests by The Business Times.
However, city records, planning documents, and emails reveal a longer story, one involving years of redevelopment planning, conceptual drawings, and a vision for linking downtown to Dos Rios via a pedestrian bridge and the 2nd Street Promenade.
City Maps and Early Planning
City maps appearing to date from before 2021 show the GJ Auto Sales property — the future site of the mobility hub — being converted into parking rather than a mobility hub.
Conceptual drawings from a Request for Proposal (RFP-5303-23-DD) from 2023 depict the GJ Auto Sales lot as a parking lot next to the proposed 2nd Street Promenade, a pedestrian-friendly corridor envisioned to connect Main Street to the train station and ultimately the Dos Rios riverfront 58 acre mixed-use development.
The early rendering of the property as a parking lot still included the Mesa Pawn and Loan building, which was demolished in August 2020 — nearly a year before GJ Auto Sales owners Mike and Amber Martinez learned, through a July 2021 Daily Sentinel article, that their property had been listed in a federal grant application for the mobility hub without any notice or input from them.
In 2021, the City of Grand Junction also updated its zoning code to prohibit new car dealerships in the downtown core, a change that effectively barred future businesses like GJ Auto Sales, starting in 2024, from making major improvements or opening in the same area.
Pedestrian Bridge and Redevelopment Vision
The 2nd Street Promenade was only one part of the city’s larger Vibrant Together redevelopment vision. Another key component was the pedestrian bridge planned to connect pedestrians and bikers downtown to Dos Rios — bridging the Union Pacific railyard and Riverside Parkway. First estimated at $3.5 million in 2019, the bridge has grown in cost to $8.45 million in the most recent grant application and was promoted in city documents as a way to “complete” the connection from Main Street to the riverfront.
In a 2019 Daily Sentinel article titled “Missing Link,” City Public Works Director Trent Prall also told the Sentinel, “With the development of Dos Rios, the development of Second Street and the depot area, this bridge hopefully will provide a safe pathway for bikes and pedestrians between downtown and the riverfront.”
Jen Taylor, who was cited in the article as planning to open the Baja-themed El Jet’s Cantina + Sky Outpost at Dos Rios, added, “It’s more about getting people to the river. That for me is the most important opportunity that we can acknowledge.”
Taylor added, “Fewer people in cars and encouraging bike and pedestrian (access), it clicks a lot of boxes right now. I think it speaks to the city being progressive and also intuitive with its community.”
Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Brandon Stam, expressing concern that CDOT’s future work would not be as pedestrian friendly for those crossing Ute and Pitkin, said, “I understand they’re trying to project for future growth, but I think it would be really short-sighted not to think of this area how we envision it, and how there’s actual, real money going in there.”
As the city began plans for redesigning Second Street and marketing surrounding properties to developers, the pedestrian bridge became a central feature of its pitch for downtown reinvestment.
Other Locations Considered by the Work Group
When the Martinezes found out about the project and formal discussions began, the couple was told CDOT was considering other potential sites for the mobility hub.
In 2022 the work group presented their findings and listed six options ranging from A being their preferred location to F being their least preferred location.
The Mesa County-owned property on First and Main was preferred by CDOT’s working group in March of 2022 as site A.The property is located adjacent to the existing pedestrian bridge that already connects Main Street to the Riverside community and Dos Rios.
The reasons the property was listed as site A were stated on the diagram.
- 4.2 acres
- Flexible size
- Connection to pedestrian bridge
- Limited economic development
The Martinez property was listed in combination with other city-owned properties as option D and F.
Other properties included were the existing GVT transfer center (option C), then two city-owned properties that were later included in the 2023 RFP. One became the site where the homeless resource center was set up, directly to the east of GJ Auto Sales (Option B). Another was the former Mesa Pawn and Loan property combined with either the Martinez property (Option D) or combined with the resource center location (option E).
City documents show both of the city-owned parcels near GJ Auto Sales were listed in the 2023 redevelopment RFP. That solicitation includes conceptual drawings showing multi-story, mixed-use housing planned for the sites, indicating the city may have prioritized those parcels for future residential and commercial use, not transportation infrastructure.
The RFP was specifically listed for the old Mesa Pawn and Loan property combined with most of the Two Rivers overflow parking lot, just to the north of GJ Auto Sales.
Questions asked of the City of Grand Junction were referred to CDOT
When asked:
- What other properties owned by the city were considered?
- Why did the city not offer other city-owned locations?
- What is the city planning for the resource center site if not the mobility hub?
The city responded:
- The Mobility Hub is a CDOT-led project. CDOT purchased the property for the use and benefit of the project.
- The best contacts for your questions would be Rob Beck, program manager ([email protected]) or Charles Marsh, CDOT public information officer ([email protected]).
- The city, county and CDOT contributed financially, and the owner sold the property after extensive negotiations. There was discussion of eminent domain with the city council, but no action was filed.
- The city-owned property at 261 Ute Ave. — only a long linear strip adjacent to the alley — will be used for a portion of the mobility hub, specifically for regional and interstate buses.
Grand Junction specifically lobbied for CDOT to acquire Grand Junction Auto Sales property
A recently acquired email from March 17, 2022 shows in response to the working groups preferred location being the Mesa County property on First and Main streets, Grand Junction Transportation Director Trent Prall sent the following email to consulting firm HDR Inc. Senior Transit Project Manager Chris Proud, which The Business Times is printing unedited:
Chris,
Thank you for forwarding the slides. City Principal Planner Dave Thornton and I respectively submit the following as the City’s comments.
Mesa County Site (Alternative A)
I greatly appreciate Mesa County’s offer for their 1st and Main property to be considered as the site of the Mobility Hub. There are many positives including ample parking and room for growth. City staff however does have a couple of concerns including:
Pedestrian friendliness. The 7-8 lanes of 1st Street that must be crossed to connect to Main Street and the Downtown core is a pretty daunting today and would remain or expand with I-70B Phase 6.
Depot Proximity. The Depot is somewhat removed from this site: around the corner and not visible. The experience may not be as positive as 2nd Street Promenade that is planned for that corridor.
Activation. One of the other goals is activation or energy of the space. Alternative A site would have limited activity after 5:00 during the week and on weekends due to the large government facilities in the area. Leaseable space for vendors will be imperative to help keep activated.
Pedestrian Bridge. While there is an existing pedestrian bridge to the west that does connect to the river, the river at that location itself will not be a strong draw when compared to Dos Rios.
Congestion. Mobility Hub will add to congestion at W. Main and Spruce as well as 1st and Main.
Triangle Site/City Wells Fargo site (Alternative F)
Pedestrian friendliness. Bike and pedestrian crossings of I-70B would be only three lanes at a time separated by the block in between Ute and Pitkin.
Depot Proximity. Wayfinding between the depot and the mobility hub is as simple as someone pointing to it.
Activation. This site will eventually be a very active space with close proximity to the soon to redevelop Depot/Amtrak Station and the primary walking/biking route between the Riverfront at Dos Rios and Main Street once the bridge is constructed. That activation would perpetuate through the evenings and weekends.
Pedestrian Bridge. While not constructed yet, will help connect Main Street to the Riverfront at Dos Rios and drive positive bike/ped traffic along the corridor.
Economic Development. The triangle piece is best positioned for government investment. Private investment will find access into the site challenging. There are also more opportunities in the immediate area than the 1st and Main.
We were somewhat disappointed yesterday that some of the consideration of complexity of land ownership and assembly was a factor. We pressed the “easy button” when GVT went in at its current site in the late 1990’s as the City had already had acquired and cleaned up the block and while GVT has made it work, the discussion at the time was that it was not ideal. The Mobility Hub needs to be in the best long term location for the community.
Please also note that the City had originally offered only 1/3 of the Wells Fargo block for the Mobility Hub. Alternative F contemplates the entire block. The City looks forward to the opportunity to review potential layouts and need for the whole block prior to committing the whole block.
Thank you,
Trent Prall, PE
Public Works Director
City of Grand Junction
Between this email and the official intent to acquire, a resolution showed the city council was notified the workgroup preferred Mesa County’s property.
On July 6, 2023, three months before the City Council voted on Oct. 18, 2023, to join CDOT in its intent to acquire the Martinez property, the city released the (RFP) soliciting development on the northerly adjacent city-owned parcel that combines the old Mesa Pawn and Loan site and most of the overflow parking going up to the convention center.
That RFP included conceptual drawings and marketing language designed to attract developers to the area around Two Rivers Convention Center, emphasizing proximity to the mobility hub, future pedestrian bridge and the 2nd Street Promenade.
The Martinez’s former property is shown on one photo as a mobility hub, while on the same photo the property where the HomewardBound of the Grand Valley Resource Center was located at the time showed multi-story housing along with a strip of buses by the alleyway, clearly part of the corridor envisioned in those redevelopment plans.
No contract listed for the RFP could be found on the city’s website.
A City council resolution shows the Dos Rios bridge was removed from the 2023 application by CDOT; the grant did approve the 2nd Street Promenade. According to a Grand Junction City Council resolution passed on the consent agenda on June 5, 2024, the city later applied for a grant for the bridge separately.
Ultimately Parcel F as described in Prall’s email was chosen and CDOT issued a formal Notice of Intent to Acquire for the GJ Auto Sales site on Jan. 25, 2024, initiating negotiations under threat of eminent domain, which were covered in two recent Business Times articles CDOT sells used-car dealer a lemon: GJ Auto Sales loses its downtown property to eminent domain for State of Colorado mobility hub, and GJ Auto Sales learned CDOT and City targeted their property without telling them.
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JUNE 18 — GJ Auto Sales learned CDOT and City targeted their property without telling them