It's boomtime in 'Bondale

Carbondale has more develoment in the pipeline than debating the pros and cons of the Crystal River Marketplace. A flurry of new construction of retail, commercial, industrial and residential developments is either already approved, going through development review or nearly ready to do so.

Some of the projects inlcude:

• American National Bank is planning to move to the corner of Dolores Way and Hwy 133 next to the site where the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority plans to build a new park-and-ride lot.


• Farther up the highway, the in the old Sopris Shopping Plaza, once home to the town's only grocery store, Circle Super, and soon to be old the Paint Store location is to be torn down and replaced with what town officials expect to be a two-story, mixed-use building.


• In the downtown area itself, right next to Town Hall, the new Carbondale Recreation Center is expected to start going up next year on property now occupied by a parking lot and a small house and yard along Colorado Avenue between Fourth and Sixth streets.


• Across Colorado Avenue, developers Ed Podolak and Bill Smith are planning to build another mixed-use, three-story building next to the Thunder River Theater building. It is to be similar to the one they built earlier at the corner of Fourth and Colorado.


• On a vacant lot at the corner of Main and Fourth, formerly owned by Dale Eubank but now owned by an investment group led by architect Charles Cunniffe, town officials are expecting another two-story, mixed-use project, possibly by next summer. And next door, another former Eubank property, European Antiques, is about to get a second story, according to the building's owners.


• Across Fourth Street, the old Mountain Aire apartment complex, now owned by developer Don Ensign, is to be demolished and replaced by a three-story mixed-use project, with retail and residential on the ground floor and residential above.


• Farther east along Main Street, the old yellow wood frame house next to Miser's Mercantile disappeared recently, torn down in a matter of hours, to make way for yet another mixed-use project.


• Heading south along Highway 133, 52 homes are planned for the Kator Grove subdivision. Next door, at Cerise Park, another 40 homes are anticipated once annexation is complete and the developers submit their plans.


• Ongoing construction of the new Roaring Fork High School, the adjacent Carbondale & Rural Volunteer Fire Department training facility and the Crystal River Elementary School.


• The Colorado Department of Transportation to start work next year on the intersection of Highways 133 and 82, and a new Highway 133 bridge across the Roaring Fork River at the north end of town.

The the development is not likely to end soon, according to Town Manager Tom Baker, explaining that as the baby boom generation retires and seeks nice places to spend its declining years, Carbondale seems to be at the top of many lists.


Read the full article in the Aspen Times . . .