Lucinda Stanley, CCIM
Principal real estate broker and owner, Grand Mesa Commercial Real Estate Inc.
Delta County, Colorado: A once-upon-a-time booming agricultural and mining area that over the years has been eroding, collecting dust as vehicles speed through downtown to make all of lights with not even a glance at the remaining businesses lining Main Street.
Some folks predicted that the city of Delta was going to be one of the many ghost towns in Colorado, and that prediction was getting a little too close to call over the past few years. Fast forward to present day, and this once sleepy town has shaken off the dust and is slowly but steadily evolving and growing. Current leaders, both civic and private, are committed to restoring and improving the economy and lifestyle that was once rich and thriving.
The 2019 third-quarter economic update for Delta county, reported by Dr. Nathan Perry, an associate professor of economics at Colorado Mesa University, reflects this growth by quoting an increase in population by 416, an increase in employment by 360, an increase in median home values to $255,500 from $239,167 at the same time last year and a seasonally low unemployment rate of 3.2%. Reading further into his 11-page report, across the board, everything being tracked has increased, i.e., sales taxes, lodging taxes, household income, to name a few. Adding the population gain to the 2018 30,953 figure would reflect a total population of 31,369, give or take.
Current leaders, both civic and private, are committed to restoring and improving the economy and lifestyle that was once rich and thriving.
What is not tracked in his report are commercial and land sales. I may be biased, as that is my area of specialty, but these two factors determine the sustainability of the growth and could also be used as a prediction of future growth by the absorption of land for development. Once development starts, population grows, demand on services grow and our once see-through buildings that have sat vacant for years become occupied with thriving businesses, thus creating job opportunities. Over the past couple of months, the calls and showings have increased almost tenfold. Our land prices are “dirt” cheap, which helps with new construction projects. Our existing commercial space prices and lease rates also are extremely low, affording new tenants lower operating expenses to offset the ever-increasing minimum wage.
Another index that would reflect the lifestyle of Delta County is the cost of living comparison index. For example, the Sperling’s Best Places reports that Los Angeles overall is 94.5% more expensive than living in Delta County. A person with a salary of $50,000 a year in Delta, they would need to make $75,950 in Denver for the same lifestyle. Denver overall is 44.4% more expensive to live in than Delta County. Portland, Maine, is 21.4% more and one would need a $61,158 annual salary. Even our neighbor, Montrose County, is 11.3% more expensive.
In a previous article, I predicted that Delta County was on the verge of a miniboom. What I didn’t realize then is that there are different indexes for predictions based on many factors. Delta County, as eluded to above, is on a slow but steady growth pace. So slow, most don’t even recognize it, but the signs are there. The tortoise always wins, the developer who understands the tortoise also wins, which makes Delta County a predictable, sought-after community bringing people back home to bright stars, clean air, healthy living and space to breathe in a lifestyle they can again afford.
