IGNACIO – A remarkable boomlet in construction is raising hopes for growth in this town of 721 despite a steep downturn in the natural-gas industry.
Projects recently built or underway include a new, locally owned grocery store, a towering headquarters for the Southern Ute Growth Fund, new or extensively renovated buildings for the high school, middle school and elementary school – and don’t forget about the Subway.
The Farmers Fresh Market and Pharmacy has sparked the most interest among local residents. The store will span 22,000 square feet and will have an adjacent pharmacy and liquor store.
General Manager Amos Lee said the store is on track to open in late July. The pharmacy will open several weeks later because licensing processes still must be completed, he said.
“We see a substantial market here,” Lee said. “Even though the town is small, there’s a lot of people in the county.”
Ignacio has been without a major grocery store since Shur Valu Market closed in June 2014, so local residents are eager for Farmers Fresh Market’s opening.
“Imagine your community not having a grocery store,” said Kasey Correia, who owns Ignacio Floral and Blackhawk Trading with a business partner. “What kind of healthy foods are you going to get?”
The grocery store is backed by Ezra and Brook Lee, who own Crossfire, a La Plata County-based natural gas and oil construction and services company. They are partnering with the McClanahan family, which owns the property in Ignacio.
“We’ve gotten nothing but positive feedback from the community,” said Amos Lee, who is Ezra’s brother. “Everybody’s got to eat, and Durango’s kind of a long way to go, especially if you live out in Arboles and that part of the county.”
While the grocery store is generating buzz in Ignacio, the new headquarters of the Southern Ute Growth Fund is likely the largest investment. The 50,000-square-foot, three-story office building towers above nearby buildings along Colorado Highway 172. The Growth Fund headquarters has a modern appearance, with glass, steel and white brick.
About 130 employees of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe work in the new building. The former Growth Fund headquarters next door is now home to Red Willow Production Co., the tribe’s natural-gas and oil company.
The new building was motivated by the tribe’s desire to have more of its employees in Ignacio, “instead of spread all over the county,” said Bob Zahradnik, operating director for the Growth Fund.
Zahradnik declined to say how much the building cost, but he said it is in line with other recently built office buildings on a per-square-foot basis.
The Growth Fund is the investment arm of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, with interests in everything from natural-gas fields in La Plata County to seaside hotels in Southern California.
Many Ignacio residents credit the tribe for underpinning Ignacio’s growth by providing employment.
“We’re off the beaten path, but the tribe treats the community well, and they’re providing a lot of jobs,” Correia said.
Still, many residents work multiple jobs to survive in the rural economy. Correia, for example, also owns 10 rental properties around town in addition to her two businesses. She also drives a bus part-time for $14.19 an hour for Road Runner Transit. The bus system is part of the Southern Ute Community Action Program, a nonprofit group that was created by the tribe.
Ignacio businesses, she said, “need multiple streams of product to survive.”
She is also director of the Community Arts Center, which is planning to move into the vacated elementary school. Correia said community groups want to come together in the building, using Durango’s Smiley Building as a model.
Ignacio voters supported a 2012 bond issue that is funding major construction on the town’s public schools. The school district is turning the intermediate school into an elementary school, building a new middle school and renovating the junior high and high school to become a high school-only facility.
Ignacio has close ties to Bayfield. Many Bayfield residents commute into Ignacio for work. One of them is Dublin Wilmer, who opened Dub’s Auto Body in Ignacio in 2013.
“It’s a great community,” he said. “Really good people here.”
Ignacio’s population has shown some resiliency, growing from 697 in 2010 to an estimated 721 last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Yet it remains to be seen if Ignacio’s building boom leads to any lasting economic prosperity. Natural gas, the town’s most important industry, is showing little life. Production has fallen 40 percent in the past decade, and few drillers are investing in new wells.
But for residents, the town is becoming a little more lively.
Across Ute Street from Dub’s Auto Body is the town’s new Subway, which came into being at the urging of Ignacio High School students working on a class project. Wilmer said the Subway has been busy since it opened in February.
“It doesn’t matter what time you go,” he said. “You’re usually in line.”