Broomfield City Council member shares update on future of 1stBank Center site in Colorado
The 1stBank Center in Broomfield is getting torn down piece by piece. The Colorado venue originally cost $45 million when it was first constructed in 2006 and the teardown process will cost more than $3 million.
When Matt Casarez first opened Arista Deli and Coffee in 2019, he picked his location carefully by moving in right across from the venue, which known for its first few years of existance as the Broomfield Events Center.
"You know there's going to be concerts, games, things like that that you kind of make part of your business plan, you know?" Casarez said.
The center struggled during COVID and didn't ever quite recover afterwards, and last year the city voted to close it and tear it down. The decrease in foot traffic since the closure has been felt by local businesses in the area.
"We would see those numbers drop off by, you know, 50% on some weekends," Casarez said. "So your business plan changes when things like that change."
Now businesses like Arista are all waiting on one question -- what's next for the land where 1stBank Center concerts once entertained fans and special events like graduation ceremonies took place?
City council member for Ward 1 Kenny Nguyen represents the community around the former events center.
"So right now (the event center) is going to be deconstructed. So, 1stBank Center ... it's going to be gone," Nguyen said. "I want Broomfield to have a lot of events that residents can go to but if it's just an empty building and it's costing taxpayer dollars, that's not worth it."
Nguyen says deconstruction is expected to go through next year, at which point Broomfield staff can work to kick off a formal bidding process to discuss what's next.
"I think where we are going right now is hopefully we can show the community something that could be used, something that people can have their families at, something that could be like restaurants or affordable housing," Nguyen said.
Meanwhile, business owners like Casarez are hoping for anything but an empty lot.
"I'm hoping for something that would just drive business, drive feet over here again," Casarez said.
