Banner, PVHS both make Thomson Reuter Top 5
Quality health care is an important component of a thriving community. Northern Colorado is fortunate to be home to two award-winning health systems. Thomson Reuter recently released their annual health systems study and both Banner Health and Poudre Valley Health Systems (PVHS) made Top 5 rankings. Banner Health made the Top 5 for large health systems (operating expenses over $1.5 billion) and PVHS made the Top 5 for small health systems (operating expenses less than $750 million). In conducting the annual study, Thomson Reuter took the following 30-day metrics into consideration: length of stay and overall patient safety, medical complications, mortality rates and survival rates.

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Greeley listed as an Improving Housing Market
On the fourth business day of each month the National Association of Home Builders releases their First American Improving Markets Index, and Greeley made the list for the first time in January. The list reflects housing markets showing marked improvement in home prices, employment and housing permits for at least six months. The other piece of good news is that the list itself nearly doubled in January, a good indicator for the nation overall. The Greeley/Evans area closed out the year with a median price for single-family, detached homes at $130,000. Employment activity continues to surge around the Niobrara oil play. In January, Halliburton Co. announced their move to nearby Windsor bringing approximately 500 jobs.

Source: National Association of Home Builders, List of Improving Housing Markets Nearly Doubles in January, 1/9/2012.  http://www.nahb.org/news_details.aspx?newsID=14478

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CDOT approved for NoCo transportation plan
The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) recently received approval from the federal government for $2.18 billion in improvements along I-25 in Northern Colorado. The vision for improvements includes a commuter rail service connecting Fort Collins and Longmont, a new lane in each direction of I-25 between state highways 66 and 14, and a new express bus system along I-25 with buses running from Fort Collins and Greeley to the Denver International Airport and Downtown Denver. For detailed information about CDOTs long and short term regional plans as well as current active construction projects and corridor studies/assessments, you can visit their website at www.coloradodot.info.

Source: Northern Colorado Business Report, $2 billion NoCo transportation plan gets ok by Steve Lynn, 1/10/2012.  http://www.ncbr.com/article/20120110/NEWS/120119989

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Fort Collins-Loveland ninth on Secure Place to Live
Safety at home and on the roads is an important consideration when measuring quality of life for a particular area. According to the recently released Farmers Insurance Secure Places to Live Survey, the Fort Collins-Loveland area is measuring upcoming in as the ninth most secure place to live. In conducting the survey, the following data was crunched for 379 metropolitan areas: air quality, life expectancy, mortality rates from cancer and motor vehicle accidents, crime statistics, housing depreciation, foreclosures, job loss numbers, terrorist threats, extreme weather, risk of natural disasters, and environmental hazards. Boulder, Colorado also made the list, coming in second place.

Sources: Farmers Insurance Secure Places to Live Survey, released December 2011.

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PVHS, Kaiser Permanente expansions in Greeley
The health care industry is expanding services in Greeley. Poudre Valley Health Systems (PVHS) recently announced plans to build a new, state-of-the art emergency room and same-day surgery center in western Greeleys North Gate Village. The new facility is scheduled to open in June 2012. In addition, Kaiser Permanente has announced plans to offer health care services in Northern Colorado for the first time via an exclusive hospital agreement with Banner Health hospitals and physicians. They will be opening offices in Greeley, Loveland and Fort Collins as well as providing care at North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley and McKee Medical Center in Loveland. Their expansion is projected to create 100 new jobs.

Source: Northern Colorado Business Report, Kaiser Permanente, Banner Health to partner in Northern Colorado by Staff, 12/13/2011.

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Rocky Mountain Center for Innovation & Technology
The Aerospace Clean Energy Innovation & Manufacturing Park (ACE) property has been officially re-named the Rocky Mountain Center for Innovation & Technology. In December, the City of Loveland closed on the sale of 170 acres of the former Agilent Technologies and Hewlett-Packard property to developer Cumberland & Western (C&W). C&W purchased the property for $5 million and changed the name to the Rocky Mountain Center for Innovation & Technology. Development of the new, state-of-the-art technology and manufacturing center will begin in 2012. It is a joint private-public venture with NASA and the Colorado Association for Manufacturing and Technology (CAMT). It is the first-of-a-kind regional innovation cluster that will serve as a model for similar clusters across the United States.

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Northern Colorado dominates Top 20 Housing Markets
Northern Colorado cities shined on Builder Magazines recently released list of the Top 20 Housing Markets. The Fort Collins-Loveland metro area was ranked the #2 Healthiest Housing Market in the United States. Amongst all of the Top 20 markets, the area has the highest projected growth in number of households for the next year, coming in at 2.7%. The Greeley metro area, which includes all of Weld County, also made the list coming in at #20. For both metro areas, projections for new home construction, home prices, jobs, population and income are positive. Other Colorado cities making the list were Colorado Springs (#7) and Denver (#10).

Sources: Builder Online, Healthiest Housing Markets: Mid-2011 Update by Boyce Thompson, 9/15/11. http://www.builderonline.com/local-markets/heathiest-housing-markets-mid-2011-update.aspx?page=1

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The arts are alive in Loveland
The winter chill isnt slowing down the thriving arts community in Loveland. Stairways are in, concrete floors are poured and walls are going up at the Rialto Theatre Center. You can watch a time-lapse construction video at http://bcove.me/82vzldmr. Just down the road, a vision for the new Loveland Artspace Project is taking shape. In November, Artspace Project Inc. shared with residents their plans for the development at Railroad Avenue and Third Street. The two-phased project would entail a four to five story building with 30 to 35 affordable live-work spaces for artists and their families. A community arts center would be the focus for the second phase of construction. For more information, go to www.artspaceloveland.org.

Source: Reporter-Herald, Loveland Artspace project could have 30-plus residences in 2013 by Tom Hacker, 11/10/2011. http://www.reporterherald.com/news/loveland-local-news/ci_19311364

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Oil and gas buzz, projections dramatically increase
Anadarko Petroleum released a new estimate of the anticipated amounts of oil in their Wattenberg field, and the numbers are much larger than anticipated. The field, located in northeast Colorado, has a potential output of 55 million barrels a year, which is almost triple the current amount of oil production in the state of Colorado. As reported in the Denver Post article Oil estimate in northern Colorado pumps up job, revenue prospects by Steve Raabe, if the revised estimates prove accurate then $50 million or more a year in new severance taxes for state and local governments could be generated. These numbers also make the construction of an energy business park in south Weld County along I-85, or the Energy Corridor, all the more likely.

Source: Denver Post, Oil estimate in northern Colorado pumps up job, revenue prospects by Steve Raabe, 11/16/2011. http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_19344453

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