Ski hill helps give town an extra lift
WINDSOR — When most of the world thinks of Colorado, iconic ski resorts likely come to mind. There’s Aspen, Vail, Steamboat, Breckenridge, Crested Butte, Windsor …
Wait. What? Windsor?
Well, maybe not Windsor quite yet. However, the opening of the 12-acre Hoedown Hill brought skiing, snow tubing and sledding to a hillside overlooking Windsor. The project is the dream of Martin Lind, a third-generation Windsor resident and owner of real estate development firm The Water Valley Company. Hoedown Hill is located at RainDance National, a golf resort that’s part of Water Valley’s residential development project that includes five lakes, two golf courses, restaurants, tennis, biking and hiking trails.
Figures released in May show Windsor as Colorado’s fastest-growing community with populations of 20,000 or more. According to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau in May, Windsor’s population reached 40,349, up from 32,712 estimated on April 1, 2020.
Windsor not only extends into two diverse counties, Larimer and Weld, but also embraces a diverse base of industries. Combining small-town charm with consistent growth, it has become the region’s boomtown.
Windsor was created when the area’s first settler, J.L. Hilton, built a house in 1873. Farmers were drawn to the area’s rich alluvial soil, and the Greeley, Pacific and Salt Lake Railway established a depot in the area in 1882, and Windsor was incorporated in 1890. A tornado that struck the town in 2008 caused about $193.5 million in damage from about 24,000 auto and homeowner claims.
Sports and recreation play a key role in Windsor, which works constantly to bring in even more.
Windsor’s new Future Legends Sports Complex has attracted minor-league soccer and baseball teams. The town’s Parks, Recreation & Culture Department maintains more than 200 acres of parks, sports fields and open space, 40 miles of trails, a skate park, and a beach and boat launch on Windsor Lake.
A master plan developed by the Windsor Downtown Alliance calls for growing Windsor’s downtown district from 14 to 19 acres by expanding along Main Street.
It’s been quite a while since Windsor’s only bragging points were its Eastman Kodak plant and its central location as a bedroom community for Fort Collins, Loveland and Greeley.
With nearly $90 million in capital improvements to the town’s infrastructure under way and projects sprouting everywhere, Windsor is poised for continued growth, offering industrial areas such as the 3,000-acre Great Western Industrial Park. Companies there include Vestas Wind Systems, the town’s largest employer.
CPP Wind Engineering and Air Quality Consultants moved its headquarters and wind-tunnel testing facilities from Fort Collins to leased space in Windsor.
A $35 million police center should be completed in August, followed by repurposing of the old police center.
Little remains of Kodak, and this spring one of its spinoffs, medical-imaging company Carestream Health Inc. announced it was closing and would lay off its remaining employees.
Major residential projects include Hartford Homes’ 2,600-home Prairie Song, Journey Homes’ 217 single-family unit Travana, and Lind’s Ravina development, where, of 200 single-family lots, 50 are under construction.