The Longmont City Council, during its November 17 regular meeting, will consider an economic development agreement designed to attract a new Costco retail store to the city. Costco proposes to build a 150,000-square-foot retail store and fueling station east of and adjacent to the Harvest Junction South retail and residential development.

“Costco made it known early last year that they were looking at locating a new facility in the Longmont area, which would be a great benefit to our community,” Longmont City Manager Harold Dominguez said. “The proposed incentive package is required for Costco to locate in Longmont specifically and very similar to other agreements along the Front Range. We protect our existing sales tax base as well as invest in our future with this agreement.”

The proposed agreement outlines several economic development incentives provided to Costco, including funding property improvements, development costs, a portion of the community investment fees and 22.66 acre-feet of raw water deficit as well as allocating an additional 26 acre-feet of raw water for economic development and affordable housing needs.

The total hard dollar cost to the City of this overall development is estimated at $12,530,953. Of that amount, $9,605,431 is the cost to the City to essentially incentivize Costco to locate in Longmont. The balance of $2,925,522 is the cost related to an affordable housing aspect of the development. The City costs will be partially paid from the Affordable Housing Fund but primarily from sales tax to be generated from the development.

As part of the Costco development the City has an opportunity to acquire 9 acres for affordable housing purposes. This helps meet a goal of Envision Longmont, the City’s Multimodal and Comprehensive Plan, ensuring there are affordable and accessible housing options that meet the needs of residents of all ages, abilities, and income levels.

The Costco project is a public-private partnership with the Goldens, a longtime Longmont family that owns the development site. “The Golden family has a long tradition of supporting Longmont,” notes Reggie Golden. “For many generations we’ve partnered with the City. We’ve always felt that it’s important to give back whenever and wherever we can.”

“When the City reached out last year to discuss the need for land for this important project, we weren’t initially planning to develop it at that time. However, through several discussions we determined that this would be a good use of the land both for the family and for the Longmont community as a whole,” Golden said. “This project seemed like another significant way for us to partner to benefit Longmont. It made sense to us.”

Longmont staff analyzed the revenue impacts of the addition of a Costco facility on the City of Longmont. Based on information received from Costco, the potential sales tax generated by the facility Costco projects to build is estimated at $4.06 million in the first full year of operation.

It is anticipated that, subject to Council action, the execution of these agreements will initiate the land development review process for the 48.66 acre site. The completion of that process is expected to occur around mid-year 2021. At that time the closing on the property acquisitions will take place, and Costco will give direction to proceed with the construction of the public and private site improvements. That effort is anticipated to take from 12 to 18 months.

Once agreements are approved, the land development review process is completed and improvements are made, Costco will proceed to construct its warehouse and fueling island ahead of an anticipated opening date as soon as July 2023 and no later than July 2024.

To see the detailed Council communication and entire agreement, please review the City Council item scheduled for November 17 online at:  https://www.longmontcolorado.gov/departments/agendas-and-minutes/agenda-management-portal