Denver’s downtown census rises, bucking trend in U.S.
Denver is bucking the national trend of declining populations in the nation’s downtowns, according to a study released Tuesday by the Brookings Institution.
While the populations of 44 cities studied declined by 1.2 percent between 1970 and 2000, Denver’s downtown population increased 35.6 percent. The city’s overall population increased by 8.7 percent.
Denver was just one of five downtowns that had population gains of more than 35 percent. The others were Seattle (77 percent); Colorado Springs (48 percent); Albuquerque (45 percent); and Portland (35 percent).
Denver is No. 3 behind Chicago and Lafayette, La., in a ranking of downtowns with the highest homeownership. Thirty-five percent of Denver’s downtown residents own their homes.
But the downtowns in Denver and Colorado Springs are less diverse than in other cities. Denver’s downtown population is 74.4 percent white, while Colorado Springs is 75.9 percent white.
DENVER
Union Station works on developer selection
The committee overseeing the redevelopment of Denver’s Union Station will announce in January the process and the steps it will take toward selecting a master developer for the project.
Eleven teams, including one led by Donald Trump, responded to a request for qualifications for the project. The Union Station Executive Oversight Committee recently hired Liz Orr, a former city of Denver finance chief and director of special projects for former Mayor Wellington Webb, to oversee the selection process.
CENTENNIAL
NetRegulus Inc. raises $6.2 million
NetRegulus Inc., a Centennial- based provider of enterprise compliance software for regulated industries, announced Tuesday that it has raised $6.2 million in Series B preferred equity funding.
The financing round was led by Arizona-based Grayhawk Venture Partners along with Advantage Capital and Wolf Ventures and existing shareholders KB Partners, Beecken Petty O’Keefe and Co., Odin Capital Group and Staley Capital.
JEFFERSON COUNTY
New hospital to serve southwest Denver
Exempla Lutheran Medical Center and Lauth Healthcare, of Lauth Property Group, announced Tuesday plans to build a medical facility to help meet the growing need for health care in the southwest Denver area.
The $30 million facility will be called Lutheran Medical Center Southwest. Exempla Lutheran and its physician partners will be the first tenants in the initial phase of a 125,000-square-foot outpatient medical facility located at C-470 and West Bowles Avenue.
WESTMINSTER
N. America telecoms’ revenue loss studied
A study by a Westminster company shows that telecommunications operators in North America lose more revenue through fraud and other types of leakage than companions elsewhere.
Azure Solutions, a global revenue-assurance company, said North American telecoms lost an average 15.5 percent of their revenue in 2005, compared to an 11.6 percent global average. The figures are up slightly up from 2004, when global leakage averaged 10.7 percent.
HOUSTON
EnCana to send gas on proposed pipeline
EnCana Corp. has signed on as a major supplier for a proposed $3 billion pipeline that would send Rocky Mountain natural gas to customers in the East and Midwest.
EnCana signed a deal with pipeline developers Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. and Sempra Pipelines & Storage to ship 500 million cubic feet of natural gas a day in the proposed Rockies Express pipeline. EnCana is one of Colorado’s largest natural gas producers.
GREELEY
UNC business seniors ace national exit exam
The Monfort College of Business at the University of Northern Colorado announced Tuesday that its graduating seniors again have reached the top 5 percent on a nationally administered exit exam.
Fall 2005 scores put Monfort seniors in the highest scoring band possible on the exam and match Monfort’s performance in the fall of 2004. The exit exams are produced by the Educational Testing Service of Princeton, N.J.
ORLANDO, Fla.
Ritz-Carlton Club adds two facilities
The Ritz-Carlton Club announced Tuesday that it has added two properties to its portfolio, located in Miami’s South Beach and downtown San Francisco.
That brings the total number of private, fractional ownership real estate clubs owned by the hotel company to six. Two are located in Colorado: The Ritz-Carlton Club, Bachelor Gulch in Beaver Creek and The Ritz-Carlton Club, Aspen Highlands.
AUSTIN, Texas
Whole Foods to assess treatment of lobsters
Whole Foods Market Inc., the largest U.S. natural-foods grocer, will assess how live lobsters are treated before they are sold and if the process can be handled in a more humane way.
The Austin, Texas-based food retailer will stop selling live lobsters if more compassionate standards aren’t found by June 15, the company said Tuesday in a statement.
NEW YORK
Investors worried about GM’s health
An increasing number of investors are betting that General Motors Corp. may be forced to seek bankruptcy protection within the next 12 months as it struggles with slumping sales and high health care costs for workers and retirees.
Concerns about the future of the world’s largest automaker are showing up in the credit default swaps market, where investors effectively buy insurance protection against defaults.
WASHINGTON
Retail sales perform better than expected
Retail sales performed far better than expected in October as consumers took encouragement from falling gasoline prices.
The Commerce Department reported that retail sales dipped 0.1 percent in October. However, the weakness was concentrated in a 3.6 percent auto-sales decline as the boost from summer sales incentives waned.
WASHINGTON
Postal rate will rise on Jan. 8 to 39 cents
The cost of mailing a letter will increase to 39 cents on Jan. 8. The Postal Service’s board of governors approved the 2-cent increase in first-class postal rates late Monday. It is the first increase since 2002.
