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Walgreens not likely in Craig

Christina M. Currie

Steamboat Springs may be a site for one of the 400 stores Walgreens plans to open this year, but it’s not likely that Craig will house one of the discount stores.

Community Development Director Dave Costa said nothing from the company has crossed his desk and that he doesn’t expect anything to, based on rumors he’s heard.

Walgreens Corporate spokeswoman Carol Hively said in January that Walgreens is expanding rapidly in Colorado but that the company has no expansion plans for Craig.



Her statement contradicted that of Craig property owners who said they were approached by company representatives to sell their property.

On Tuesday, one of those property owners told the Daily Press that Walgreens had been interested but backed off after talking to the Colorado Department of Transportation.



Dan Davidson, who owns nearly half the Ranney Street land the company was interested in, said he and three others on the 400 block were approached in September about selling or leasing their property. But it wasn’t until the deal fell through that he learned the person he was negotiating with represented Walgreens, he said.

Davidson said he was told that the company couldn’t get approval from the Colorado Department of Transportation to access the property from Victory Way.

“They thought the property was too expensive to not have any access from Victory Way,” he said.

The representative for Walgreens was not available for comment.

The plan was to purchase one-third of the block on the north end, including the former Action Drain Building, Homemaker Lease to Own Furnishings and Davidson’s home.

Red Courtner, owner of Homemaker, confirmed he was in negotiations with Walgreens, as well.

Davidson said he wasn’t pleased that the state’s decision apparently caused Walgreens to lose interest.

“What can be redeveloped in this part of town if they can’t do it?” he said. “We thought (Walgreens) would be a neat thing for Craig to have. Their plans called for a huge amount of money to be invested in the community.”

Davidson said Walgreens’ decision doesn’t bode well for future development on that block.

“It would be a good commercial site if you did have access from Victory,” he said.

Skip Hudson, a planning and permitting engineer with the Colorado Department of Transportation, did not return phone calls Tuesday.


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