PROJECT SUMMARY FOR THE CDBG DR GRANT REQUEST 1 ATTACHMENT 1
History of the 2013 Big Thompson Flood and its impact on Loveland The September 2013 Flood ranks as one of the most devastating natural disasters in the history of Colorado. Over a five-day period, Northern Colorado received a years worth of rain, culminating on September 13, 2013. Over 13 inches of rain had fallen in Estes Park and Drake. Anyone familiar with the picturesque drive between Loveland and Estes Park knows how beautiful the canyon drive is, but also how narrow it is. With little wiggle room in the canyon, the water flooded the canyon reaching heights of 40 feet in some areas and wiping out land, residences and everything in its path including destruction of the US 34 roadway, the main access way between Loveland and Estes Park/Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). 2 ATTACHMENT 1 2
The September 2013 flood had the following consequences on the City of Loveland as the Big Thompson River crested at 500 times its seasonal flow: Floodwater inundated just under 2,000 acres of the city, including crossing over I-25 and temporarily shutting it down. 66 buildings within the city and more than 1,000 in the adjacent county were flooded; businesses and tourist attractions, including the historic Sylvan Dale Dude Guest Ranch, Marianna Butte Golf Course, and others were destroyed. 89 businesses sustained damages and applied for small business grants from the Community Foundation, The City of Loveland and the Chamber of Commerce. $29 million in damages to city water and electrical utilities, streets and bridges, natural areas and parks including complete destruction of the Viestenz Smith Mountain Park (halfway up the canyon between Loveland and Estes Park), a summertime favorite picnic and fishing area for locals and tourists alike. The Big Thompson Flood changed the landscape of Northern Colorado forever. Out of every tragedy comes new strength. The people of Northern Colorado banded together to move mountains - literally. Under the leadership of Governor Hickenlooper, contractor Kiewit, CDOT and hundreds of people, all worked tirelessly to rebuild and open a temporary road to replace US 34, a mere 10 weeks after the flood. As a sign of solidarity and friendship, the mayors from Estes Park and Loveland shook hands and hugged, two communities reconnected. "To get this done in 10 weeks is amazing," said Hickenlooper, who pledged in the first days after the flood that the state would build temporary roads on every destroyed highway route. "Rebuilding these roads is a first step toward people rebuilding their lives," he said. "As a state, we're not going to stop until we get everybody back on their feet." 3 ATTACHMENT 1 3
More than 3 years have passed and, although much has been rebuilt, signs of the flood remain. Work that remains for the city infrastructure includes: Completion of the Foothills Solar Substation Railroad Avenue reconstruction Rebuilding Viestenz Smith Mountain Park Rebuilding the Wilson-Taft corridor recreation trail Wilson Avenue flood mitigation One of the most notable signs of the flood is a sign posted along US 34 and I-25 redirecting visitors to exit 243 in Longmont for access to Estes Park and RMNP. Due to this miscommunication and signage along I-25, thousands of visitors each day may be assuming that the US 34 interchange and entrance is closed. In October 2016 CDOT closed US 34 just east of the Dam Store outside of Loveland, and this time the hard closure would extend for eight months in order to permanently repair the damage the 2013 flood had caused in the canyon. Once again, the communities were divided and Loveland was essentially cut off from Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. While the city and Visit Loveland are thankful that the repairs are taking place in an expedited fashion as not to impact the busy summer season, the current closure has had a negative economic impact on tourism, sales tax and a decrease in visitors to the area. 4 ATTACHMENT 1 4
How has the closure of US 34 to Estes Park affected the visitor economy in Loveland? Loveland has many identities: The Sweetheart City, The Sculpture Capital of the U.S. and, most importantly to tourists, Gateway to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. As one of the most picturesque drives in the state, US 34 along The Big Thompson Canyon provides the ultimate welcome mat to the third most visited national park in the United States. With over 4.5 million visitors in 2016 alone, Loveland is perfectly positioned and heavily reliant on traffic derived from the national park, not only for our hotels and attractions, but also for retail centers, restaurants and overall general economic vitality. Tourism creates jobs not only directly for visitor services but also indirectly through industries such as retail and transportation. When visitors spend their money on goods and services it leads to creation of more jobs. The tourism industry historically provides opportunities for smaller businesses, which is extremely important to rural communities like Loveland $450,000 $400,000 $350,000 $300,000 $250,000 $200,000 $150,000 $100,000 $50,000 $- Retail at I-25 Monthly Sales Tax Collections -3.5% YTD in Sales Tax Collections 2017 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 It is important to note that the majority of the sales and lodging tax collected for the City of Loveland occurs at the I-25 and US 34 interchange. According to the City of Loveland Public Works department, in 2016 an average of 79,000 cars pass this interchange and 53,000 cars headed west on US 34 daily. Since the closure of US 34 in October of 2016, CDOT installed temporary messaging boards both north of Denver and South of Cheyenne and Fort Collins, directing visitors away from this interchange. The signs simply say US 34 Closed, take exit 243 for access to RMNP. This messaging and decrease in traffic has been severely damaging for both retail and lodging tax collections. 5 ATTACHMENT 1 5
Loveland is well-known arts community. Named the second best small art town in the US and known around the world for hosting the largest outdoor sculpture show, Loveland is blessed with three bronze foundries, over 400 public works of art throughout the city, and a community of creative and innovative artists. Although Loveland is primarily known for its bronze sculpture, it is also home to the largest collection of Zimbabwe stone sculpture in the world at Chapungu Sculpture Garden. This 26-acre park features 82 African stone sculptures carved by artists from Zimbabwe. The art is positioned among water features with a 1.5 mile walking trail, an outdoor amphitheater, benches for seating and community gathering areas. The park is ideally located off I-25 and US 34, directly behind the Promenade Shops at Centerra s ice skating rink and in the middle of Loveland s largest retail centers: the Promenade Shops at Centerra, Outlets at Loveland and Centerra Marketplace. This is the ideal setting for a brand new destination event and attraction: Winter Wonderlights. The concept for Winter Wonderlights is simple Create a magical one-of-a-kind lighting show and holiday attraction in the center of Loveland s retail and lodging hub. Partner with retail shopping centers and attractions to co-promote the Winter Wonderlights experience, and with the hotels to create special holiday packages. Develop a multi-media holiday PR and marketing campaign encouraging visitors to take the Loveland exit 257 and SHOP, EAT, PLAY, STAY in Loveland this holiday season and experience Winter Wonderlights! 6 ATTACHMENT 1 6
The vision of Winter Wonderlights will be to transform Chapungu Sculpture Park into a winter wonderland of holiday themed lights and nightly light show set to music. Although Denver has several lighting experiences of its own (Zoo Lights and Botanical Gardens), this will be the first of its kind in Northern Colorado. What will set this lighting display apart from others would be: CONCEPTUAL LAYOUT OF CHAPUNGU The focus on art, set in the only sculpture park of its kind in the world. A light show choreographed to music that will play nightly every half hour from dusk until 9:30 PM The only lighting display of this kind in Northern Colorado. Proximity to I-25 and retail shopping hubs and restaurants with walkability to shopping, restaurants and entertainment. Free and plentiful parking at the Promenade Shops with free entry into Winter Wonderlights. Visit Loveland has a history of creating award-winning destination events. Responsible for the creation of the Loveland Fire and Ice Festival which drew over 45,000 attendees in 2017, it is now the largest Valentines Day festival in the country and won the Downtown Colorado Governors Award for best downtown festival in 2016. https://lovelandfireandice.com/ Philanthropic tie-in with Larimer County Foodbank. Instead of charging a fee to enter the park, suggested food and clothing donation bins will be at the entrance. 7 ATTACHMENT 1 Together with our partners we create one-of-a-kind experiences utilizing arts, music and lights. It is through this same collaborative spirit that we would like to utilize this grant funding to create a destination holiday event and attraction for Loveland, giving visitors a reason to think Loveland for the holidays. 7
Winter Wonderlights would strategically launch the weekend prior to Thanksgiving in order to precede other holiday lighting displays. It would be scheduled to run through January 6, 2018 to target holiday and New Year s shoppers, providing an attraction during Christmas Break. This time is historically challenging for our hoteliers as it is the shoulder season and corresponds with the closure of US 34. The event is also strategically focused on not only bringing visitors here to Loveland for the day but also with the goal of bringing them here and getting them to stay overnight because the event takes place during the evenings. Partnerships are key to the success of Winter Wonderlights. In today s economy, it is not enough to have a unique idea. You need great partners with vision, belief, budget, buy-in and manpower to carry it to fruition. Luckily enough, we have aligned an amazing team of Loveland partners in order to create a perfect storm of success: McWhinney Enterprises: This innovative real estate development and management firm started in Loveland over 25 years ago. Although today they are known more for their development with Union Station in Denver, one of their first projects was the master planned retail and housing community known as Centerra. McWhinney owns the land that the Promenade Shops are located on, as well as Chapungu Sculpture Park and the Centerra Marketplace adjacent to the park. This is an amazing outdoor lifestyle center anchored by Target, Petsmart, Bed Bath and Beyond, Sportsmans Warehouse, and countless restaurants and fast food. McWhinney Enterprises has written a letter of support for the program and will be including Winter Wonderlights in all of their holiday advertising and social media. Promenade Shops at Centerra: Over 70 retail specialty shops anchored by Macy s, Barnes and Noble, and Dicks Sporting goods, 13 restaurants, a 14-plex Metrolux luxury movie theatre, outdoor ice skating rink, fire pits, water fountains and more await you at Northern Colorado s premiere lifestyle center. Chapungu Sculpture Park is located directly east of Macy s on the north side of the shopping center. With walking trails located from the ice rink, the Promenade Shops has written a letter of support for this project and will be including Winter Wonderlights in all of their holiday advertising and social media. Outlets at Loveland: The third of the retail centers located at I-25 and US 34, the Outlets of Loveland is home to amazing retailers including the only Coach and Tommy Hilfiger stores in Northern Colorado. They also have written a letter of support for the project and will include us in their holiday advertising. Blazen Illuminations: With over 30 years of experience in the Iighting and special effects industry, we have been blessed to work with Blazen Illuminations on producing the Loveland Fire and Ice Festival. Located in Loveland, these lighting experts are responsible for such displays as the Denver City and County Building, American Ninja Warriors, the Butterfly Pavilion and countless music festivals. In order to make sure that our dream was feasible to create this lighting display in Chapungu, we asked Blazen Illuminations to consult on lights, concepts and budget only. Knowing that if the grant monies were realized, they would have to bid the RFP that Visit Loveland would produce for Winter Wonderlights. However, their experience has been invaluable in planning this proposal. Embassy Suites of Loveland Spa and Conference Center: Loveland s largest full service hotel and conference center is excited to partner with Visit Loveland on Winter Wonderlights by creating fun holiday-themed stay packages. Targeting the Colorado weekender traffic, they will be promoting these packages through their online marketing and social media. They have also written a letter of support for the program. 8 ATTACHMENT 1 8
Public Relations and Marketing Plan Targeting the Front Range Region from Denver to Wyoming. Full Scale multi-media campaign with the following elements: Online Marketing Social Media Print Radio Outdoor Video See attached Marketing Timeline Public Relations plan including goals, strategies and timeline is attached. So much of the federal, state and city flood recovery dollars go into infrastructure and may be invisible to the citizens. This proposal of the flood grant monies would bring the community together to combat another closure to US 34 during the critical holiday season while visually celebrate our recovery from the flood. With the implementation of Winter Wonderlights, we have created a recipe for success: Location + Unique Concept + Partnership Marketing + PR + Grant Monies and Support From the State + Hard Work = A WIN for sales tax, a WIN for lodging tax, a WIN for the state, PR exposure, and ultimately a WIN for Economic Development. Here s to a WINNING Holiday Season with WINTER WONDERLIGHTS IN LOVELAND! 9 ATTACHMENT 1 9
Costs Associated with Winter Wonderlights The following costs are anticipated to produce the Winter Wonderlights event. Through the CDBG DR grant, Visit Loveland would be reimbursed the amount of the awarded grant for up to $150,000. Ad production: Cost: $815, In-kind: $5,000 Public relations: Cost: $4,000, In-kind: $4,000 Event sponsorship including rental of equipment, installation, security, snow removal, and tear-down of equipment: Cost: $130,000, In-kind: $30,000 Print and advertising including newspapers, magazines and billboards: Cost: $8,600, In-kind: $1,250 Online advertising: Cost: $3,500, In-kind: $612 Broadcast media advertising including television and radio: Cost: $3,085 Centerra marketing co-op including marketing inclusion in e-newsletters, social media, posters and flyers: In-kind: $20,000 Promenade Shops at Centerra holiday co-op marketing inclusion in all print, radio, online and social media In-kind: $13,000 US 34 grand re-opening 2018 co-op celebration with Visit Estes Park In-kind: $10,000 Total costs: $150,000 Total in-kind contributions: $83,862 TOTAL ANTICIPATED PROJECT COST: $233,862 10 ATTACHMENT 1 10
VOTE & MOTION We are seeking a motion to approve $150,000 from Lodging Tax reserves for the CDBG DR Grant Winter Wonderlights project as recommended by Staff, contingent upon Visit Loveland being awarded the grant with the understanding that $100,000 would be refunded by the State of Colorado upon proof of receipt and $50,000 would come from the Lodging Tax Reserves. 11 ATTACHMENT 1 11