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GRANBY — Roughly two-and-a-half years after Granby initially sold 300 acres of Shorefox land to Michigan-based Sun Communities, the publicly traded company’s long awaited upscale RV resort is set to open along the banks of the Colorado River later this summer.
While the new River Run RV Resort remains under construction at this time, significant amounts of structural and infrastructure work has already been completed. The resort, located on the west side of Highway 34 just north of the intersection with Highway 40 in Granby, began accepting guest reservations in early January and plans to open Aug. 1.
“It is going well,” said Cody Fishel, River Run general manager. “It was a cold winter, but the contractors have been incredible. We are on track to open this summer. We are really excited about it.”
Fishel confirmed that work has been finished on the resort’s welcome center, with the clubhouse, community center, fitness center, pool and general store nearing completion. The project’s site work has all been laid out and road-paving work is expected within the next month.
Fishel praised the efforts of local contracting firm Big Valley Construction, based in Granby, which is serving as the project’s general contractor for non-utility focused work.
The resort will hold a soft opening this summer, but did not yet have a specific date for when the first guests would arrive. River Run’s website noted that a soft opening, with limited amenities available, will begin July 1 and an “expanded resort experience” will begin Aug. 1.
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After vertical construction on River Run’s ancillary structures is completed, work will begin in earnest on the RV sites and other lodging accommodations, to include 212 RV campsites, 83 cottage units and 36 villas. The property will also include several “glamping” units where guests will stay in an Air Stream trailer, yurt, Conestoga wagon or safari tent.
Each of the RV spaces will feature full hookup amenities with either paved pull-throughs or crushed gravel back-in sites. All sites will come equipped with patios, picnic tables and fire pits.
The villa and cottage units on the property are manufactured offsite and brought to the location via semi-trucks. Fishel explained that the manufactured units would arrive once all site work has been completed. Installation of the units is expected to occur relatively quickly.
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What’s open to the public?
While River Run’s future restaurants and bar amenities will be open to the general public, other amenities are expected to be restricted to resort guests only.
The town retains ownership of the land adjacent the Colorado River, per the sale agreement between Sun Communities and the town of Granby. The general public will still be able to reserve and fish sections of the river, called fishing beats. Local residents will also be able to use the trails in the Granby Trails network and fish in the two ponds on the edge of the River Run resort.
When Sun Communities purchased the property from the town in December 2016, construction plans were developed that separated the River Run resort into two district parcels — one south and one north of the Colorado River.
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Affordable housing coming later this year
Sun Communities is also tackling an affordable housing development, called Smith Creek Crossing, which will be located adjacent to the River Run resort property.
The development will feature affordable housing — up to 310 manufactured housing units earmarked as workforce housing — that is owned and operated by Sun. The homes are expected to sell between $99,000 to $199,000, ranging in size from 705 to 1,800 square feet.
A caveat is that Sun Communities is expected to require a monthly lot rent of $500, according to Granby town officials. Specific details for the fee, however, are still being finalized.
Fishel said a rollout is expected soon for the Smith Creek Crossing website, which will allow people to begin reserving units to purchase. Residents could be able to move into Smith Creek Crossing as early as this fall, according to Fishel.
“October, November is what we are shooting for,” he said. “We want to focus primarily on Smith Creek (Crossing) after River Run.”
Smith Creek Crossing is currently under construction, but all efforts will focus on finishing the homes after completion of River Run.