A Pueblo neighborhood still waits for a developer’s housing project that will also rebuild crumbling streets above Arkansas River
Scott Harrison
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) — Residents of one of the Steel City’s oldest neighborhoods are surprised to learn that the job of rebuilding crumbling streets is not the responsibility of public works crews.
Instead, a Denver-based developer is supposed to improve the streets as part of a project to build a luxury apartment complex on a bluff above the west banks of the Arkansas River.
The situation involves four to five streets around the intersection of Pearl Street and Chapa Place, just south of the 4th Street Bridge — an area with several homes and two vacant land parcels.
Records indicate that the developer received a city building permit in late 2023 to build The Bluffs, a six-story complex of nearly 100 units offering views of the downtown skyline and the collection of colorful murals along the river levee.
However, construction has yet to begin, and the street conditions continue to worsen.
The streets in that neighborhood are a combination of paved and unpaved surfaces, marked by cracked asphalt, a layer of small stones, and numerous potholes — some of which look more like small ponds.
Few sidewalks, curbs, and gutters exist in the area.
Neighbors said that the complex is supposed to be built at the intersection of Pearl and Sumner Avenue.
Rose Mary Mauro, a neighbor for 15 years, said that the streets have gradually deteriorated during that time.
Her biggest concern is that the street conditions make it difficult for people with disabilities and seniors to navigate the two steep routes down to White Water Park, along the river.
“One of the trails has a sidewalk on the lower end, but no sidewalk on the upper end,” Mauro explained. “At least someone could build a sidewalk that would connect directly to the residents here, and to the complex residents — assuming the developer actually builds it.”
Andrew Hayes, the city’s public works director, sent a crew into the neighborhood this week to fill some of the potholes and stabilize the streets somewhat for the present.
“It’s a private project, so we’re not driving it,” he said. “It’s not our timeline. But when that project occurs, those improvement obligations come along with that project. So that (is) 180 days, technically speaking, from the time they pull their building permit.”
The Road Warrior has tried to contact the developer for comment and awaits a response.