The next few months should be the beginning of a downtown demolition zone as several buildings are razed to morph into a shiny, new version of a county judicial center that will jumpstart the planned downtown civic campus.
Though not quite talking dollars yet, the Greeley City Council Tuesday unanimously approved an agreement with Weld County to begin land swaps that will restructure downtown to make way for the changes. They passed the measure after a few questions clarifying that the agreement has nothing to do with funding of the project.
“There’s a lot of discussion going on with all of our budgets and where we’re at today with west Greeley and downtown,” said Councilman Johnny Olson. “Knowing that we’re in this budget crisis, we want to make sure we’re not moving forward with our development until we have a better understanding of where the city is (budget wise).”
In August 2025, the City Council approved using $10.7 million for a “pre-development” budget to begin the demolition work and land acquisitions. The entire project is set to cost the city of Greeley $130 million, according to the city’s website. The county project — including a judicial center and a new administrative building — is expected to cost $490 million.
The 25-page agreement approved Tuesday spells out essentially land swaps to be made by special warranty deeds that will first result in a new Weld County Judicial Center on what is being called West Block (North and South) between Ninth and 10th streets and 10th and 11th Avenues. All of the buildings on that block, half owned by the city and half by Weld County, will be leveled to make way for the judicial center, according to the agreement. Demolition, per the agreement, is set to start no later than Oct. 1, 2026.
The walls at the Greeley City Hall round building will be coming down around the same time. The remaining leveled lot will be used as a construction and storage yard while the new Judicial Center is being built, according to the agreement.
Weld County will deed what is being called “Juror Block” to the City of Greeley. That block, half of which is now the juror parking lot for Weld County, will be the site of the new City Hall, Greeley Evans School District 6 Building, and a hotel.
The agreement notes that the City of Greeley will demolish “Trophy Block” no later than Sept. 1, 2026. That is the site of the current Greeley-Evans School District administrative building, which will eventually become the site of a new parking garage. Until construction of the garage, it will be used as a temporary parking lot. According to the agreement, 234 spaces of the new garage will be dedicated to Weld County government, and the City of Greeley will operate and manage it.
When the relocations have all been realized, the Weld District Attorney’s office will be the last to relocate before the Centennial Center is leveled to make room for a new administrative building for Weld County. The underground parking structure will remain, according to the agreement.
The agreement spells out that construction on the parking garage is expected to begin by the end of the year in 2029.
