<\/p>\n
For Jeff and Jenny Vierling, finding light-industrial and warehouse space off La Posta Road was the culmination of a two-year search for the right manufacturing space to keep their business, Tailwind Nutrition, in Southwest Colorado.<\/p>\n
For Ted Hermesman III, finding a tenant in Tailwind provided him with a needed catalyst that he hopes will kick-start development of light manufacturing along La Posta Road.<\/p>\n
La Posta Road, County Road 213, has been pegged for light manufacturing development for 25 years, but a lack of infrastructure, an increase in regulatory costs, and Durango\u2019s high cost of living always seemed to kill past efforts, Hermesman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe city of Durango has been trying for 25 years to get this area going, and now people are getting frustrated and selling,\u201d Hermesman said.<\/p>\n
Tailwind is experiencing rapid growth, including burgeoning sales through Amazon. The firm also plans to add new products to its supplement line, which now includes Endurance Fuel, the firm\u2019s original product, and Rebuild Recovery, which was added in May 2018.<\/p>\n
Rapid growth is not new for the firm, which started its first production facility out of a two-car garage in Dolores.<\/p>\n
After selling 500,000 pounds of Endurance Fuel in 2018 and adding Rebuild Recovery, Tailwind had outgrown the two buildings in Bayfield it uses for production and warehousing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were facing the prospect of having to move some lace else because of the lack of options, but that was something we really didn\u2019t want to do,\u201d said Jeff Vierling, who started Tailwind Nutrition<\/a> with his wife in a two-car garage in Dolores in 2012.<\/p>\n The Vierlings had submitted failed bids for three other buildings during their search before stumbling across Hermesman\u2019s building, which was built decades ago and only recently became available when Hermesman\u2019s brother, Bill, who owns Northpoint Home Furnishings<\/a>, no longer needed the warehouse space.<\/p>\n Hermesman said the combination of a 30-year-old building and the ability to move Tailwind in under 20-year-old, less burdensome development requirements allowed him and the maker of nutritional supplements to reach a deal that worked for everyone.<\/p>\n \u201cIt allowed us to be competitive in price where we could make this work,\u201d Hermesman said. \u201cI can tell you if we had do this today \u2013 to build from the ground up with current costs \u2013 we wouldn\u2019t be having this conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n As part of Tailwind\u2019s search, Vierling said he discovered only 40 private buildings, excluding hotels and Mercy Regional Medical Center, in La Plata County that had 10,000 square feet or more space available. Of those 40 buildings, he said only 12 could be used for warehouse or light-industrial use.<\/p>\n Tailwind\u2019s difficulty finding a new production and warehouse facility, Vierling said, illustrates the difficulty of attracting small, clean manufacturers to La Plata County.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had a two-year search, and then we still have significant construction work to do. Obviously, that\u2019s not going to work for many other businesses. It\u2019s not a repeatable process,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Light-industrial and warehouse space in Denver rents for about $8.25 per square foot, and its even cheaper in Salt Lake City and Albuquerque, Vierling said. In Bodo Industrial Park, he said rents are about $13.25 per square foot.<\/p>\n Janet Vierling said, \u201cIt seems in Durango, you can get to a certain size, but you reach a ceiling, and you\u2019re forced to leave. But we want our community to be in a place where businesses can grow and stay.\u201d<\/p>\n Laura Lewis Marchino, executive director of Region 9 Economic Development District of Southwest Colorado<\/a>, said in an email that La Plata County lacks spaces for growing companies that need warehouse and light manufacturing space.<\/p>\n \u201cIn most communities, a company would just build a new building to meet their growing needs, but the combination of current building costs; high land costs; and there are no \u201cindustrial\u201d parks available where the utilities and infrastructure are already in place, result in a bottom line they can\u2019t afford,\u201d she said in an email.<\/p>\n The shortage of available and affordable buildings for warehouse space or light manufacturing or land to develop, she said, makes moving to Farmington or Cortez attractive.<\/p>\n