Celebrating the next phase of Pueblo’s gem

(PUEBLO, Colo.) — The Historic Arkansas Riverwalk of Pueblo brings visitors from near and far to see the beauty found in the heart of the downtown area. The story behind the Riverwalk is rooted in the 1920s flood which destroyed the downtown area, that now serves the southern Colorado community lined with businesses and restaurants.

“We have different aspects out throughout the Riverwalk that kids can enjoy,” Pueblo Mayor Heather Graham said. “We have restaurants for families, there’s always free events going on, especially during the summer months. We have the Lake Elizabeth that has the boat rides. It’s really just a really community driven aspect and it’s our gem and people come to Pueblo to see this.”

To further enhance the experience for both visitors and locals, the Riverwalk has undergone improvements with the newest being an expansion of the channel towards Santa Fe Avenue and building a multi-use boathouse.

Thursday morning marked the next step towards the Riverwalk improvements with local leaders coming together for a groundbreaking celebration.

“This groundbreaking means that Pueblo number one gets a fantastic amenity,” Lynn Clark, Executive Director of Historic Arkansas Riverwalk of Pueblo (HARP) said. “Number two, our community cares about beautiful things, and we’re willing to do the work to build them. So, I think it’s a perfect example of how when you work together, you get things done.”

Multiple entities came together to help make this project possible costing close to 16 million dollars, evidently, the determination in the Pueblo community came together to enhance the future of the area.

“We were able to take some of the city’s ARPA funds that we had left over and move some money around in the city, with the ARPA funds and how we were able to allocate those,” Mayor Graham said. “We applied for a $1 million grant, so at the end of February, I went and spoke at DOLA, gave a seven-minute presentation and we received a couple of weeks later the notice of receiving, that we were going to be getting that $1 million grant.”

Plans for the boathouse include space for public restrooms, concessions, a storage space for boats, and a permanent location for the HARP Authority Office. The top level will feature a rooftop party deck which will be open for the public to rent out for events.

“That rooftop event space is going to be really nice for Pueblo,” Scott Robb, President of H.W. Houston Construction, said. “For one, we’re short on them anyway and two, it’s going to bring new vendors and new caterers and people down there and it’s an income generator.”

H.W. Houston Construction are the ones helping bring this project from the ground up. Robb said “means a lot to my company because we just recently bought back our company, 100% internal local Pueblo Control. We’ve done the other two phases… back in those days we were locally owned as well, so now it’s 100% locally contracted and we’re proud to be that contractor.”

According to city officials, construction will not affect activities planned for the summer with the expansion expected to take around 18-24 months to complete.

“The next couple of weeks are going to be pretty slow getting permitting and getting things like that, contracts out,” Robb said. “Probably going to start full-fledged construction here come July 15th, and then we will be done by December 2025.”

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