CostCO coming to Castle Rock in 2025
Douglas County could soon be on track for its third Costco Wholesale Corporation after the Castle Rock City Council voted to proceed with a $10 million infrastructure assistance package for one of the world’s largest retailers. A new Costco location, part of the anticipated Dawson Trails Planned Development Plan, would generate an estimated $4 – $6 million per year in new sales tax revenue for the Town of Castle Rock. The Dawson Trails development will be located in the southwest portion of Castle Rock; the new Costco location is expected to be built near the intersection of I-25 and Crystal Valley Parkway, about four miles south of Plum Creek Parkway.
With eventual sales tax proceeds from the new retail location, the Town of Castle Rock intends to hire 18 first responders at the beginning of 2025, according to a statement from Melissa Hoelting, the Town of Castle Rock’s communications manager. Similar incentives for Costco have been offered by other Colorado municipalities. Parker provided an $8 million package for its Costco location in 2007, and this year, Longmont provided a $10.9 million package to Costco.
At the first reading of the proposed infrastructure assistance agreement, Town Manager David Corliss said, “If Costco successfully comes to Castle Rock, they would be our largest single retail sales tax generator by a large amount.”
Not all are in favor of the proposed investment. Councilmember Laura Cavey, who represents District 2 in northeast Castle Rock, was the sole vote in opposition of the package. At a council meeting on September 6, Cavey said, “I have heard from a lot of people within my district; they are not a fan of incenting [Costco] to come on the back of the taxpayers.”
At the same meeting, Mayor Pro Tem Kevin Bracken weighed in. “The incentive is not to the Costco company themselves, it’s to the infrastructure so that they can have roads to go into their building. We’re not paying for their brick- and-mortar.”
Mayor Jason Gray added that he sees both sides. “It’s hard to give incentives to big giant companies, but we have 35,000 people in Castle Rock that already have Costco memberships so if we can keep those dollars in our town, that will benefit Castle Rock.”
For residents of Castle Pines, the new Costco location in Castle Rock would be approximately the same 10 miles they must travel to the Costco location in Lone Tree.
As for comments from Costco, nothing until later. According to its corporate media team, company policy doesn’t allow comments on new stores until they are due to open within three months.
For now, the Town of Castle Rock hopes for its own Costco location to open to the public when construction on the Crystal Valley interchange is complete in 2025.
