Drive across Montrose on any given day and you’ll find it hard to miss the signs — literally and figuratively. New businesses opening on Main Street. A riverfront campus on the north end adding jobs and amenities at a pace this city hasn’t seen in years. A city budget that, at $168.9 million for 2026, reflects a community investing seriously in its own future. This is not a downtown story. This is a Montrose story.
Start on East Main, where the energy is hard to deny. Persimmon, a refined farm-to-table Asian grill, is opening this month in the beautifully restored corner property at 346 East Main Street, completing the transformation of a landmark downtown space alongside its sibling concept MsSo. Cimarron Family Practice, a direct primary care clinic, opened May 1, offering residents a membership-based model of healthcare built around time and access rather than volume.
A downtown art gallery has returned with a resident artist. An escape room has expanded its footprint. These are not chain operators hedging their bets — these are local owners betting everything on Montrose.
Michelle Klippert, a Century 21 broker who works in the area, sees the shift in how people are relating to downtown. “It’s about destination places,” she said. “Anyone could order socks online but to have a place where you can have an experience such as MsSo, Eatery 66 and Ray’s Café — it’s created a new environment that’s exciting to meet together and eat together. I think that’s a big plus for any small community like ours to regenerate the downtown and I think it’s a huge advantage.”
Then head north toward the river. The Colorado Outdoors campus on the city’s north end added 240 jobs in 2024 alone, welcoming businesses in fitness, food and beverage, and manufacturing to a mixed-use riverfront development unlike anything else in the region.
The Montrose Recreation District is now purchasing property at Mayfly Drive within that same campus to build a new Community Fieldhouse — a second premier facility that will serve residents on the north, east, and west sides of the city who have long deserved better access. The transformation of that corridor is well underway, and it is only accelerating.
Across the city, the infrastructure picture is equally encouraging. A new hotel is planning to break ground this year, and several businesses are actively looking to relocate to Montrose.
The city’s 2026 budget includes major investments in wastewater infrastructure, a new Public Works facility, and housing expansion. Community Options has secured land and initial funding for an affordable housing project that will serve residents with disabilities.
The Mexican American Development Association is expanding its kitchen incubator program — a resource that gives food entrepreneurs a real path to market without requiring them to build out a commercial kitchen on day one.
The Hispanic Affairs Project, another key community partner, is also deepening its commitment to economic integration in Montrose. “For years, the Hispanic Affairs Project has promoted social inclusion, and we are now progressing to economic integration,” said Ricardo Perez, Executive Director of HAP. “Recently, HAP has been convening Hispanic business owners from diverse backgrounds and sectors who have found ways to prosper in collaboration. When a community values and celebrates diversity, economic growth follows.”
None of this is accidental. It is the result of deliberate choices made by city leaders, community organizations, and individual business owners who decided that Montrose was worth betting on.
When voters narrowly approved Ballot Issue 2A in November 2024, raising the hotel and lodging tax to fund city investments, they made a statement about the kind of community they wanted to build. The projects underway today are the answer to that statement.
City Manager Bill Bell, who has led the City of Montrose since 2011, describes the city’s approach as one rooted in partnership rather than regulation.
“Since starting as city manager in 2011 during the recession, we have waived most of the City’s building permit fees for commercial construction projects that have created new jobs and positive community impact,” Bell said. “We do this to reduce the overall cost burden of our local entrepreneurs so they can focus on their primary business objectives. The ultimate goal is always to make the business the most successful it can be over the longterm.”
Klippert, for her part, is quick to share the credit beyond the civic sphere. “I don’t think it’s all the administration that helps that,” she said. “I think it’s the entrepreneurial spirit that helps with that too.”
Jim Elder of ElderAdo Financial sees the momentum as a reflection of the whole community pulling in the same direction. “It’s incredibly exciting to watch Montrose grow and thrive in every single neighborhood, not just downtown,” he said. “This vibrant momentum doesn’t happen by accident — it’s the direct result of our local leaders, business owners, and neighbors teaming up to invest in our future.
From the bustling shops on Main Street to the fantastic new jobs and amenities opening up on the north end riverfront, everyone is working together to make sure our entire community shares in this success.”
For those of us who have covered this city for years, what stands out right now is not any single opening or groundbreaking.
It is the geographic breadth of what is happening. Growth is not clustering in one corridor or one zip code. It is showing up on the riverfront, on Main Street, in the neighborhoods, and in the city’s capital plans. That kind of distributed momentum is what separates a real expansion from a flash of activity.
Montrose is not waiting for someone else to come in and build it. It is building itself. And the work is well underway.
Tonya Maddox is the publisher of the Montrose Business Times.
