Grand Junction (Denver, Clifton, Lake City: low income, appointed, transplants)

[redwhiteblue]

I am interested in getting information about Grand Junction from those of you that live there or have lived there in the recent past.
Does Grand Junction have shopping centers/malls that include
-Macy's
-Borders or Barnes and Noble
-Dillard's
-Home Depot etc...

How is the weather as far as sunny days go?

Do you feel safe?

And is there an airport in GJ to fly to the east coast from?

Thanks!

[Wyomiles]

Weather is great, there is an airport that connects to Denver or Salt Lake City. It has been a few years but I believe they have all of those stores and more. I always felt safe but I try not to go where I don't feel safe. In other words I don't care were you live there are places that are not safe.

[jazzlover]

I lived in that area for many years, but left a few years ago. I still have family in the area. I would not move to Grand Junction now. It is growing too quickly and not smartly. In my opinion, crime is becoming a serious problem there. To people from crime-ridden areas of other parts of the country, it may not seem so--but comparing it to what it was just a few years ago, I think crime IS a problem there. The family I have in the area are seriously considering relocating elsewhere in Colorado, in part because of the out-of-control growth and escalating crime problems.

Growth has brought better shopping to Grand Junction, but so what? If shopping is the only criteria, there are far better places for the helplessly hedonistic shopaholic to relocate to. As for the airport, it is a typical small regional airport--a flew flights each day to Phoenix, Salt Lake City, or Denver--generally which are horrifically expensive, unless you are connecting to fly elsehwere. Then they are a little more reasonable, but often not much.

Yes, lots of sunshine.

[CosmicWizard]

Grand Junction is just like every other place in the sense that it has its plusses and minuses. Coming from an east coast metro area of 1.75 million it's almost heaven to me. On the other hand, when my daughter visits from Maui she calls it a hell hole. It's all relative!

Shopping is just a necesary evil to me rather than a form of entertainment, so I can't say with certainty if the specific stores you mention are all located here. Certainly you could buy anything sold in those stores from the stores that ARE located here.

I must agree with jazzlover that the growth in this area doesn't seem to be well planned. It does appear to be rather haphazzard.

Weather wise, it's not too radically different from Reno. It's sunny just about always. I think the annual precip is about the same, though Reno gets more snow. The biggest difference that I'm aware of weatherwise is that Reno cools off as soon as the sun goes down and it'll drop into the 50s even in the summer. In GJ it stays pretty hot overnight. There have been several overnite lows in the 70s this summer. Nothing like the hot, humid 80 degree temps at 6AM on the east coast though.

All things considered, Grand Junction is a great place to live.

blessings....Franco

[azmadons83]

Hey i live in GJ, and grew up here. Shopping isn't great we have one little mall, with things like Target, JC Penney's, Sears. But there is a newer shopping center that opened last year, with Kohl's and Davids Bridal, and rumor has it we will get a Dillards soon, but not for sure. We do have Home Depot, Lowes, Borders and a Barnes and Noble.

Crime is not a huge thing in GJ, just your typical small town crime. I grew up here, and am 24 and i have never had a problem. So yes i definatly feel safe.

We have one big hospital St. Marys Hospital (which i work at). We also have one college, Mesa State College, and also the airport, which usually connects flights to Salt Lake City, UT and Denver, CO.

We have lots of sunny days, the summers here are hot, and dry, usually in the high 90's.

Hope this helps

[redwhiteblue]

Thanks for all the info. The sun is really important to me so Grand Junction sounds like it has great weather.

How are the property tax rates?

[Blueveteran]

Another useful thing I would like to know from anyone there is what are some good apartment complexes that you know of and which ones should be avoided? I tried rent.com and some other websites for apartments, but I could not find anything in depth and useful for determining a good place to live. I am looking at moving into the area maybe in Jan 08-Feb 08 and would appreciate any input. Thank you

[rmm64]

I'm a recently former resident (30 yrs) and native of GJ (just moved away the beginning of this month.) A word of warning. The oil & gas industry has boomed the last couple of years on the western slope. Rental vacancy rates in GJ are around 3% last I heard (couple months back) and prices have steadily gone up. Check the local newspaper, The Daily Sentinel, to see what rentals are available. Stay away from the Clifton area as that is not a good area to live in (lots of low income families, crime, etc.) Best advice is to research available housing as good as you can before moving there or you may be sadly disappointed. To illustrate, there was an article in the newspaper a few months back about the issue, and one case that was sited was of the City of GJ hiring a new city engineer from the Denver area. He quit his job, brought his family over and they all had to live in a camper trailer due to the lack of housing. After two weeks of looking and finding nothing he quit and got his old job back in Denver and went back. If you have a family, I'd strongly advise going ahead by yourself and securing housing before bringing your family out. Also, in spite of the national foreclosure problems in the news, Grand Junction was recently listed in Money magazine as the #3 hottest real estate market in the country. It's a sellers market, though it has been showing signs of slowing down the past few months. Again, you can thank the energy industry for that.

As for shopping, there should be plenty to choose from. Mesa Mall is the only indoor mall in the area, but there are several other shopping centers with most national chain stores...WalMart Supercenter (x2), Lowes, Home Depot, Ross, Kohls, Best Buy, Circuit City, OfficeMax, Office Depot, Sam's Club, Kmart. There is no Dillards or Macys specifically, though there is talk of a new shopping center going in with Dillards as an anchor store, but that will be a year or two away at the earliest.

Sunshine? There's plenty of sunshine. The Grand Valley (where GJ is located) still has lots of agricultural industry and is also considered Colorado's wine county with lots of local wineries. Winters are typically mild, but it can occasionally dip below zero a few times. Snowfall isn't' too bad in the valley, usually only a few inches as most which is mostly gone in a few days time. Summers can be on the hot side, with averages in the mid to upper 90s supplemented with a few streaks of 100+ temps. I believe last summer's high temp was 109F and a few years back it hit 113F. But everyone will remind you it's a "dry heat".

The local airport, Grand Junction Regional Airport (recently renamed, formerly Walker Field Airport), is a local hub serviced by five airlines. The only non-stop flights offered have flights going to Denver, SLC, Phoenix, and Las Vegas.

Crime has also steadily risen the past few years with the influx of transplants moving to the area (yet again the energy industry.) Shootings, arsons, burglaries have all increased dramatically. GJ is also one of the main hubs of drug trafficking for mules coming up from Mexico. Several times a week the drug dogs are called down to the bus station to sniff through the luggage and almost always something is found. GJ also has a very large meth problem. So much so that very recently a meth treatment center was opened in conjunction with the work release residence.

Overall, GJ is a big town with a small town mentality that has grown very rapidly the past few years. Unfortunately for the locals, wages have been far out-paced by the cost of living. It's possible to "get by", but unless you have a good paying job secured before moving there, it can be very difficult to have a career with a future. I'm in graphic design, and over the past 10 years I've had 3 good jobs, only to be laid off from each one thanks to corporate restructuring as the work was centralized to a metro area like Denver (too big, no thanks.) That's why after living there most of my life, I finally had enough and moved away. For me, it's a nice place to visit (or retire), but not a good place to make a living with any hope of a future for you or your family.

Good luck to one and all considering moving to GJ.

[CosmicWizard]

rmm64....30 years in one place ( any place ) is a long time. It's usually a good thing to broaden ones horizons and experience life from a new location. I hope your new place, wherever it may be is a place that enlivens you and refreshes you, and supports the life you desire to live.

blessings...Franco

[valygirl]

We've been in G.J. for two years and are dismayed at the exploding growth. However, we're retired & can stay home away from the traffic and crowds most of the time! Compared to our former home, Southern CA, this is still "small-town". We love waking up every day to brilliant sunshine! We had far more overcast, gloomy days in CA than here in CO. We feel very safe & have not put in a security system. Back in CA, we would not have gone a single night without locks & alarms set. Yes, rental is going to be a huge problem for you. Our property taxes have doubled in the last year. But as Franco said, "all things considered", we love living here.