DURANGO — A little more than a year before the retail sporting goods behemoth comes to town, REI Co-op’s impending arrival has raised concerns, especially among those who wonder what impact its 20,000-square-foot store will have on Durango’s eclectic array of local outdoor recreation businesses.

While some business owners aren’t sweating it, John Agnew has a less sanguine view of the effect REI’s presence may have on his snowboard and outdoor gear shop on Main Street once it opens in early 2025. The Seattle-based chain has 181 locations and reported nearly $4 billion in revenue last year.

“They’ll eat up a lot of goggle, helmet and snowboard sales,” said Agnew, who founded The Boarding Haus in downtown Durango in 1995. “I had to fight for many years to get the brands I want.”

REI, which has several locations in Front Range cities, has expanded its mountain market footprint in recent years, opening outposts in Dillon and then Glenwood Springs. The next-closest REI to Durango is an ol..

Xcel Energy-Colorado has pre-leased space in a soon-to-be-completed building in the River North Art District and plans to move out of its headquarters in downtown Denver in 2025.

Xcel, Colorado’s largest electric utility, and real estate firms Ivanhoé Cambridge, Hines and McCaffery said Wednesday that the company has pre-leased all the office space at T3 RiNo, a new six-story, mass-timber building. At 220,172 square feet, Xcel Energy will be the largest office tenant in RiNo, according to a statement by the companies.

About 1,200 employees will be based at the new headquarters.

Work on the building is expected to be completed by the end of the year. T3 RiNo, made of black spruce, is among recent new buildings in the Denver area that are using wood as a way to reduce carbon emissions in construction.

Buildings and construction account for about 40% of the global greenhouse-gas emissions, according to RMI, a Colorado-based research and consulting organization focused on environmental..

The project will also include retail space.

The lending environment is challenging this year due to high interest rates, even in one of the healthier commercial real estate sectors.

A $108 million build-to-suit distribution center for McKesson Medical-Surgical may become the first project in the Hunt Midwest Business Center's final phase.

The county is looking at a site just off Interstate 95 in Woodbridge for the project.

More homes are coming to a huge development just south of Fuquay-Varina as growth continues to spill into Harnett County.

A new four-story, 60-unit apartment community in Phoenix will be targeted for veterans and seniors, while another multifamily project is coming to Roosevelt Row. Other deals in this week's roundup include RV and manufactured housing transactions, new restaurants and industrial projects.