GREELEY — A pair of iconic downtown Greeley buildings that drove more than 100 years of business and the city’s first major downtown mural will soon make way for parking. But the news is not as sad as Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi,” in which she laments the idea of paving paradise for a parking lot. The buildings, one a warehouse at 827 Seventh St.
, and the other, George’s Repair Shop at 825 Seventh St., are in a sad state of repair, and operator Don Eckhardt is ready for the next chapter of his life after being there since he was a kid. He’s 72 now.
For him, it’s a great time to walk away from the repair business that he says burned him out during the pandemic. That’s when no one had anything to do, but they gave him more business than he could handle. “Everyone got their bicycles out,” Eckardt said Tuesday upon hearing the news that the Weld County Board of Commissioners voted 5-0 Monday to buy the buildings.
“It took all the fun out of stuff. I had it constantly. It was thick.
It was the best business I’d ever had in history. And it burned me out.” The commissioners agreed to purchase the buildings for $820,000 with the condition that the family or its agent would be able to secure a demolition permit from the city of Greeley prior to closing on the sale, said Weld County Attorney Bruce Barker.
County records indicate both buildings were built in 1889. The original business there may have been a blacksmith shop, according to Greeley Museums. .