Castle Rock, CO

Brothers Daniel and Luis Ramirez aren’t shy about their ambitions for the family business. They want their restaurant, Los Dos Potrillos, to be “the Shake Shack of Mexican food,” Daniel said.

The journey to turn that dream into reality starts later this year with the debut of Los Dos Potrillos Cocina y Cantina in Northglenn, a fast-casual spin-off of the brothers’ original restaurant, which serves some of the best tacos along the Front Range, according to The Denver Post’s readers.

Additionally, Los Dos Potrillos is set to break ground next month on a new restaurant and brewery in Castle Rock that will become its primary beer production and packaging facility. That will not only feed the taps in its aggressive expansion plan, but also make its original beers more widely available at liquor and grocery stores, the Ramirezes said.

Since the time they began peeling potatoes and washing dishes together in the kitchen of the original Los Dos Potrillos, which their father Jose Ramirez opened in 2002, Daniel and Luis have been dreaming of carrying on the legacy. After all, the restaurant is named for them.

As Daniel tells it, the rambunctious boys earned the nickname los dos potrillos, or two colts, from their grandparents. Today, they operate the restaurant group, which includes four locations in Littleton, Highlands Ranch, Centennial and Parker, as co-chief executives. The Parker location is the home of the existing brewhouse, which makes beers for the other restaurants as well.

“It’s just instilled in my brother and I. It’s a goal we set when we were younger that we wanted to expand upon our dad’s vision when he started Los Dos and we want to just make his legacy continue,” Luis said.

Here’s a taste of what’s to come at the new restaurants in Northglenn and Castle Rock.

While the Northglenn location is poised to be Los Dos Potrillos’ fifth, Luis prefers to call it the first of a new type of eatery to come.

The Cocina y Cantina, which is expected to open in a former Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q (100 E. 120th Ave.) in late October, will have a dining area, but operate counter service-style instead of like a seated restaurant. The menu showcases Los Dos Potrillos’ 50 bestsellers, including chile relleno nachos, a carnitas plate that’s currently a weekend specialty at other locations, and of course, tacos served on homemade tortillas. To sweeten the deal, it will serve free chips and salsa upon order, Daniel said.

Additionally, patrons will be able to order a rotisserie chicken meal that includes a whole bird plus rice, beans, tortillas and multiple salsas. Patrons who don’t want to dine onsite will be able to pick up their order at a drive-through window – to-go booze included, Daniel said.

The Cocina y Cantina will have a full bar, selling libations such as margaritas and Los Dos Potrillos original beer. And once the Ramirez brothers have a blueprint, they hope to expand rapidly.

“By the end of 2023 our goal is to have at least five locations ready to go. This is our first footprint. We’re anticipating it to get easier with each Cocina y Cantina going forward,” Luis said. “We’re going to try and open one every 30 days. And if we can get more efficient, we’ll try to do one every two weeks.”

Daniel and Luis are looking to expand the concept to northeast Colorado and into the Midwest to give folks further from the border “that true taste of Mexico,” Luis said.

The goal is to eventually reach 200-plus locations with help from their broker David Hicks & Lampert Brokerage, which has worked with brands like Shake Shack along the Front Range, Daniel added.

While the Ramirez brothers expand their fast-casual concept north, they plan to continue feeding taco and beer lovers to the south with a new brewery and restaurant Castle Rock.

The new location at 6372 Promenade Parkway will be the company’s biggest yet, with a 7,000-square-foot interior plus 1,800-square-foot patio the company is building from the ground up. The Ramirezes are building a brewery complete with an 8-barrel brew house, a large lagering tank and room for bottling and canning.

“The Mexican Lager is always running out because of the in-store demand. It’s hard for us to get that to other accounts,” Luis said. “Now with Castle Rock opening up, we’ll be able to provide Mexican Lager to our full-service restaurants and our other accounts.”

“I want to say we’re already at 300 barrels currently and with this new operation hopefully we can double that,” Daniel added.

The brewery currently boasts about a half-dozen styles, including a hazy India pale ale, a sour and several fruited recipes.

The Castle Rock restaurant will be full service and have the same menu as the existing locations. Daniel and Luis expect to break ground in September and are targeting a spring 2023 open date.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Ramirez brothers plan to expand the full-service Los Dos Potrillos, too, starting along the Interstate-25 corridor, with locations possibly in Monument, Colorado Springs and Pueblo, they said.

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CASTLE ROCK — When the first houses go up in the Dawson Trails neighborhood in Castle Rock in a couple of years, it will mark the beginning of the end of metro Denver’s decades-long southward migration.

This fast-growing town in the heart of Douglas County has no plans to annex any land farther south for development, meaning that what lies between Monument and Castle Rock today — vast expanses of open space and natural landscape along with a few dispersed ranchettes — should remain that way for future generations.

In other words, there is a place where one can escape the clutches of Denver and the suburbs that encircle it. A place where the prospect of more homes and more shopping centers and more bumper-to-bumper traffic finally dies.

There is, in fact, an end to metro Denver.

“That’s as far south as the Douglas County master plan shows any urban development happening, outside the town of Larkspur,” said Steve Koster, assistant director of planning services for Douglas County.

With fewer than 300 residents, Larkspur has no expansion plans in the pipeline. And if it ever does, it will be largely hemmed in by large swaths of land protected by conservation easements and preservation designations — the result of the purchasing power of Douglas County’s nearly 30-year-old open space sales and use tax.

The county currently has more than 64,000 acres off-limits to development via open space and easements. Voters will decide this November whether to extend the tax for another 15 years.

“For at least the foreseeable future, that does limit the growth to the south,” said Phyllis Resnick, executive director and lead economist with the Colorado Futures Center at Colorado State University.

But the natural buffer between Castle Rock and Monument — and in a larger sense between Denver and Colorado Springs — in no way means that urban sprawl is a done deal in metro Denver. The state demographer’s office forecasts that Douglas County alone will have nearly 400,000 residents by 2025 and more than 450,000 by 2040.

Growth is exploding in Lone Tree, Parker and Castle Pines, which broke ground on a housing development at the end of 2019 that will double the size of the town directly north of Castle Rock.

The metro area as a whole, which has just over 3.2 million people now, will grow to just under 4 million in the next 18 years, according to the state demographer’s office. That compares to a population of 1.8 million in 1990 and 2.4 million in 2000.

Those new arrivals will have to go somewhere, even if they don’t head deeper into Douglas County. Resnick sees a sharp contrast between the southern edge of the metro area and its north or east sides, where she said further sprawl could happen largely unimpeded unless large tracts of land are placed under some form of protection.

Aurora has numerous large residential and commercial projects in the works, some of which stretch east of the E-470 beltway. To the north, development in Adams, Larimer and Weld counties along I-25 shows no signs of stopping.

“It’s likely happening that the metro area will one day sprawl all the way to Fort Collins,” Resnick said. “It’s kind of like a balloon — if you squeeze it in one place, it’s going to pop out over here.”

The foothills act as a natural barrier to runaway development on the west side of town, she said.

But even if Douglas County has created a hard stop of sorts for development south of Castle Rock’s town line, it doesn’t mean the town itself has jettisoned the earth movers and drywall hangers inside its boundaries: Castle Rock’s population of 81,000 is expected to top out at up to 140,000 residents over the next few decades.

“The key limiting factor is water,” said Town Manager Dave Corliss.

Dawson Trails, itself, comes with 5,850 homes and a 158,000-square-foot Costco, with its popular fueling station, along with more than 3 million square feet of additional commercial and office space. Costco is expected to be Castle Rock’s largest single tax revenue generator, at $4 million to $6 million annually, Corliss said.

The project will be topped off with a brand new $118 million interchange on I-25 — the Crystal Valley interchange — which is expected to break ground next year and wrap up in 2025.

“It’s currently got some cows on it,” Castle Rock Development Services Director Tara Vargish said of the 2,000 acres on the west side of I-25 where Dawson Trails will rise.

Corliss said Castle Rock has planned for Dawson Trails — formerly known as Dawson Ridge and before that as Castle Rock Ranch — for nearly 40 years, when the land was first annexed into the town. For a number of reasons, including a developer bankruptcy, nothing happened on the parcel.

But this month, the town council gave final approval to the project. Completion of Dawson Trails could take until 2040.

“This is the end of Castle Rock’s plans for southern growth,” Corliss said.

Weld County is apparently the place to be in Colorado.

That's according to recently released U.S. Census Bureau data.

Sure, Weld is one of the largest counties in Colorado and it's easier for small communities than large cities to make the largest jumps in percentage-based population growth. Still, the county is home to seven of the state's 14 fastest-growing municipalities between July 1, 2020, and July 1, 2022.

Timnath, which lies just inside Larimer County and abuts Weld County, was the second-fastest growing municipality in Colorado. Along with the fast growth to the town, which claims a Costco and Walmart Supercenter, come decisions regarding developments and infrastructure.

Fort Collins, a growing population hot spot for decades, finally slowed and actually lost population during the two-year period.

Here's a look at the latest population trends, according to the U.S. Census Bureau:

Here is how Weld County is dominating the list of fastest-growing towns in Colorado

Here are Weld County towns' ranking among all Colorado municipalities, population percentage increase between 2020 and 2022, and the estimated current population:

No. 1: Keenesburg: 65% growth, 2,080 population

No. 5: Severance: 32.6%, 10,581

No. 6: Mead: 30.1%, 6,244

No. 7: Ault: 29.6%, 2,495

No. 12: Berthoud (located in Weld and Larimer counties): 19.8%, 12,710

No. 13: Frederick: 16.5%, 17,158

No. 14: Windsor (located in Weld and Larimer counties): 15.9%, 38,510

Growth requires more schools:Weld RE-4 holds groundbreaking ceremonies for two new elementary schools in Windsor

Here is how Larimer County towns and cities grew or shrank in population

Here is how the population changed between 2020 and 2022 and the estimated current population:

More: Timnath growing painsHarmony Road in Timnath ready to pop with retail projects

Movement mostly away from Colorado's mountain towns

More: Walden woesWalden business owners say men behind Never Summer Nordic yurts left trail of unpaid bills

Castle Rock and Colorado Springs are up; Denver and Boulder are down in populations

Colorado, including Larimer and Weld, sees population increases

With their proximity to the Rockies and growing tech industries, Boulder, Denver and Colorado Springs saw massive in-migration spikes during the pandemic. From March 2020 to January 2023, single-family home prices in the Denver market increased 13.5% from $509,999 to $589,500, reaching a peak of $742,000 in June 2022.

That boost in prices is likely to lead to increased property taxes this year—but how much homeowners pay will depend on where their home is located.

“Property taxes are always an item that buyers are interested in, especially when coming from out of state,” said Susan Thayer, owner of the real estate firm Thayer Group in Castle Rock, Colorado. “Rising property values are a double-edged sword. Property owners are happy to see rising values, but hate to see their property taxes increase as a result.”

More: Who Would Benefit From the Arizona Bill to Eliminate Property Taxes?

Calculating Property Taxes

County assessor’s offices determine a property’s real value, based on the property’s size, amenities and location, as well as comparing the property to others like it that sold in a 24-month time span.

From there, the county derives an assessed value, which is calculated differently depending on whether the property is residential or commercial. Statewide, a single-family residential property’s assessed value in 2022 was 6.95% of actual value.

To determine the property tax due, the city multiplies the assessed value times that year’s mill levy, which is set in December of each year by the local taxing authorities, which include the school district, city council, and any special districts that the property falls into.

Last year in Denver, that rate was 0.079525 of every $1 of assessed value, a 6.58% increase over 2021. In Colorado Springs, the rate was 0.03929, plus the El Paso County rate of 0.0745. In Boulder County, the tax rate was 0.104 on average.

That means the buyer of a non-primary residence with a market value of $7 million would pay about $38,689 annually in Denver, $55,358 in Colorado Springs and $50,596 in Boulder.

But homes tend to be more expensive in Boulder, where the median price of a home was $875,000 in January, compared to $460,000 in Denver and $335,000 in Colorado Springs, according to Realtor.com. That means, on average, Boulder homeowners tend to pay more in property taxes. (Both Mansion Global and Realtor.com are owned by News Corp.)

Colorado does provide relief for taxes on primary residences in the form of a homestead exemption, which in 2022 equaled 50% of the first $200,000 of the actual value of the property. From 2023 and onward, the exemption was raised to 50% of the first $300,000 of the property’s actual value, plus cumulative inflation for each property tax year thereafter.

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The state also doesn’t reassess properties every time a home sells. Rather, the assessment is conducted every two years on odd years, meaning that it can take time for properties to readjust to current market levels.

More: New Jersey Homeowners Have the Highest Property Tax Rate in the U.S.—Yes, Again

Relief for Homeowners

In 2022, the Colorado legislature passed a law to temporarily lower the residential assessment 6.95% of market value to 6.76% in 2023 and 2024. The law also offered a waiver on the first $15,000 in taxable value for residential property.

Lawmakers said the new law would provide $700 million in property tax relief over two years for Colorado homeowners and businesses.

Still, state economists have predicted that residential property values will increase by 26.5% in 2023, higher than had been originally predicted.

Ms. Thayer has been warning her clients ahead of time so they can budget when calculating their monthly mortgage and escrow payments.

More: What Property Tax Changes Are in Store for Luxury Homeowners in Edmonton, Canada?

“We had unprecedented price increases over the past two years and with the reassessment, taxes will be going up,” Ms. Thayer said.

The first half of 2022 taxes were due in February. The second half of the payment is due June 15.

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EXCLUSIVE: Jonathan Fuhrman has joined Castle Rock Entertainment as EVP and Head of Business Affairs.

The Shawshank Redemption and Seinfeld producer Castle Rock relaunched its film division in October with a $175MM film fund and multiple hires. Fuhrman will report to Castle Rock CEO Rob Reiner, and Co-Presidents Michele Reiner and Matthew George.

Fuhrman last year departed his post at Thunder Road Films, home of the John Wick and Sicario franchises, where he spent the last eight years and most recently served as the Co-President of Production of its boutique action label, Asbury Park Pictures, and also as EVP of Business Affairs for Thunder Road.

Fuhrman’s past credits as an executive producer include action-thriller Greenland starring Gerard Butler; crime-thriller Wind River, starring Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen; Halle Berry’s directorial debut Bruised; and Dev Patel starrer Hotel Mumbai.

Upcoming projects he worked on include Asbury Park’s debut feature, Black Site, starring Michelle Monaghan and Jason Clarke, and a number of Thunder Road projects including Ric Roman Waugh’s Kandahar, starring Gerard Butler; Dev Patel’s directorial debut, Monkey Man; Netflix’s Trigger Warning, starring Jessica Alba; and It’s All Coming Back to Me starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Sam Heughan and Celine Dion.

Castle Rock CEO Rob Reiner commented: “I’m thrilled to have Jonathan heading up our business affairs. He’s experienced, he’s smart, and most importantly, he’s a nice person who, on occasion, is well dressed.”

Castle Rock Co-President Matthew George continued: “I have known Jonathan for over six years and have worked with him previously on two films during his tenure at Thunder Road, Wind River and A Private War. I’ve continued to be impressed with Jonathan, between his savviness in terms of the industry and thoughtfulness in addressing the day to day challenges we face as film producers. Not only does Jonathan bring incredible industry experience to the table, he’s become a great friend and I look forward to working with him for years to come.”

Prior to his role at Thunder Road, Fuhrman worked at the Associated Press where he shepherded digital streaming content initiatives for the news organization, and he served as a Vice-President at The Weinstein Company where he is credited as an executive on Halloween (2007), The Reader (2008) and Nine (2009).

Reiner co-founded Castle Rock in 1987, with Martin Shafer, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn. Castle Rock has produced over 125 movies including When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men, In the Line of Fire, City Slickers, Miss Congeniality, The American President and The Shawshank Redemption, as well as one of the most lucrative and successful comedy series of all-time, Seinfeld.