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Front Range businesses migrating to the Western Slope

Real estate prices driving the migration
Chris Curry works on a camper trailer in the Timberleaf Trailer workshop in Grand Junction, where he moved his business after being priced out of Denver.

Kevin Molick found a new calling when he started his camper trailer company, Timberleaf Teardrop Trailers. The custom-made, technicolor retro campers were a hit. After two years, it was time to expand.

But suddenly, Molick’s home of 40 years – Denver – was no longer a comfortable fit. Real estate was too expensive for his burgeoning business to survive. Timberleaf sells about 30 trailers a year, each starting at $20,000.

“It’s just too competitive there,” Molick said. “I don’t have that much of a mark-up to be able to afford twice the rent.”

Timberleaf started looking around Colorado and even out of state, in Houston and Salt Lake City. But the outdoors environment there wasn’t the right fit.

Read the rest of the story at Colorado Public Radio.