Rialto Bridge campaign surpasses goal

LOVELAND – The Community Foundation for Northern Colorado's Rialto Bridge funding campaign has surpassed its goal of $700,000, raising nearly $740,000 to help finance the Rialto project.

In early 2011, the Community Foundation signed a letter of commitment to the City of Loveland to write a check for $700,000 -- whether it raised the money or not.

As it turned out, it raised more than that amount. Local donors making major gifts included the Bruce and Muriel Hach Family Fund of the Community Foundation, the George Kroh Charitable Remainder Trust, Home State Bank and the McWhinney Foundation, which all made six-figure commitments. The Denver-based Boettcher Foundation also awarded a $35,000 grant for the project. The remaining gifts came from over 90 individual donors.

Construction began in earnest last summer. All of the money received in the fundraising campaign will go directly to support the Rialto project, and all costs from the campaign were covered by the Community Foundation, according to Ray Caraway, Foundation president.

The city, meanwhile, is spending $1.3 million to help build 20,000 square feet in a three-story structure adjacent to the Rialto Theater in downtown Loveland. When complete, the addition will be called the Rialto Theater Center.

The center will include a new restaurant called Next Door, second-floor community and conference space and third-floor private office suites. Developer Troy Peterson is paying half the project's costs and will own the restaurant and office space. The city will own the rest.

The project is scheduled for completion in February. A grand opening is scheduled April 11-14.