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What used to be an empty field along a relatively quiet section of Elk River Road is now a busy hub for light-industrial companies and customers seeking products including pet food and custom bicycles.

There are opportunities for business owners who want to be part of the action at Copper Ridge Business Park, located east of Elk River Road across from Downhill Drive.

Several lots remain in the fourth and final phase of the project.

"I would think they'd be gone shortly," said Patricia MacArthur of MacArthur and Stine Real Estate, who also is a partner in Copper Ridge Business Park LLC.

The fourth phase of the business park is behind Elk River Farm and Feed. Three lots, ranging from .47 acres to .99 acres, are available and priced between $118,000 and $237,000.

Fourth-phase lots have been available since November 2003, when lots in the third phase sold out, MacArthur said.

Copper Ridge Business Park LLC began developing the project in 1995.

The project is composed of 51 mostly light-industrial lots. Some retail spaces are in the buildings closest to Elk River Road.

Conroy Moving & Storage Inc., Wagner Equipment Co., Steve Green Co., FedEx and Moots Cycles are among businesses in the park.

"We were pleased but not surprised," MacArthur said about the project's success. "There was pent-up demand by a lot of people with their businesses in barns and garages. ... That's what we wanted, was a place for locals to come and invest in their businesses."

One of the biggest advantages of the Copper Ridge Business Park is its location within the Steamboat Springs city limits, which gives it good exposure as well as city utilities, MacArthur said.

The business park includes about 53 acres of open space, and a landowners association maintains landscaping.

Denise and Steve Peterson recognized the potential of the project in 1998 when they purchased the first of four lots in the park. They're completing a 37,000-square-foot office warehouse in the park's third phase. All of 23 units in that building are sold or are under contract.

"We knew it would do well, (but) we were surprised by how well it did," said Denise Peterson, who, with Steve Peterson, owns Wescoin, a commercial property development company based in one of the four warehouses the Petersons built in Copper Ridge.

"Some of it is just a gut feeling," Denise Peterson said about the couple's decision to invest in the park. "There isn't any other property relatively affordable that can house the types of projects we were thinking of. ... It lent itself to putting up some larger buildings."

Few light-industrial projects are in the works in the Steamboat Springs area.

Warehouse and commercial retail space should be available by the end of this year in the Logger's Lane development, slated for a site west of Windemere Landscape & Garden Center. Those warehouse spaces will be available for lease only.

Other developers are setting their sights on more affordable areas outside Steamboat Springs.

The town of Hayden is reviewing the Hayden 33 Industrial Park Subdivision proposed near the Hayden Cemetery on Routt County Road 37. The project would have about 41 mixed-sized lots.

For more information about available lots in Copper Ridge Business Park, call MacArthur at 879-4659.

-- To reach Tamera Manzanares call 871-4204 or e-mail tmanzanares@steamboatpilot.com