The celebration will be held in the Wells Fargo atrium lobbyDowntown. Koelbel's 52-year-old company is currently developing the1,100-acre Rendezvous community in Granby, near Winter Park. Thecompany also developed the 540-acre Preserve at Greenwood Village;the 450,000-sf Centennial Promenade power center at County LineRoad and Interstate 25 across from the Park Meadows regional mall;and is the developer of the large Centennial Valley commercialproperty at US 36 and McCaslin, which it bought from HomartDevelopment, the former development arm of Sears Roebuck & Co.in 1999. The company also developed the Breakers in southeastDenver, the first resort-style apartment community in the metroarea.

Koelbel came to Colorado by happenstance. After graduating fromhigh school in Michigan during World War II, he enlisted in theNavy. He was supposed to be sent to Northwestern University inEvanston, IL, but instead his orders were rescinded and he was sentto CU. At first he was disappointed, but when he first laid eyes onthe Flatirons mountains in Boulder, he knew he had found hishome.

At CU, he has chaired several boards, including the MackyAuditorium Renovation. He also helped to establish the CU RealEstate Center and he recently aided in the transfer of theUniversity Improvement Corp. to the University of Colorado RealEstate Foundation. The improvement corporation's role is to acquireproperties that can financially benefit the university. The companyis now run by his son, Buz, who graduated from CU in 1974.