Getting zip from Bonsai: Failing to meet its obligation, owner of zip line​ has not operated riverfront feature in 2025

Brandon Leuallen, The Business Times 

The Las Colonias Riverfront Zip Adventures zip line, which was launched after initial delays in August 2023, then shut down partway through 2024, remains inactive in 2025.

As an anchor business for the $30 million Riverfront development, Bonsai Design, a company that designs aerial-adventure courses and owns the zip line, secured $1.69 million in taxpayer-funded incentives, including payment of development fees, impact fees, land-lease discounts, property-tax breaks and grant support. Bonsai also was entrusted with operating the zip line, adding jobs and recruiting other outdoor businesses to fill the park.

The online bookings page for the zip line states: “We are closed for the remainder of 2024. Thanks for a great season and we hope to see you next year!”

On the zip line’s main website, riverfrontzip.com, it reads:  “We’re not open for the 2025 Season yet, please check back later!” 

Now, nearly two years after the zip line’s opening, Bonsai is not operating it, despite its inclusion as part of its incentive package with the City of Grand Junction and the Grand Junction Economic Partnership.

According to the original agreement that was updated in 2021, Bonsai’s obligations included:

• Building and operating a zip line (at a retail construction cost of no less than $600,000) across the Colorado River at Las Colonias Park.
• Creating a minimum of 15 new jobs.
• Recruiting outdoor recreation manufacturing businesses to the park.
• Maintaining its headquarters at the site for a minimum of 10 years.

In return, the city and its partners awarded Bonsai:

• $42,000 in property tax rebates.
• $1,000,000 to defray building costs.
• $500,000 in a discounted lease rate on city-owned property.
• $78,844 in rebates on building permits and development fees.
• $75,000 in a state of Colorado cash grant.

If Bonsai discontinues operation the city can purchase the zip line

According to the cooperative agreement between the City of Grand Junction and Bonsai Design LLC, “The full value of the incentive package, including land-use breaks and tax reimbursements, was $1,695,844, according to the contract. In the event BONSAI discontinues operation of the Zip Line improvements for more than one (1) year during the Vesting Period, the CITY shall have the option to purchase the Zip Line Improvements at their replacement fair market value as determined by appraisal.

Bonsai designed the zip line and much more at Las Colonias Park

In a 2017 announcement, GJEP celebrated the deal with Bonsai Design as a catalyst for turning Las Colonias into a magnet for outdoor-recreation companies.

“With Bonsai at the center of the Las Colonias Park business development, Grand Junction is poised to become a magnet for outdoor manufacturers and recreation entrepreneurs,” the news release read. 

An Aug. 15, 2023, article in The Daily Sentinel, titled “Zipline at Las Colonias Officially Open,” said: “Bonsai co-owner Thaddeus Shrader, who operates the company with his wife, Sarah, said the zipline was the culmination of years of work to improve Grand Junction’s riverfront, including building Las Colonias Park.

“‘We were allowed to, with the assistance of the city, basically design the Las Colonias Park with the agreement that we would stay here, and act as the masthead, and really pull people down toward the river, and work with GJEP year in and year out to invite businesses to move to Grand Junction and bring their families and their employees,’ Shrader said.”

Response from Riverfront Zip Adventures and the City 

When asked if Bonsai Design, which uses the trade name Riverfront Zip Adventures, is attempting to back out of operating the zip line, the city of Grand Junction issued a statement:

“The zip line at Las Colonias Park is operated by Riverfront Zip Adventures. The City is aware that it is not currently open or running and has been in contact with the company. We recommend that you contact the owner and operator for additional information.”

The Business Times reached out to Riverfront Zip Adventures for comment through the company’s voicemail system and received no reply as of the publishing of this article.

If The Business Times gets an interview or receives correspondence from Riverfront Zip Adventures, it will report about it in an upcoming edition.