A plan to spruce up south downtown area

Stores, restaurants, offices and housing are envisioned for a blighted downtown industrial area under a redevelopment plan approved Tuesday by the Colorado Springs City Council.

CityGate, a mixed-use project proposed by Springs real estate company Griffis/Blessing Inc. and Texas businessman Ray Washburne, is planned for 19.2 acres southwest of Cimarron and Sahwatch streets on downtown’s south end.

For now, no users or tenants have been signed, and there is no timetable for when the project will get under way or be completed, said Griffis/Blessing President Steve Engel.

The site was Metso Minerals’ manufacturing operation and was purchased last year by Griffis/Blessing and Washburne. Several Metso buildings have been torn down.

The City Council voted 8-0 Tuesday to declare the area an urban renewal site, which means tax revenue generated by its redevelopment can be spent to upgrade utilities, fix streets and make other improvements on and near the site. That saves developers money and serves as an incentive for them to revitalize shabby areas.

While a thriving industrial area for years, city leaders have looked for what they call higher and better uses for south downtown. CityGate’s developers and some city leaders expect the revitalized area to become a southern gateway into downtown.

“This can’t happen soon enough for me,” Councilwoman Jan Martin said.

The urban renewal designation means the council endorsed the findings of the Leland Consulting Group in Denver, which found the property blighted.

Buildings and property with environmental contamination, safety problems and inadequate public improvements are among the conditions that must be present for property to be declared blighted and therefore receive an urban renewal designation under Colorado law.

But urban renewal doesn’t necessarily guarantee success or a quick turnaround.

In 2001, the City Council designated 100 acres of southwest downtown an urban renewal site, and did the same for the City Auditorium block three years ago. Those projects remain on the drawing board.

North Nevada Avenue also was declared an urban renewal site in late 2004; developers say a Costco-anchored shopping center that will be part of the redevelopment project will open in 2009.

Model homes and a community center have been built on the Gold Hill Mesa site on the Springs’ west side, which also received its urban renewal designation in 2004.

An urban renewal designation is critical, but doesn’t create a market for the new uses developers are envisioning, such as retail, apartments and offices, Engel said.

“All we’re really doing is taking the very first step creating the possibilities for revitalization and redevelopment of that particular area,” he said.

An urban renewal designation doesn’t “take away the pain” of high land costs and crumbling public improvements associated with redeveloping downtown areas, said Beth Kosley, executive director of the Downtown Partnership advocacy group.

“It’s always trickier to do downtown development because of the strange footprints and the strange site configurations,” she said.

CityGate sits immediately south of the southwest downtown urban renewal site. While it will complement southwest downtown, CityGate’s redevelopment will take place on its own schedule and with its own set of retail, office and residential users, Engel said.

Staff writer Pam Zubeck contributed to this report.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0228 or rich.laden@gazette.com