Crucial Residential Developments in Downtown Colorado Springs
Reinvigorating Downtown Colorado Springs is a keynote of recent years. Boosters deem residential developments in Downtown Colorado Springs to be crucial for the health of the City. Property owners, and often renters, take an interest in the neighborhoods. They get involved in all aspects of civic responsibilities, create special events, neighborhood cleanup, and safer residential areas. In addition to new residential developments in downtown Colorado Springs, the “downtown boosters” would like to see supporting businesses such as grocery stores and childcare centers.
Several new Colorado Springs residential developments have appeared in recent years as an organic migration from suburbia to urban areas has gained momentum. These are small developments and they have sparked quite a bit of interest. The Colorado Springs Business Journal (CSBJ) recently discussed plans for a 5-plex on a vacant lot at 210 Pueblo Ave. in a neighborhood immediately southeast of downtown.
New developer Jenny Elliott was quoted saying there is extraordinary “excitement at the prospect of adding new and sorely needed residential development downtown.” Nonetheless, Elliott has bumped into numerous time-consuming regulatory challenges and fees. The CSBJ also noted similar difficulties faced by Darsey Nicklasson’s new 33-unit development on S. Nevada Ave. Mayor Bach is determined to streamline the process.
The City of Colorado Springs developed and then published a Master Plan in 2009. “The Imagine Downtown Master Plan” seeks to “energize and revitalize the historic city center.” It describes an area comprised of approximately 2 square miles downtown. Downtown serves the citizens of Colorado Springs and is the seat for El Paso County. It also meets the needs of residents in surrounding communities, including Black Forest, Widefield, Security, and Woodland Park.
Key goals of the Master Plan address residential developments in Downtown Colorado Springs. First of all, the plan seeks “A Focus on Community activity and A Place to Live.” More precisely, the vision encourages construction and/or conversion of new housing units in an array of types, including mixed-use developments. Objectives of residential development, it says, could be facilitated by:
- Showing prospective developers the opportunity to build profitably downtown
- Focusing on midpoint-priced housing
- Collaborating to ensure all price points are represented downtown
There are possibilities for new Colorado Springs homes in the downtown neighborhoods of the Core, Near North End, Middle Shooks Run, South Wahsatch, Citygate, South End, and Mill/Las Vegas. Building heights vary by neighborhoods. The Core includes High-Rise structures, there are Mid-Rise structures in the North End, the outer eastern downtown areas, and in Citygate and South End. The Plan seeks to incentivize Mid-Rise developments in other areas as well.
The Imagine Downtown Master Plan is not happening in a linear fashion but rather little by little on many fronts. It is exciting to see Downtown Colorado Springs moving into its own slowly but definitely surely.
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