GRoWTH
woodmen: future main street?
plans for city’s northeast laid out, carried out
by Rich laden the gAzette
— What do Colorado Springs real estate developers, a local church and an area youth-sports organization have in common? They’re some of the dozens of property owners whose plans for big-box and smaller stores, groceries, restaurants, apartments and offices are expected to transform a nearly eight-mile stretch of Woodmen Road into one of the Pikes Peak region’s hotter commercial corridors over the next several years, real estate experts predict. “I tell people that the corner of Woodmen and Powers is going to be the middle of town,” said Colorado Springs developer Jim Morley and a property owner along Woodmen. “It’s going to be the corner of ‘Main and Main.’ All the growth is going in that direction.” The growth is evident in the thousands of homes built over 20 years in northeast Colorado Springs subdivisions such as Nor’wood, Stetson Hills and Wolf Ranch, as well as thousands more in unincorporated Black Forest to the north and Woodmen Hills and Meridian Ranch in Falcon to the east. Now, thousands of additional homes are going up in Cumbre Vista, Forest Meadows and Falcon Highlands, among other newer residential areas paralleling Woodmen, between Powers and Falcon. The largest residential development, the more than 21,000-acre Banning Lewis Ranch, will have an estimated 75,000 homes over the next half-century. Banning Lewis’ first few thousand homes will be built on the property’s north side, which is bounded by Woodmen Road; home construction began in Banning Lewis a year ago. More rooftops aren’t the only factor in Woodmen’s projected growth. After years of being a sleepy, two-lane road, Woodmen is being widened to four lanes, between Powers and Falcon, with room to expand to six lanes. Additional lanes on Woodmen were recently completed between Powers and Tutt boulevards; weather permitting, the rest of its widening, from Tutt to Falcon, is scheduled for completion by early December, said Terry Schooler, manager of the Woodmen Road Metropolitan District, which is overseeing the work. Woodmen also appeals to developers and property owners because it’s one of the few roads in the Springs that runs directly from central El Paso County to Interstate 25. “You only have a couple of east-west thoroughfares in Colorado Springs,” said developer John Gatto, who plans to develop the southwest corner of Woodmen and Marksheffel roads. “Now, you’ve got a big population in the Falcon area, and it’s filling in between Powers and Falcon. So, (Woodmen is) just a natural for development.” —
More homes and a wider Woodmen aren’t attractive just to developers, however. Catholic/Adventist-based Penrose-St. Francis opened its new 156-bed St. Francis Medical Center Aug. 16 at the southeast corner of Powers and Woodmen; the facility is expected to attract medical offices and other nearby services, such as hotels and restaurants, real estate experts and property owners say. Pride Soccer Club, a youth-sports organization with about 4,500 members, has partnered with a Denver-area real estate company that will develop about 32 acres fronting Woodmen. The sale and lease of the Woodmen frontage to commercial users will generate revenue for the club’s expansion of soccer fields at the site, said Andy Brooks, a Pride Soccer founder and former club president. Woodmen Valley Chapel, seeking to expand beyond its crowded Rockrimmon Boulevard campus in northwest Colorado Springs, owns 113 acres on the northeast corner of Woodmen and Marksheffel. The church will sell 63 acres to developers or others for commercial use, but keep 50 acres for a campus. The current downturn in the local economy and slowdown in home construction will cause some developers to slow their plans for Woodmen Road, Morley said. But, he said, those economic conditions mean a delay in commercial development, not a shelving of projects altogether. He expects much of the corridor to be developed in the next 15 to 20 years because additional rooftops and road improvements are too attractive to ignore. “We’re certainly betting on it,” Morley said.
BRYAn oLLeR, the gAzette Flagger Kari Williams cautioned drivers to slow down as they made their way through a stretch of Woodmen Road east of Black Forest Road this month. some say the Woodmen/Powers Boulevard area is soon to be a commercial corridor.
BRyaN olleR, The GazeTTe Developers, churches and businesspeople are buying available property on the city’s northeast side. Building on Woodmen Road makes sense to developer John Gatto because it’s one of the city’s few east-west thoroughfares, and, “Now, you’ve got a big population in the Falcon area, and it’s filling in between Powers and Falcon.”
