A 25-story residential tower that would be the tallest building in Colorado Springs history would be constructed downtown along with an 11-story office structure as part of a proposed $270.1 million mixed-use project that would dramatically change the city's skyline.
"The proposed project represents a historic step in the evolution of Colorado Springs' urban core," according to a plan submitted to the city’s Urban Renewal Authority by The O'Neil Group, the Springs-based company that developed the Catalyst Campus for Technology and Innovation on downtown's east edge and formerly owned a local defense contractor.
The project would be developed immediately south of Centennial Hall and the Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts, on a block bounded by Sahwatch and Costilla streets and Cascade and Vermijo avenues.
The residential tower, which would include a five-level, 405-space parking garage, would go up on the block's southwest corner; the office building, with its own five-level, 250-space garage, would be constructed on the northeast corner.
The sites currently are occupied by a surface parking lot formerly used by 4th Judicial District jurors, two houses that have been converted to offices and an aging, vacant warehouse.
The residential tower's 25 stories would eclipse the height of the Wells Fargo Bank Tower that opened in 1990 at Cascade and Colorado avenues. The Wells Fargo building has 15 stories of offices and a 16th-floor penthouse that houses building equipment.
As part of city government’s form-based code, created several years ago to regulate downtown development with a goal of achieving a more urban look and feel, there are no height restrictions for buildings in the area of The O’Neil Group proposal.
"After years of planning and significant public investment in infrastructure and streetscape improvements along Vermijo Avenue, the proposed project represents the first new private development along what the city has deemed a signature street in the heart of downtown," The O'Neil Group proposal says.
"To fulfill the city’s vision of establishing Vermijo Avenue as a destination corridor, this type of private investment in high quality complementary land use is critical to create vibrancy and commercial activity where there is currently a proliferation of surface parking lots and non-engaging civic buildings such as Centennial Hall and the County Judicial complex."
A study prepared for The O'Neil Group by economist Tatiana Bailey, director of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Economic Forum, estimates the project will generate a total economic impact of $491 million over its first seven years, which includes construction-related spending, the buildings' operation and creation of 3,760 jobs.
The O’Neil Group project would continue a surge of construction and redevelopment in downtown Colorado Springs that includes last year’s opening of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum, this year’s debut of the Weidner Field multiuse stadium and Robson Arena at Colorado College, a half-dozen hotels, and hundreds of apartments that are open or in various stages of planning.
Read the full story on The Gazette.
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