Realtor.com economists predict Colorado Springs housing market as #8 hottest in nation next year

[TCHP]

Yea, unfortunately, Cos does have a high percentage of curmudgeon within its borders that doesn't want anything to change. There is a Facebook group of vintage Cos with a huge number of posters who constantly complain about the changes. While I agree with them that it is sad we demolished a lot of our Edwardian architecture in the downtown area, its more than time to get over it and build something new.

Fortunately there are people out there who realize exactly what you point out and and are working towards that goal. The revitalization of the Atchison, Topeka & Sante Fe Depot into the Catalyst Campus is one example. The new tower under construction mere blocks away from that development reinforces that. The remodeling of the apartment tower north of there and the new apartments on Nevada, also all near this same area, show there is some energy being put into the south-east core of downtown. The Lowell neighborhood is another example of revitalization that has taken place this century in the core. The Hillside area and south Shooks Run will likely be next and once more solid plans for Drake are known, then south Downtown will take off.

Further north and probably farther off than I'd like, the north Nevada corridor, Cragmoor, and Papeton areas hold huge potential.

[LHS79]

Originally Posted by wilberry

Colorado springs has a lot of jobs in my field and If you have a Top secret security clearance it is even better.
TS/SCI ....

You have to have an active clearance so after 2 years you are SOL if you leave the military.

[abcdefg567]

Originally Posted by TCHP

Well, Dogtooth was outside the protected area, from what I can ascertain. no doubt that led to their failure. The rest of us are also just winging it.

I did visit the replacement company there: Good Neighbors. Not bad, but not Dogtooth. Although we were able to go in the evening and have beer, wine, and appetizers. Beer was a bit too trendy for my taste. Food was fresh. I had street tacos and my wife had a decosntructed caprese salad. Both were good.

To keep this real estate related, the Dogtooth area highlights exactly the kind of infill that Cos still needs to pursue. It is a small, new, retail complex built next to a new development of housing that creates a great neighborhood feel, but located in the heart of the city. There are actually numerous areas similar to this that savvy investors could pursue and promote if they had the millions to dump into the project.

I agree. I looked at the website for a couple of shopping centers near us (and the place you mentioned) and the demographics are way off/outdated, the owners don't appear to be doing anything to attract new money, and another one stated that there's not demand.

I think we'll see many of these places revitalized hopefully in the next 10 years.

What worries us, is it seems that there is a lot of focus on new areas further North/East and then less focus on everything else. We could be reading this wrong though...

[TCHP]

Originally Posted by LHS79

You have to have an active clearance so after 2 years you are SOL if you leave the military.

Yea, that is a huge stumbling block to some great opportunities to a percentage of people. That is just another reason why there will continue to be an influx of people to Cos and most of these will come with the equity and cash to continue to demand high end real estate on the eastern fringe of the city.

Originally Posted by abcdefg567

What worries us, is it seems that there is a lot of focus on new areas further North/East and then less focus on everything else. We could be reading this wrong though...

You are not wrong. North and east are easy. This is because new does not require as extensive an effort in regards to public benefit, plan reviews, state blight requirements, public partnerships, affordable housing percentages, so on and so forth that come with renewing older areas. The same holds true in Denver.

Look at the massive development that is Banning Lewis Ranch. Plow the land flat, build em up, sell em off, pocket the profits. No need for extensive reviews and marginally profitable efforts once through planning. These areas give the massive home layouts that are popular with buyers now, have more open space for people bringing lots of stuff with them, and provide huge profit margins for builders. There will always be a lot of effort in expansion over rebuilding, unless the city council changes the rules of engagement. It would be a balancing act that is tough to achieve in the developer driven mindset of Cos council chambers that poo-poos Boulder as a socialist paradigm that we absolutely have to avoid at all costs in Cos (tongue firmly in cheek here).

FWIW, there are those entities that prefer infill. The Cos Urban Renewal Authority highlights a number of long planned projects (in some cases these have been on the books for more than 30 years) that are complete, in process, or are under plan reviews. Check them out here: Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority - HOME These don't include projects like those I listed previously because those were taken on by private entities with deep pockets that chose to bypass this process for profit. We also are seeing newer style business modles in other places like Wild Goose Meeting House, Epicenter Coworking space, and several significant, California style SEO/SEM organizations like Uzu Media, Social SEO, and others that are centrally located and are going to drive increasing demand for cool, repurposed, infill development that is in more dense areas with more to do close by. Its not all quite there yet, but its gaining momentum. It will never be a Denver, but if it can close the gap on other comparably sized places attracting younger professionals, then it will be heading in the right direction.