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New buyers — Falcon Marketplace
By Leslie Sheley
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Evergreen Devco Inc., a real estate company with offices in Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, purchased the 36-acre Falcon Marketplace at Meridian Road and East Woodmen Road in September.
Russell Perkins, a principal with the company, said he doesn’t think they have ever done this type of venture before, acquiring a project that has already “been around the track a few times.” They usually start from scratch, he said. However, he added that they were brought in as a solution to a problem. “We don’t plan to make any major changes; there wasn’t anything wrong with what was proposed, it was just a set of unfortunate circumstances,” Perkins said. “The previous owners needed to relieve some pressure, and that’s where we came in.”
Their relationship is primarily with the leasing brokers, Crosbie Real Estate Group LLC, who represented Leon Capital Group, the previous owners, he said. When they needed to find someone to take over the project, Crosby Real Estate thought of Evergreen, as they have experience with King Soopers and other projects in El Paso County and Colorado Springs.
One of the challenges in taking over involved the completion of the necessary stormwater and drainage projects that were not previously addressed, Perkins said. They contracted with Drexel, Barrell & Co. in Colorado Springs, and they did many studies on the hydrology of the area, not just the water that would naturally accumulate on the property but also the inadequacy of the regional facilities of the area, he said. They suggested creating ponds and concrete work to divert the water away from Woodmen Road.
Perkins said the design for the solution is complete and under construction; the big pipe that connects the two ponds is 90% finished and should be done in the next two to four weeks. He said they are just waiting on Mountain View Electric Association to complete their work in the area, and then they can finish. “We believe the pipe and the ponds will address the historical inadequacy,” Perkins said. “Should we have a major water event, we believe it is secure at this point; when it’s done there are structures in place to divert the water away from East Woodmen Road, even though the pipe may appear to be pointing at the road.
“It’s my understanding that historically development projects in the vicinity —primarily upstream from our project — were designed with insufficient stormwater detention capacity. As a result and to correct those deficiencies, we were required to dedicate more than 6 acres of our land for regional storm drain ponds and construct those necessary improvements — pipes, channels, culverts, forebays, etc. It will be a big improvement to the overall stormwater management system in the area, but the downside is that’s 6 acres of land that could have been devoted to more value-producing commercial property.”
Perkins said once the drainage projects are done, it will be surveyed to make sure everything conforms to the plan; and, the necessary paperwork will be sent to Federal Emergency Management Agency and the federal government for approval; then they can pull building permits. “We are trying to be conservative in that we won’t get approval until next summer,” he said. “Pre-COVID, that process only took two to three months; now it’s taking six months.
“King Soopers is a highly favored retail and other businesses like to be near them. They secured their property December 2019 and are ready to start building as soon as possible. We have already started to set up potential businesses to open in the Falcon Marketplace and will start announcing them early next year.”
Perkins said the rough projection is to have nine other business parcels; they expect four to five businesses to open concurrently with King Soopers; the rest should be open within the next year.
“We are excited to provide this to the community and look forward to announcing the businesses that will be involved,” he said. Perkins also said they are open to input from the community about businesses they would like to see in the area. Let the company know, he said. Visit https://evgre.com.
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Winsome building to start early in 2021
By Pete Gawda
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The Winsome development, located at the northwest corner of Hodgen and Meridian roads, will include 760 acres, with 143 residential lots, roads, trails and commercial property.
On July 9, 2019, the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners approved rezoning and preliminary plans for the subdivision The bulk of the property was rezoned to allow for residential lots of 2.5 acres or larger. The board also rezoned 7.88 acres of the property for commercial purposes. The commercial property is located at the intersection of Meridian and Hodgen roads, where the Black Forest Master Plan calls for commercial development.
On July 23, 2019, the commissioners approved the formation of Winsome Metropolitan District for street improvements, safety protection, acquisition and maintenance of drainage and recreation facilities, mosquito control and covenant enforcement.
Andrew Biggs, chief operating officer, and Joe Desjardin, director of entitlements for ProTerra Properties, sat down with the NFH and provided the following information on the Winsome development.
Developer ProTerra Properties recently filed for final plat approval for filing 1, which calls for 47 residential lots of about 2.5 acres each and 19.8 acres of open space, trails and drainage. Filing 1 is located directly across Hodgen Road from Bison Meadows. Each lot will have its own well and wastewater treatment system. Water rights for individual lots have been secured from the original property owner.
Until they receive final plat approval for filing 1, the developers are limited to doing preliminary grading. By the end of the year, they expect final plat approval, which must be secured before lots can be sold. They expect to have the streets paved by next spring.
Preliminary plans call for a detention pond to slow the release of stormwater and two water quality control ponds, which will allow sediments to settle before the water is released, a community fire pit and centralized mailboxes. The parking lot for the mailboxes will also serve as a trailhead. Ultimate plans include trails on both sides of West Kiowa Creek, which bisects the property. Many of the trees in filing 1 will be preserved within the open tract and will provide a buffer area for wildlife. The community will not be gated so the recreation facilities will be available to the public.
As sales of lots progress in filing 1, the developers will begin work on filing 2 to the west and then filing 3 across West Kiowa Creek. Filings 2 and 3 will contain some lots of 5 acres or larger.
Water intensive irrigation will be discouraged and water conservation measures will be implemented. A Dark Skies initiative will be maintained, requiring minimal outdoor lighting. There will be no streetlights. A limited number of horses and cattle will be allowed on the 5-acre lots, and smaller animals will be allowed on the smaller lots.
The property is located in Falcon School District 49. In lieu of donating land for a school, developers will pay a fee to the school system. Winsome is within the boundaries of the Falcon Fire Protection District.
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