Nearly 700,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and mixed-used commercial development is in the works for 130 acres east of Highway 24 at Judge Orr Road, next to Meadow Lake Airport.The development, dubbed Meadow Lake Commons, is modeled after The Promenade Shops at Centerra in Greeley, Colo., according to the design team.William Guman of William Guman & Associates said the project includes storage units and detached small, medium and large-scale retail stores – with unique features.The storage units, which Guman refers to as “storage condominiums,” will be sold, not rented. He said the units will be about the size of a two-car garage and equipped for telephone and Internet service, lighting, air conditioning, insulation and access to on-site restrooms.”The units are intended for people who have antique cars or other hobbies that require a lot of time,” Guman said. “They are for people who like to putter.” Those who putter will pay $50,000 each for the units, he said.Likewise, the professional office space located in the retail buildings will be sold, not leased. “This is something that is catching on,” Guman said. “There are tax benefits for people to buy rather than lease, and they build equity in their office property rather than pouring money into rent.”Guman also relayed in a news release that a national hotel chain is under consideration for the site. The hotel’s landscape would include an already existing spring.Meadow Lake Commons is comprised of three parcels owned by Aero Properties, Sun Prairie and Land Meadow Stone Development and sits adjacent to Meadow Lake Airport, Meadow Lake Industrial Park and the Santa Fe Springs housing development. William Guman & Associates is the lead developer for all four developments.Speaking for the Meadow Lake Airport Association, Sandra Martin said she thought the storage facilities were an appropriate use of land near an airport, but she was dubious about the other commercial uses planned for the development. “We just don’t have the economy to support that [type of development],” Martin said. “What concerns me is that Guman is trying to leverage this new Meadow Lake Commons with the Meadow Lake Airport expansion, the Meadow Lake Industrial Park and Santa Fe Springs. I think to package it all as a great thing is a disservice to everybody. There’s not a whole lot about it that I like, but until this becomes more than somebody’s idea, I’ll just wait.”However, Guman is looking at a big picture that includes future growth.”The entire area of Falcon and the vicinity of Judge Orr Road and Highway 24 is developing pretty quickly,” Guman said. “Commercial development follows residential development. Right now, Santa Fe Springs is expected to break ground in the first quarter of 2008, so we’re hoping the rooftops in Santa Fe Springs will help drive the construction and build-out of Meadow Lake Commons.”Guman said, although the local housing market is slow today, he expects the base realignment and closure plan that will bring new troops to Fort Carson and Schriever and Peterson Air Force bases also will bring buyers to Santa Fe Springs.”We’re seeing a need for what we call attainable housing,” he said. “The first phase of Santa Fe Springs will have about 170 homes in the upper $100,000 to low $200,000 range. We see a strong market for that particular group. The development will have community centers, parks and trails, so we think that price range with those amenities will give Santa Fe Springs a jump start.”Guman said 33 percent of Santa Fe Springs’ 5,400 homes are designated for buyers age 50 plus. “The Brookings Institute recently estimated that nationally about 70 percent of the housing needed for the retiring boomers market has yet to be built,” he said. And he’s banking on Colorado’s draw to lure those baby boomers.”The Rocky Mountain region, especially the Front Range, is identified as one of the top three or four retirement markets in the country,” Guman said. “People want to move here. People want to retire here. And the climate is regarded as very favorable. We’ve got over 300 days a year of sunshine.”Snow is not a deterrent for many retirees, he said, especially if snow removal is handled by the residential community. However, Guman also is targeting the warm-weather baby boomers who plan to head farther west when they retire.”We’re marketing to buyers that own more than one home, so they may winter in Phoenix, Scottsdale or Palm Springs, but they’ll summer here in the Pikes Peak Region.”
