By Theresa Woods
Downtown Colorado Springs’ goal to be the “Economic and Cultural Heart of the Region” is dependent on maximizing economic and cultural assets. Positioning Downtown as a prime location for entrepreneurial activity, makerspaces, artisan manufacturing and other places where new ideas flourish was central to the revitalization plan since the start.
The East End, also known as Eastern Downtown Colorado Springs (EaDoCoS), is a hub for Downtown’s creative industry. Located between the city center and Memorial Park, the East End received 12% of the $705 million in investments made Downtown to date. Redevelopment of the former Gazette building, Penrose-St. Francis Hospital and Union Printers Home will further energize the East End.
A Flourishing Industry
“Downtown is a state-certified Creative District, boasting four times the national average of creative activity and employment,” says Austin Wilson-Bradley, director of Economic Development at Downtown Partnership of Colorado Springs.
The Colorado Creative District program, administered by the state’s Office of Economic Development & International Trade (OEDIT), certifies communities that economically contribute to the state economy through creativity, culture and the arts. For Downtown Colorado Springs, certified since 2014, the creative economy is a $74 million industry that employs approximately 1,000 people.
An accelerant to this Downtown industry was the formation of Pikes Peak Makerspace, 735 E. Pikes Peak Ave., in 2016. It provides shared equipment and workspace to artisans and makers, empowering early-stage creative entrepreneurs through access to resources. Also encouraging the industry are the galleries and shops throughout Downtown Colorado Springs selling these goods. With vacancy rates low and rents rising, supportive programs such as Pop-Up Shops through the Downtown Partnership help growing businesses find footholds and, ultimately, permanent locations.
Artspace, a Minnesota-based nonprofit real estate organization specializing in affordable workshops and housing for creators and entrepreneurs, is opening a $29 million mixed-use, five-story building in 2025. This combination of 3,000 square feet of commercial and studio space with 51 live/work apartments is expected to accelerate existing arts businesses and attract new creative industry. Utilizing the historic Tim Gill building and new construction, the project broke ground in April 2023 at the corner of Wahsatch Avenue and Costilla Street.
“Approving art space and committing the funds that have been committed are an acknowledgement of the critical need for artists to be dead center downtown in a city,” says Jon Khoury, executive director of Cottonwood Center for the Arts, who was deeply involved in the project.
A robust arts and culture scene depends on a community of artists and artisanal manufacturers, as well as events and festivals, theater productions, museums and concerts. After record lows in 2020 due to the pandemic, attendance is steadily increasing. The Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts, 190 S. Cascade Ave., is the most-attended cultural institution in Downtown Colorado Springs. Cottonwood Center for the Arts is second.
Redefining Business and Art
Established in 1997 to promote the exploration of a creative life, Cottonwood offers performances, programs, workshops, classes and studio space to more than 100,000 annual visitors at 427 E. Colorado Ave.
“We believe that every person has a need to express themselves,” Khoury says. “We try to inspire [people] … to discover that within themselves.”
Situated near some of the densest new residential development downtown, Khoury identifies Cottonwood as a community asset. “We have a relationship of reciprocity. … We are an integral part of how people conduct business,” he says. “Because when you can say ‘the Art Center is right there’ and the ‘restaurants are right in this area,’ that all corresponds. People can come here and participate in the arts and then go out to eat, and there’s that reciprocity. We are as important to business as businesses are to us.”
This philosophy, that art and culture are critical to business development and the local economy, made Cottonwood a thriving arts business run solely on its revenues. “I didn’t ask for a dollar in my first 10 years because I wanted to prove that we could make this work,” Khoury says.
The gateway to the East End, Pikes Peak and East Colorado avenues, has already seen the completion of The Plaza at Pikes Peak’s 215 rental units plus amenities, Pikes Peak Lofts’ nine converted loft-style condos, the renovated Eastern Colorado Bank and the transfiguration of 40,000 square feet of historic train depot into a modern office hub for aerospace and defense companies — Catalyst Campus.
“What they do, in terms of incubating new businesses and growing them, we are doing,” Khoury says. “What they’re doing is as artistic as what we’re doing.”
Engineering is art, in Khoury’s view, as much as hairstyling, tattooing, painting and sculpting is art. Another type of artistry, 1350 Distilling and Mash Mechanix Brewing Co., opened businesses across the street.
The intersections at the east end of Pikes Peak Avenue are the epicenter of change sweeping the district. Fiona, a 321-unit upscale rental property with additional amenities, opened last June. Nearby, 18,000 square feet were renovated into the chic Night Ramen restaurant, retail space and the modern yet timeless CLAY Venue for events. The parking lots and old buildings rampant in the area are in the crosshairs for similar development.
“When I got to Cottonwood 12½ years ago, there was no power on the east side of the street beyond our parking lot. It was desolate,” Khoury says. “Now… you can see there’s a lot of action here, tons of apartments going up here. I do think that we helped revitalize this neighborhood and showed people what the potential is.”
