With the Nov. 14 opening of the Hotel Polaris, the Pikes Peak region gained 375 guest rooms and amenities that will please both guests and locals. The hotel’s opening also is expected to spur development of the rest of TrueNorth Commons, the 36-acre mixed-use project at the gateway to the U.S. Air Force Academy that also houses the AFA Visitor Center.
The Hotel Polaris “overnight is our second-largest hotel,” says Doug Price, president and CEO of Visit Colorado Springs. “That alone is huge. It’s going to attract a new audience that previously was almost limited to looking at The Broadmoor.”
Overall in 2024, about 550 new guest rooms were added in Colorado Springs, with the Polaris accounting for more than two-thirds of them. That’s significant, not only in terms of the region’s ability to attract tourists, but also to host conferences and events.
Owned by Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based Provident Resources Group and managed by CoralTree Hospitality, the hotel contains more than 26,000 square feet of much-needed indoor meeting, conference and event space.
The hotel’s opening made up for the loss of the Hotel Eleganté, Colorado Springs’ second-largest hotel until it closed after it was sold in January 2022.
Since then, “the options have been more limited for events, but now the Hotel Polaris opening changes the trajectory of meetings and events and conferences,” Price says.
The hotel has already booked more than 56 events for 2025 and is confirming more every day, Price says. For example, the Governor’s Conference on Tourism — an event that hasn’t been held in Colorado Springs in 20 years — will bring 400 attendees from across the state to the Polaris next fall. Although events like the Space Symposium will stay at The Broadmoor, the Polaris will provide overflow rooms for attendees.
In addition, Price expects the hotel’s amenities, including the three unique flight simulators, spa and six restaurants and bars, to attract Colorado Springs residents.
“The local food critics are already writing rave reviews” about the Aviator Rooftop Bar, Pamela’s, an upscale restaurant, and Doolies, a casual eatery, he says.
Price expects the hotel will immediately boost Colorado Springs’ sales and lodging tax collections and will drive visitors to entertainment venues on the north side, including the Ford Amphitheater, Top Golf and iFLY.
“The Polaris alone will be able to move the needle on that lodging tax,” he says.
When originally modeling the numbers the hotel was expected to generate, its owners projected about a 71% occupancy rate, says Dan Schnepf, founder, CFO and chairman of the board at Matrix Design Group and president of Blue & Silver Development Partners, the developers of TrueNorth Commons.
“The occupancy rate is going to ramp up from here,” Schnepf says. “Usually, hotels take a year or two to ‘seat.’ We’re looking at maybe a 2% greater occupancy rate at stabilization.”
Because the hotel’s concierge staff will be well-versed in directing guests to local attractions such as the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum, the Pikes Peak Summit Visitor Center and Downtown Colorado Springs, “you’re going to see offshoot spending by people who didn’t know about all the elements in town,” Schnepf says.
The hotel currently employs 230, a staff that will increase to 340 during prime tourist season, he says.
Schnepf also thinks the hotel will be a catalyst for further development at TrueNorth Commons. The hotel serves as the project’s anchor, along with the Air Force Academy Visitor Center. Construction of the center, which is designed to evoke an aircraft taking flight, has been completed and turned over to the Air Force.
Washington, D.C.-based Gallagher & Associates, the exhibition designer for the Olympic Museum, is also designing the exhibits for the visitor center, which is expected to open in late 2025. The exhibits will use technology and immersive storytelling to illustrate a cadet’s day and four-year journey at the Academy.
Plans for the remaining 16 acres at TrueNorth Commons include 30,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and a 200,000-square-foot office building.
Schnepf says he is seeing interest in the retail space, but plans for the office building have been deferred because of the stalled office market and high interest rates. The 9.9-acre office market parcel is zoned commercial. Although he hopes dropping interest rates will generate investment, Schnepf says, the office market parcel could accommodate any other commercial use that would be complimentary to the Air Force Academy and the community.
“We will work with the Air Force to determine highest and best uses, if we can’t get the office component to go,” Schnepf says.
