By Rich Laden, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Sep. 12--Prime real estate along the red-hot Powers Boulevard retail corridor is as valuable to developers as back yards are to homeowners with kids.
Within its sprawling First & Main Town Center along Powers, however, Nor'wood Development Group of Colorado Springs is setting aside a portion of the shopping center property for something seemingly at odds with stores, restaurants and other businesses: a 1.5-acre park.
Then again, maybe a park isn't out of place, after all.
The First & Main concept always has been a shopping area with amenities and features that would create a family gathering place, Nor'wood Vice President Fred Veitch said. It's been modeled after similar shopping areas around the country.
To that end, Nor'wood has begun building a park across the street from the Cinemark movie theater complex, on First & Main's north end and southeast of Powers and North Carefree Circle.
The park, to be finished this year, will have stores and restaurants around it as the mammoth 180-acre First & Main expands during the next few years.
First & Main is home to Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, PetsMart and Galyan's sporting goods, along with other stores and restaurants.
Designed to be reminiscent of an old-fashioned town square, the park will have an amphitheater, fountain, trees, grass, a children's play area and a large, refurbished clock that once stood at the entrance to housing areas off North Carefree, Veitch said.
The idea is to have a place where families could come before or after they shop and eat. Parents could relax there for a few minutes before they pick up kids from a movie. And area residents could attend concerts, art shows and other events without ever venturing into a store.
'We're really committed to what we consider a very long-term strategy that includes a strong sense of place,' Veitch said. 'Our design isn't just about putting in stores. It's about creating atmosphere and a community gathering place.'
The park site is a highly developable parcel, not a throwaway piece of ground, Veitch said.
'It's right in the middle of everything we do,' he said. 'It's a very strategic piece of ground.'
First & Main will own and maintain the park, which is designed to fit with its other 'town center' features such as lampposts, roundabouts, brick sidewalks and a fountain in a plaza in front of Cinemark.
'It's the ... town center concept,' said Jim Nass of Nass Design Associates in the Springs, which planned First & Main. 'Our park is probably similar to what Acacia Park was in the 1940s to downtown (Colorado Springs).'
Nationally recognized retail consultant Gregory Stoffel of Irvine, Calif., who has worked for Nor'wood, said many retail developers have embraced the 'sense of place' concept.
'It's part of creating atmosphere and creating a larger reason than to just shop or dine,' Stoffel said. 'They actually have places where events occur, and, over time, it stays on the radar screen of shoppers.'
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(c) 2003, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
