By Rich Laden, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Feb. 21--It's one of Colorado Springs' oldest shopping centers, and wrinkles began to show long ago.
Southgate, at Southgate Road and South Nevada Avenue, opened in 1959 and for years had a strong following among residents in nearby south and southwest Colorado Springs.
But when King Soopers, Woolworth's and other mainstays abandoned the center during the past several years, Southgate lost favor, and shoppers started going elsewhere.
'There were several stores there, but there's nothing now,' said Jan Hanlin, a resident of the Skyway neighborhood who used to shop at Southgate's King Soopers. 'It looks pretty bad. It needs a face-lift.'
Now it's getting one -- but much more than a nip here and a tuck there.
Work crews began tearing down Southgate on Thursday, the first step in a $14 million project to raze most of the shopping center and build space for stores and restaurants.
Southgate's demolition will take place during the next several days, said Kevin Kratt, a Springs developer. The renovation comes from a partnership of Kratt and Omaha, Neb.-based Noddle Development Co.
Construction on retail space, which will have the same facade as Broadmoor Towne Center to the south, will start March 10, with completion scheduled for summer, Kratt said. Stores and restaurants are expected to open in August and September on the old Southgate site, which then will become part of Broadmoor Towne Center.
So far, tenants for the new portion of Broadmoor Towne Center include Panera Bread and Noodles & Co. restaurants. Both have locations in north Colorado Springs.
Sears, which is sandwiched between the two shopping areas, will not be renovated. A 24-Hour Fitness and the Corkes Bottles & Brews liquor store, now part of Southgate, will stay and will remain open during the renovation.
Besides Southgate's razing, a vacant International House of Pancakes building in the parking lot will be torn down. One was opened at Broadmoor Towne Center.
A small, satellite post office will be removed, Kratt said, and the frontage road on the east side of Southgate will be eliminated. A traffic signal will be installed at Lynn Avenue.
When the work is completed, the expanded Broadmoor Towne Center will have about 650,000 square feet, or about half as much as Chapel Hills Mall.
The success of Broadmoor Towne Center, which opened in 2000, and southwest-side growth fueled the Southgate project, Kratt said.
Broadmoor Towne Center is 100 percent occupied, said Kratt, who developed the center with Arizona-based Univest-Broadmoor LLC. Existing Broadmoor Towne Center stores include The Home Depot, Borders Books & Music and PetsMart.
Southwest Colorado Springs was underserved for years until a Target-anchored shopping center was built southwest of Interstate 25 and Circle Drive. Broadmoor Towne Center came along later.
'Up to when there was the Target center, everybody (on the city's southwest side) had to go to The Citadel mall,' Kratt said.
'That's the underserved market, and that was deep enough to sustain some retail (growth) down there.'
In addition to Panera and Noodles, potential tenants include a gourmet grocery, a national shoe store, an office supply store and a sporting goods store, along with additional restaurants, said Kratt, who handles leasing of the center.
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(c) 2003, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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