Colorado Springs, Colo., Arena Seeks Other Events after Hockey-Team Shutdown. - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

By Sara Nesbitt, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Aug. 12--The shutdown of the minor-league Colorado Gold Kings hockey team leaves the Colorado Springs World Arena scrambling to book other events.

The team's schedule included 34 to 36 games from October through early April. World Arena general manager Dot Lischick said the arena will take a financial hit from the shutdown, but she would not disclose the amount.

Lischick said the arena has booked two events in October but still is trying to schedule events for winter and spring dates the team had reserved. She said the arena is trying to book two concerts it could not accommodate because of conflicts with the team's schedule.

'It leaves us in a lurch, but ultimately it will help us free up dates,' Lischick said. 'So now we're actively seeking clients to fill those dates.'

The arena earned revenue from Gold Kings games from parking, food and beverage sales, but Lischick wouldn't disclose terms of the team's contract with the facility. The team kept all ticket revenue under its contract with the arena.

The arena likely made more than $140,000 in revenue from beer sales alone at Gold Kings games, assuming about half of the average 2,200 people attending the games bought one drink. That revenue had to be shared with Boston Concession Group Inc. and the team.

Arena officials are reviewing potential bookings the arena rejected as a result of scheduling conflicts with the Gold Kings games. Lischick also hopes working with the Arena Network -- a group of about 40 arenas throughout the country -- also may bring bookings.

'The Gold Kings were definitely a good partner for the building, so that's definitely a loss,' Lischick said. 'But when one door closes, another one opens.'

In addition to hockey games, the World Arena hosts trade shows, conventions and other sporting events. The arena hosts about 200 events a year, Lischick said.

To see more of The Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.gazette.com

Colorado Springs, Colo., Real Estate Market Likely to Remain Down. - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

By Rich Laden, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Dec. 20--Colorado Springs' sputtering commercial real estate market didn't rebound as expected this year and likely will remain lackluster in 2003, a new report suggests.

Unless the national and local economies improve, and unless sectors such as electronics and high-tech turn around, large industrial buildings will stay empty, office construction will remain stalled and some rents will fall.

That's the gist of a forecast by Grubb & Ellis/Quantum Commercial Group in Colorado Springs, one of the city's largest commercial brokerages.

A similar Grubb & Ellis/Quantum Commercial report a year ago anticipated a turnaround for commercial real estate by mid-2002.

Some good things happened during the year.

In the local office market, the square footage occupied increased by 576,000 square feet from the start of the year. Major retail projects included new Wal-Mart and Target stores, a Galyan's sporting goods store and the launch of the upscale Shops at Briargate on the city's north side.

But there was plenty of bad news, too.

Even as more office space was occupied, the increase was far less than the boom years of the late 1990s. Office vacancies by year's end rose several percentage points to 8.7 percent -- or 12.1 percent if space being subleased by various businesses is included. On the industrial side, the square feet occupied fell by 543,000 square feet.

'We've had kind of a triple whammy, which has been (Sept. 11), the stock market crisis and the meltdown of all the dot coms and the high-tech sector,' Grubb & Ellis/Quantum President Dale Stamp said.

Still, market conditions aren't as bad as they were in the late 1980s and early '90s. During the current economic slump, interest rates are low and real estate owners aren't saddled with as much debt, meaning they can ride out the economic storm.

As the commercial real estate industry looks for new employers to come to town in 2003 to help fill space, there are some bright spots.

The arrival of U.S. Northern Command, the Pentagon's new homeland defense command, potentially will lure defense contractors and vendors who will help fill commercial space, said George Swintz, a Grubb & Ellis/Quantum Commercial office specialist.

And although large manufacturing plants will be tough to fill, demand remains strong for smaller -- 25,000 square feet and smaller -- industrial buildings, industrial specialist Rich Kelly said.

High-traffic areas such as along North Academy Boulevard continue to be attractive for retailers, retail specialist Cameron Mogadam said.

Because the overall market is soft, tenants can negotiate lower rents, and landlords and building owners invest money to upgrade properties.

'Astute tenants will realize there is downward pressure on lease rates,' office specialist Jerry Knauf said. 'They can lock themselves into a good aggressive rate.'

To obtain a copy of Grubb & Ellis/Quantum Commercial's 2003 forecast, call 590-1717.

To see more of The Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.gazette.com

(c) 2002, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

Colorado Springs, Colo., Snowboard Fanatics Do Well as Businessmen. - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

By Ed Sealover, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Feb. 1--Anyone can start a company. That's amateur, dude.

But what if, in starting that company, you actually invent a sport that, a decade later, has 110,000 participants and its own national championship?

That's awesome.

It's also exactly what snowboard fanatics Jason Lee, 35, and Patrick McConnell, 39, did in their quest for fun and excitement in the months between snow seasons.

And now MBS Mountainboards, located on Delmonico Drive in Northwest Colorado Springs, is the world leader in production of the strange-looking contraptions and the creator of trends in this extreme sport. The company sells 20,000 mountainboards a year that cost $99 to $550 a board. They are available at a number of sporting goods shops in the Pikes Peak region.

After the 1992 snow season, the friends went looking for a skateboard they could ride down a grassy ski run or take on a rugged bike trail.

But no one made such a product.

No problem. Lee and McConnell decided to make it themselves.

'Prior to Jason and Patrick, there may have been some unusual designs for regular skateboards, but they were the first to really put together a board specifically for the mountains,' said Brian Bishop, publisher of Mountainboarding Magazine. 'They're definitely the forefathers of everything we do.'

Mountainboards often are called 'skateboards on steroids.' They look like skateboards with tires instead of wheels.

Skateboard wheels usually are 2 or 2 1/2 inches in diameter; mountainboard tires, which are made of tough rubber, are 6 to 9 inches around to make them faster and give the rider more clearance over rocks.

They also put the rider between the wheels rather than over them, giving a better center of gravity for carving and turning. And they come with a hand brake attached to the board by a cord.

After developing a prototype, Lee and McConnell took the fiberglass, wood and Kevlar composite boards to Moab, Utah, and kicked them off cliffs to test their sturdiness. Satisfied, they began selling them in groups of 10 to 35, mostly to friends and friends of friends.

Then, in 1996, MBS showed up at a surf and skate trade show in Long Beach, Calif., and turned heads. National newspapers reported on this new invention, and kids called outdoors stores and asked where they could buy them.

The most significant change came a few years later, when the company rolled out a line of boards for beginners instead of experts tearing down Barr Trail on Pikes Peak. These less expensive boards, which cost $99 to $199, account for 60 percent to 70 percent of MBS' business.

MBS boards are made overseas and sold in 31 countries. Although president Marc Jenkins declined to release revenue figures, he said sales are increasing for the six-person company.

To expand their reach, Lee and McConnell have sent a group of MBS representatives on a tour of California schools to introduce kids to the concept. They also plan to do more marketing in the area of wind sailing, in which boarders strap giant kites on their backs and let the wind take them where it will.

But the core market is mountainboards. Last year's national championships in Snowmass drew about 100 participants and 2,000 spectators, Bishop said.

MBS spent last week at the SnowSports Industries America trade show in Las Vegas, where it was the only company hawking mountainboards, as well as the only company from Colorado Springs. Spectators strolled by and examined the boards with a mix of confusion and awe.

'We still get the same 'What the (heck) is that?' reaction,' Lee said. 'But now we also get the reaction that 'Oh, those are the new boards.' '

'We've still got that angle to where it's a new product. But we've been around 10 years. We're a 10-year overnight sensation.'

To see more of The Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.gazette.com

Colorado Springs, Colo., Cosmetic Products Firm Reports Record Earnings. - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

By Paul Beebe, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Aug. 2--Earning a record profit when the economy is limping seems the stuff of wishful thinking.

But that's what Colorado Springs-based Powell Products Inc. did in 2002.

The maker of cosmetic applicators and swabs for the cosmetics, health care and high-tech industries, to all outward appearances, is on track to do well again this year.

'Last year was a big year,' said Stephen Robards, president of the privately held company. 'All of the divisions are doing well (this year). We are on track to grow in all the markets we serve.'

Powell, which moved to the Springs in 1992 from California, employs about 75 at its factory in the shadow of Interstate 25 and Garden of the Gods Road. The factory cranked out more than 220 million swabs and applicators last year.

More are on the way.

Powell plans to install additional machines early next year, boosting the factory's production capacity about 25 percent.

'It will mean more jobs -- 25 to 30 people,' Robards said.

In June, Powell and a joint venture partner bought a factory in China that makes brushes that are sold to cosmetics companies.

The factory, owned jointly with Anisa International Inc., an Atlanta-based cosmetic brush supplier, employs 300. That number should increase to 1,200 next year.

China is becoming a global manufacturing center. More than 760,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs have moved to China since 1992, according to the U.S.-China Security Review Commission.

Most of those jobs were in eight industries: electronics and electrical e...uipment, chemicals and petroleum products, household goods, toys, textiles, plastics, sporting goods, and wood and paper products.

The two Powell factories will not compete against each other. Much of the work done in China is labor-intensive.

Its brushes can't be made at the Colorado Springs factory, which is more automated, Robards said.

It is the diversity of Powell's markets that kept the bottom line strong last year, said Scott Herrera, director of Powell's clean room and medical division. When one market is depressed, other markets fre...uently are strong.

The cosmetics industry was in a buying mood last year, which compensated for weak sales to electronics firms, Robards said. That pattern is typical when the U.S. economy is struggling.

Women now account for at least 50 percent of all of the car-buying decisions. They buy fewer cars and more makeup when times are tough, Robards said.

The electronics industry is showing signs it is recovering. Orders from companies that manufacture computer storage devices have strengthened in the past month, after five years of weakness, Robards said.

To see more of The Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.gazette.com

Tiny Mining Town in Colorado Springs Loses its Bank.(Originated from The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo.) - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--Feb. 17--The tiny mining town of Victor is losing one of the pillars of any community: its bank.

But it wasn't hard economic times or a corporate merger that led to the demise of the Victor branch of the Community Bank of Colorado.

The branch lost its lease and is being evicted Feb. 21.

Until a new location can be found for the branch, Victor residents will have to travel six miles to the Cripple Creek headquarters to do their banking.

'The bank has been handy for business people, but it wasn't here for years, so we'll deal with it,' said Gus Conley, who owns G & S Sporting Goods and Pawn, next to the bank. 'It will probably hurt the old people, who can't drive, the most.'

A bank closing due to a lost lease is extremely rare.

'Branch closures are fairly infrequent and most are due to acquistions or consolidations,' said Richard Fulkerson, Colorado State Bank Commissioner.

'This was strictly a contractual matter with respect to the lease,' Fulkerson said.

The building that houses the Victor branch was sold last month by owner James Watson to the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Co. for $231,000. The mining company plans to use the space for offices.

'It's time for us to move our officesfrom the Carlton Mill,' said John Blythe, spokesman for the mining company. 'It's real old and is turning into a liability,'

He said the move will give the mining company more access to town officials and activities. It plans to renovate the building and move in by May.

'We want to try and bring it back to its original state. It will definitely improve the downtown area,' Blythe said.

Surrounding businesses are happy to see the mine company move downtown, even if it cost them the bank.

'I think it's wonderful,' said Steele Eagle Destiny, of The Rooster Crows convenience store. 'Mine employees -- from the people on the bottom to the people at the top -- have always been good customers.'

Mining officials said there was no intent to evict the town's only bank. The bank just happened to be in the wrong place.

'We looked at all the leases in the building,' said James Komadina, the mining company's executive vice president. 'Those (leases) that didn't occupy the space we needed were given the option to stay.'

The bank was especially vulnerable because it was on a month-to-month lease.

'That's how the owner wanted it,' said Chuck Bishop, Community Bank of Colorado vice president. 'It's been that way since the early '90s.'

Former building owner James Watson could not be reached for comment.

Bishop said the bank was given its eviction notice in mid-January, shortly after the deal between Watson and the mining company was closed.

Bishop said the bank is actively working to find another Victor location, but it has been difficult.

'We had one lead, but the building turned out to be too expensive, and of course there has been a lot of introductory talk,' he said.

Victor town officials said they would like to keep Community Bank's presence in town.

'We are encouraged at the bank's action to relocate -- the city certainly needs a bank,' said town administrator Pete LaBarre. 'We want them (the bank) to act expeditiously so that we don't have to look to other banks for service.

'It's unfortunate the bank had to move. But that's the nature of business.'

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Colorado Springs, Colo., Developers Plan Park in Middle of Retail Corridor. - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

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.'

To see more of The Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.gazette.com

Colorado Springs Retail Briefs: May 22, 2009 - Colorado Springs Business Journal

Retailers slogging through roller coaster of feast and famine

Consumers appear unconvinced that the country is headed forrecovery anytime soon. April retail sales fell 0.4 percent comparedto March and 1.7 percent year-over-year, according to the CommerceDepartment.

Following January and February, months in which national retailsales rose, the drops in March and April signal retailers that 2009could be a year of uncertainty.

The arrival of warmer temperatures with the onset of springhelped the garden and sporting goods sectors. Sales at buildingmaterial, garden equipment and supplies dealers rose 0.3 percentcompared to March, while sporting goods, hobby, book and musicstores sales also jumped 0.3 percent.

Consumers' focus on necessities pushed health and personal caresales up 0.4 percent, but even with help from the Easter holiday,consumers shunned groceries, apparel and gifts. Sales at electronicand appliance stores dropped 2.8 percent, while groceries stores sawa 1 percent decline and apparel store sales dropped 3 percent.

While some economists have predicted the nation could jump into arecovery during the second half of 2009, it's difficult to foresee apositive trend in the retail segment.

'Consumers remain heavily in debt, the saving rate is low,although at least it is in positive territory and home prices arestill declining,' said Tucker Hart Adams, chief economist for U.S.Bank's Rocky Mountain Region and president of the Adams Group. 'So,I can't see the rebound in consumer spending that is necessary for asustainable recovery.'

Adams also said that it's too easy to read trends into monthlyretail figures.

'Economists rely too heavily on month-to-month changes ineconomic variables,' she said. 'Whether or not retail sales rose orfell for one month in April shouldn't influence one's forecast.'

Instead, Adams cites larger, longer-term indicators whenpredicting an outlook for any economic recovery.

'I think the rate of decline in the economy will slow as we movethrough 2009, but I don't expect growth until 2010 and I think therecovery will be very sluggish,' she said. 'The bottom line is we'llcontinue to lose hundreds of thousands of jobs a month; theunemployment rate will continue to rise; more people will be workingpart time or temporary jobs because they've had their hours cut ortheir position eliminated and equity in our homes will continue toshrink. We've dodged the bullet of total financial meltdown, sothat's good, but consumers are still in trouble.'

The Attic finds new home

Veteran Old Colorado City merchant Charles Irwin has moved TheAttic three blocks west on Colorado Avenue and increased his retailspace by 200 feet.

The Attic's new home is at 2716 W. Colorado Ave. Irwin purchasedthe location last July, but was renting it as residential property.

'It was in our long-term plans anyway to move to his location,but since our renters moved out, it made sense to move now,' Irwinsaid. 'Luckily we refurbished the location back when we purchasedit, so it's brand new.'

Irwin will offer more of his most popular items at the new store:fragrance oils, body oils, incense, the store's own line of candles,fused-glass jewelry, greeting cards and Birch Wood Roses.

'I was concerned about moving down here, but the week of Mother'sDay I had my best sales week since October,' he said. 'We did betterthis Mother's Day than we did last year. We sold something like 45dozen of the roses.'

With Territory Days approaching May 23-25, Irwin's says it'sdifficult to hide his excitement as a business owner, even asretailers nationwide continue to struggle.

'I'm seeing the economy on the move,' he said. 'People arepurchasing things that they weren't six months ago and I've hadcustomers tell me they try to buy local, which is what I try to dowith my suppliers, too.'

New grass-fed beef supplier

Panorama Meats Inc., an organic grass-fed beef supplier, haspartnered with Arapahoe Ranch, a certified organic cattle operation,to supply organic grass-fed beef exclusively to Whole Foods Marketstores in the Rocky Mountain region.

Operated by the Northern Arapahoe Indian Tribe on Wyoming's WindRiver Indian Reservation, Arapahoe Ranch raises an all-Angus herd ona year-round diet of grass and forbs. Its cattle never enter afeedlot, are never given antibiotics or growth-stimulating hormonesand coexist with predators on Wyoming's high plains.

The agreement comes after six months of negotiations betweenPanorama and the Northern Arapahoe Indian Tribe council and makesWhole Foods Market stores in Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas and Utah,the exclusive U.S. retailers of Arapahoe Ranch beef.

Whole Foods Market said in a news release that it plans to offerthe certified organic beef at $1 per pound above natural beefchoices.