By: Rich Laden • February 1, 2016 • The Gazette
Ground was broken this week on a 160,000-square-foot shopping center on Colorado Springs’ east side that will be anchored by a King Soopers Marketplace – double the size of the retailer’s typical stores.
Claremont Ranch Marketplace, as the shopping center will be called, is expected to open in January 2017 on the southeast corner of Constitution Avenue and Marksheffel Road, said Laura Ortiz, a managing partner with Evergreen Development. The company, with offices in Denver, Arizona, California and Texas, develops retail, commercial and multifamily projects.
A limited liability company controlled by Evergreen paid $3.4 million last week for the 23-acre site, according to El Paso County land records. The location is expected to serve thousands of residences in the nearby Claremont Ranch, Cimarron Hills and Springs Ranch subdivisions, as well as Peterson Air Force Base, among other east-side areas in the Springs and unincorporated portions of the county.
The King Soopers store, about 123,000 square feet, will be the chain’s first marketplace store in the area – a larger building that sells groceries and household items, in addition to offering an expanded deli and bigger selections of organic and natural products.
But marketplace stores don’t stop at food and household goods. They also offer Levi’s jeans, Champion athletic wear and other casual clothing; Skechers shoes and other footwear; plates, dinnerware and other housewares; kitchen and other small appliances; towels, comforters and other home decor items, and jewelry in a separate Fred Meyer Jewelers inside the store.
The marketplace concept is designed to offer convenience and variety to customers, King Soopers officials have said.
The rest of the shopping center will include a 15,000-square-foot multitenant building and four stand-alone retail sites, Ortiz said.
Pacific Dental, Patriot Liquors and Lux Nails have signed leases for the multitenant building; Evergreen also is close to signing a national sandwich chain and a salon, Ortiz said.
She declined to disclose their names, but the sandwich shop will be familiar to area residents.
In addition, Evergreen also is talking with sit-down and fast-casual restaurants that would occupy two of the four stand-alone buildings, Ortiz said.
The shopping center’s location in a fast-growing part of the county has attracted interest from several retailers, she added.
“They understand this area,” Ortiz said. “Whether they are having a brand-new location or expanding from what they already have in the Colorado Springs area, they’re excited. They think they’re going to be able to serve the additional community that this site will serve.”
