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TABLE OF CONTENTS GAZETTE LEADERSHIP PUBLISHER, CEO/PRESIDENT OF CLARITY MEDIA GROUP Chris Reen EDITOR Vince Bzdek VP OF SALES Jim Broyles MARKETING MANAGER Rudy Vasquez DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS Vicki Cederholm FYI CREDITS EDITOR David Bitton WRITERS Mary Shinn Breeanna Jent Danny Summers Jessica Snouwaert Evan Ochsner

COURTESY OF SILVER AND BLUE DEVELOPMENT

A rendering of the planned Air Force Academy Visitor Center.

ELEVATING

ITS GAME Air Force Academy Visitor Center construction expected

DESIGN Nichole Montanez

to begin in March after pandemic-driven delay

COVER PHOTO Chancey Bush

mary.shinn@gazette.com

PHOTOGRAPHERS Christian Murdock Jerilee Bennett Chancey Bush

BY MARY SHINN

Work on the new Air Force Academy Visitor Center and accompanying businesses planned to stretch across 36 acres may begin in October following several pandemic-driven delays of the bond sales needed to finance construction. The center and adjacent development, known as True North Commons, is the most expansive of the five City for Champions projects

funded, in part, by state sales taxes — and the last to get underway because of its complexity. The center could open in December 2023 and draw around 800,000 tourists a year, up from 440,000, helping to restore the center’s popularity as a destination, said Bob Cope, the city of Colorado Springs’ economic development officer. SEE PAGE 16

Sunday, September 12, 2021

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Weidner Field opened in April in southwest downtown Colorado Springs. The multiuse stadium is the home of the Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC professional soccer club.

Let the fun begin BY DANNY SUMMERS

danny.summers@gazette.com

Weidner Field is more than just the United Soccer League Championship home of the Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC. Built at a cost of around $50 million on the corner southwest of Sahwatch and Cimarron streets in downtown Colorado Springs, the stadium officially opened on April 24 and has permanent seating for 8,000. It has a capacity of 15,000 for concerts. Weidner Field was constructed as a multi-function facility. In addition to professional soccer, the stadium has already been the site of state high school championship soccer matches, Special Olympics, professional lacrosse, graduation ceremonies and concerts. “For year one coming out of COVID, I think we’re doing a decent job,” said Switchbacks president Nick Ragain. “Certainly, we’re looking to activate the venue as much as possible, and we’re always looking for different ways to do 4

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Sunday, September 12, 2021

that.” As home to the Switchbacks, Weidner Field is the primary training site and home game venue for the club, which competes in the second level of U.S. men’s professional soccer. Major League Soccer is the top level. The USL Championship is a professional men’s soccer league that consists of 31 teams based in the United States. It began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II Professional League, placing it under Major League Soccer. Several Switchbacks players are on loan to the club by Major League Soccer’s Colorado Rapids through a partnership. The Switchbacks, who began their first season of play in 2015, have 16 regular season games at Weidner Field in 2021. Fans and supporters could be treated to a postseason home playoff game or more this season. The Switchbacks last qualified for the playoffs in 2016. Weidner Field has received national

and international exposure this season thanks to the league’s partnership with ESPN. Every Switchbacks home and away game is broadcast on ESPN+. In July, the Switchbacks hosted San Antonio FC in a game that was broadcast nationally on ESPN2. The Switchbacks play a total of three games on ESPN television channels this season. “This is a big deal,” said Switchbacks general manager Brian Crookham. “As a fan, you don’t have to search for the game. You turn on your TV and it’s right there. And you get to see the game played in this incredible facility.” As a concert venue, Weidner Field is arguably the best large outdoor facility in the Pikes Peak region. In May, Old Dominion, along with Scotty McCreery, Matt Stell and Caitlyn Smith, played to thousands on a rainy night. On the schedule in September is Lee Brice with Gabby Barrett and Jimmie SEE PAGE 5

FROM PAGE 4

Allen. Also in September is Dead Man’s Brewfest, which features “more beer, more wine, more liquor, more entertainment and more bloodcurdling experience.” Weidner Field will receive national exposure again December when it the host site for the 2021 NCAA Division II Men’s and Women’s National Soccer Championships, Dec. 9-11. It is the first time in nearly 15 years that Colorado Springs will host NCAA championships of any kind. The original announcement was made in September 2019 by Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference officials in conjunction with the Colorado Springs Sports Corporation and the Switchbacks. “We’re excited about hosting what should be a great event,” Ragain said. December’s championships should be especially exciting since there were no national championships held in 2020 due to COVID. The 2019 championships were held in Pittsburgh. The most recent NCAA championship event in the Pikes Peak region was the 2006 rifle championships hosted by the Air Force Academy.

“We continue to apply for different opportunities and meet with different agencies in town,” Ragain said. “Ultimately, we want butts in seats as often as possible. We’re doing a pretty good of maximizing what’s around locally to us and we have to continue to open those doors and opportunities” Ragain and his family – brother James is the executive vice president and father Ed is the principal owner – are exploring the possibility of bringing a women’s professional soccer team to Weidner Field. The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) consists of 10 teams and is at the top of the United States league system. It is under a management with the United States Soccer Federation. The teams are based in larger cities because the league feels it has a better chance for success in dense population markets. “We do have conversations about what adding another franchise here would look like,” Ragain said. “Women’s professional soccer would actually be the most interesting opportunity.” With the abundance of traffic on the playing surface of Weidner Field – the Switchbacks train there several times a week from March through October – the all-weather turf must be durable. Installed by the South Carolina com-

pany Sprinturf in early March at a cost of $750,000, the infill material is called Corkonut. It is a coconut fiber and cork infill made by Greenway. The turf looks like natural grass. Switchbacks coach Brendan Burke said it plays much better than a standard synthetic turf field, which uses infill materials such as crumb rubber. “It gives you a very predictable playing surface,” Burke said. “Sometimes when you’re on natural grass, if it’s wet or if it’s chewed up a little bit, the ball can get bouncy. This turf we have is going to give you the same play every time. “Compared to regular turf, it’s night and day. The ball rolls perfectly. It feels good on your body. When you come to train, it’s a pleasure because this plays like a grass field.” Ragain said Weidner Field is the first approved FIFA Corkonut field on the planet. “With all the events that are planned here, we knew we had a need for synthetic,” Ragain said. “This turf is amazing. And it stays cool. But we still have to water it a couple of times a month.” Most synthetic turf fields get dry and heat up when temperatures rise. “If it’s 100 degrees outside, the turf on a standard synthetic turf field could be 150 degrees,” Ragain said. “Our turf will stay cool and it will stay together better.”

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CHANCEY BUSH, THE GAZETTE FILE

Kelli Selman, a sports performance specialist at Centura Health, trains a high school athlete inside the William J. Hybl Sports Medicine and Performance Center ahead of its opening in August 2020 in Colorado Springs.

International

reputation UCCS center helps with rehabilitation BY BREEANNA JENT

breeanna.jent@gazette.com

Since it first opened to the public in summer 2020, the William J. Hybl Sports Medicine and Performance Center at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs has successfully carved out a reputation for itself as an international leader in health and human performance. The second venue completed of five being built as part of the City for Champions initiative, the facility has expanded on Colorado Springs’ history as a fitness hub and health destination by providing top-tier care to injured athletes, Paralympians, military veterans and wounded first responders, its co-executive directors, Bill Lueck and Dr. Steve Johnson, said. It also caters to hundreds of professional athletes as well as youth and amateur club sports participants who, through its program-based model, can work closely with physical trainers for weeks at a time in the sprawling 104,000-square-foot facility snuggled between the UCCS Lane Center for Academic Health Sciences and the Ent Center for the Arts. Nearly half of the building is dedicated to medical care and sports performance work overseen by Penrose-St. Francis Health Services, group fitness, imaging services, physical and occupational therapy, and sports medicine primary care. It also houses three “centers of distinction,” including one aimed at helping military troops, police officers, firefighters and other first responders recover from major injuries and help prevent new ones. Another center helps athletes and others with special needs participate in sports, and the third helps elite-level athletes perSEE PAGE 7

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Sunday, September 12, 2021

FROM PAGE 6

form better in intense environments, such as at high altitudes. The remainder of the building includes classrooms and lecture halls and is used for other academic programs. “Our center is really unique in the country because of its educational offerings and medical clinics,” Lueck said. “The pandemic threw a wrench initially into some of our offerings, but by and large the center has continued to offer world-class health care, cutting-edge research and sports performance for athletes of all levels and abilities.” Among those who have already walked its hallways include Olympians like Colorado Springs resident Paul Chelimo, an American track and field star who took home a bronze medal in the men’s 5,000-meter final event at the 2020 Olympics held in Tokyo this summer, Lueck said. “The proof of the impact this center has is in the athletes who have trained here,” he said. As the first sports center in the country to integrate undergraduate and graduate education with hands-on clinical practice and research in sports medicine and performance, the Hybl Center has drawn

thousands of exercise science, human anatomy, physiology, athletic training and nutrition students from around the world to study there. It offers various bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs, and academic research focuses on areas like human performance, cardiovascular physiology and environmental stress. “The center’s ability to recruit students nationally and internationally, athletes and health care providers, and the interest we see from people who want to be a part of this is evidence of its prominence,” Lueck said. Most recently the state-of-the-art center was put on the international stage as one of several facilities a delegation of senior-level dignitaries from North America, South America and Europe toured in Colorado Springs in August as part of the 13th Americas Competitiveness Exchange. The federal program brings together dignitaries and business leaders to explore global and regional partnerships, as well as economic development opportunities. “It was very enthusiastically received,” Johnson said. “The reputation of our building is really making its way through the world, and for us it’s just fantastic.” Open to people of all ages and abilities, from youths all the way up to masters-level athletes, the facility is projected to treat 40,000 patients each year, with as many as

12,000 — or 30% — coming from outside Colorado, the City for Champions website states. In its first year, the center treated a number of patients “on par” with those projections, though it saw fewer non-regional patients because of the pandemic, Lueck said. He expects those numbers, overall, to increase as the nation comes out of the pandemic. Lueck and Johnson also intend to roll out new offerings at the center they had to delay because of the pandemic, including an altitude chamber that allows athletes to train at different altitudes, as well as a golf fitness and a bike fitness program, they said. “We also look forward to increased collaboration with other City for Champions projects,” Lueck said. “We have good working relationships with those partners and we’re excited to see how all of these projects can elevate one another.” Other City for Champions projects include the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum downtown, which also opened last year; Robson Arena, which will be a state-of-the-art hockey facility and home to Colorado College’s hockey team; a multiuse stadium southwest of Sahwatch and Cimarron streets in downtown Colorado Springs; and the new Air Force Academy Visitor Center.

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COURTESY OF COLORADO COLLEGE

Colorado College will host Air Force in an exhibition game Oct. 2, marking the first competition at Ed Robson Arena.

Hockey on campus BY DANNY SUMMERS

danny.summers@gazette.com

Ed Robson Arena, the new on-campus home of the Colorado College hockey team, appears to be everything advertised. And then some. Constructed at an estimated cost of $52 million according to Jerry Cross, CC’s director of athletic communications, the 3,407-seat facility is nearing the final phases of construction as the Tigers prepare for their upcoming 2021-22 season. “It’s so far along, and it’s so close to being completed,” said first-year coach Kris Mayotte said. “It’s only been since June 1

that we’ve been able to walk people through there, but the response has been incredible.” Among the folks that have toured Robson Arena are new recruits. “A couple of the guys who have committed to our program recently see what it can be, and they can envision themselves developing here and building something special here,” Mayotte said. Mayotte is excited about the numerous benefits the on-campus arena will offer his team, but also the added advantage for the school and community. “The attention to detail in every aspect in terms of what we have as a team and what

it provides our school,” he said. “It’s not just the hockey arena, but the arts studio, the health center, the team store, the mailroom. It’s really going to be a gathering spot for the school, which is really exciting. Mayotte is also excited to see fans cheering his team on. “This is going to be incredible,” Mayotte said. “It’s intimate, but you’re right on top of the action. It’s going to be a difficult place for teams to come in and play. You can just envision what that place will be like when we’re playing. It has the potenSEE PAGE 14

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CHRISTIAN MURDOCK, THE GAZETTE

Visitors explore the collection of Olympic torches from the Crawford Family U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Archives, a full set dating to 1936 when the first Olympic torch relay was held, on Nov. 11 at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs.

Honoring Olympians U.S. Olympic & Paralympic

Labor Day. The opening of the museum — The U.S. Olympic and Paralymnamed in January as one of 2020’s pic Museum did not get the anticipated buildings worldMuseum faced COVID-19 delays most soaring grand opening officials wide by Architectural Digest and by had hoped for. USA Today as the nation’s best new As it did with many things, the attraction — culminated an eightand funding shortfalls COVID-19 pandemic interfered year effort by a nonprofit group and with the opening of the highly community leaders to add a crown anticipated venue on the southwest side of downtown Colojewel to a city home to an Olympic Training Center, and rado Springs, keeping guests away and cutting into revenue. where the U.S. Olympic Committee has been headquartered But more than a year after it opened, there’s new hope for since 1978. The Springs adopted “Olympic City USA” as a the future of the museum. The Olympics spurred fans to visit moniker in 2016. the museum and the organization hosted its Colorado Grand But things haven’t exactly gone to plan for the $96 million Opening, at which it hosted weekly events from July through BY EVAN OCHSNER

evan.ochsner@gazette.com

SEE PAGE 15

Sunday, September 12, 2021

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FROM PAGE 8

tial to be really loud, really engaging and an intimidating place for opponents.” Prior to Robson Arena, CC played its games off campus since the program was founded in 1938. The Tigers originally played at the Ice Palace, which became the Broadmoor World Arena located near the famed Broadmoor resort. In the mid-1990s, the new World Arena was constructed off Circle Drive and I-25 and the Tigers opened that facility to great fanfare. They had more than 5,000 season ticket holders in the 8,000-seat arena. Often times, it was difficult to procure a ticket, especially in the late 1990s and early 2000s when the program enjoyed some of its best seasons. Serious talk of some sort of a new on-campus facility began in 2013 when the City of Colorado Springs began its pursuit of supplemental funding with the Regional Tourism Act of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. Soon, the City for Champions initiative was born. “Back in 2016 this was going to be just a practice rink,” Jerry Cross said. “This project grew as we saw the needs of the campus and the community.” Robson Arena grew to be a multipurpose ice hall. Five large college-hosted commu-

nity meetings and a workshop specific to traffic and parking took place over a ninemonth period with more than a hundred citizens participating in each meeting. During that phase there was extensive public input, ideas and suggestions that helped shape the project and assured that the final design and plans reflected as much of the community’s input and desires as possible. That included parking and traffic management, the fan experience, shuttle and ride-hailing services, building design and aesthetics, and season ticket programs. “Having Robson Arena on campus is the biggest thing that’s going to change with our program,” Mayotte said. “Everything that goes with this arena is unbelievable. It’s gorgeous. The colors. The locker room. It has everything. “The single biggest thing that is going to turn this program around and make it what everybody wants it to be and make us a national contender on a regular basis is the location of the arena. This arena has changed Colorado College forever. Every single student that now comes to Colorado College has big-time athletics right at their doorstep. You can walk across the street and be in what is the SEC of football. It’s right there for you.” Mayotte and his staff have been busy filling holes left by transfers — the top three scorers entered the transfer portal

after last season — with young recruits. Of the 28 players on the roster, 14 are sophomores and five are freshman. Robson Arena is scheduled to be ready in time for CC’s Oct. 2 home exhibition game against an opponent yet to be determined. Mayotte is anticipating his club having to begin the season by practicing Sertich Arena, located downtown near Memorial Park. Once the team is permanently in Robson Arena, CC players and coaching staff should have just about every desired amenity. The locker room is spacious and allows plenty of room to stretch out and roam. There will be a lit-up CC hockey logo on the ceiling. A 2,000-square-foot weight room is close by, as well as a team lounge, which will offer PlayStation, several televisions and a sound system. The training room is roomy and has hydrotherapy. The team video room offers theater-style seating. There is also a spacious coaches locker room. Among other important sections of Robson Arena is the Jenkins Corridor, also known as the Peggy Fleming area, where former CC Winter and Summer Olympians — like Fleming Jenkins — are honored with photos and murals. It is the area where people who come for public skating sessions can visit and change into their attire.

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FROM PAGE 13

project, which includes a museum, bridge, retail store, café and outdoor plaza. Museum officials are anticipating a deficit of at least $1 million for this year, as numbers of visitors lag far below projections. The springboard to a comeback, however, could be the games themselves. A four-day fan fest during the Tokyo Games featured sports demonstrations, food and beverages, and a 50-foot screen to watch the Tokyo Olympic Games. It also brought in a record number of visitors, with four of the museum’s five best-ever attended days occurring during the fan fest, said acting CEO Phil Lane. Numbers have been steadily increasing throughout the summer, he added. John Register, a two-time Paralympian who emceed parts of the fan fest, said the events were “what we all wanted to see all along.” People “want to come out and experience and be around each other,” he added. “And that’s what the Olympic and Paralympic games that we’re watching on television right now are alluding to.”

Funding shortfall

The museum was supposed to draw about 350,000 visitors a year and help attract apartments, a hotel, offices and other new uses to southwest downtown. But like many attractions across the country, those ambitious projections were dimmed by the coronavirus pandemic, which curtailed tourism and cut off the flow of out-oftown visitors expected to be crucial to the venue’s success. Now, museum officials expect attendance for this year to be just over 100,000, Lane said. Those lagging visitation numbers, combined with worse-than-expected special event bookings, sent the museum toward a more than $1 million deficit in 2021 and required it to dip into millions in federal funds via the city and county to help cover its expenses. In total, he pandemic led to a $6.5 million to $7 million hit on the museum’s finances. The museum received $3.5 million in June from Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers’ office that can be used for operating costs like rent and mortgage payments, utilities, employee payrolls and marketing. “The city is going to do everything within our means to ensure the success of the museum and its organization. I mean, we are Olympic City USA,” Suthers’ chief of staff, Jeff Greene, said in July. The Board of El Paso County Commissioners, meanwhile, agreed in June to provide $500,000 to the museum. The money comes from a portion of the nearly $140 million that the county was allocated under the American Rescue Plan Act. The original cost of building the museum was funded in part by $26.2 million in state sales tax revenue set aside for City for Champions projects. The rest of the project’s cost was covered by private donations and proceeds from a Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority bond issue. The museum’s pandemic-related struggles aren’t unique. According to an April poll by the American Alliance of Museums, roughly three-fourths of museum directors said their operating income had fallen an average of 40% in 2020 while they were closed for an average of 28 weeks because of the pandemic.

JERILEE BENNETT, THE GAZETTE

Kobe Olson performs with the On The Break Dance Academy to promote one of the newest sports to the Olympics, break dancing, recently at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum in southwest downtown Colorado Springs.

on the score display in the museum. Interactive displays and radio-frequency identification technology, meanwhile, will allow museum visitors to use a keepsake credential to customize their sport preferences and accessibility needs. Team USA athletes were involved and consulted for the project to ensure an authentic experience and inclusive design, museum officials say. “It’s more than just a museum,” Register, the Paralympian and emcee, said. City officials hope that statement will prove to be true in a literal way, as the museum will anchor a newly developed part of downtown. Pedestrians can now cross a 250-foot-long bridge from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum into America the Beautiful Park, which one developer said was long intended to serve as “the front lawn of the city.” Since it opened in 2005, the front lawn had long been separated from the city, with rows of train tracks cutting it off from downtown and preventing residents from walking or driving from downtown to the park. Parkgoers could only reach the rest of downtown by using Cimino or Conejos Street, and then heading east on Colorado Avenue or Cimarron Street. That changed in July, when city officials officially opened the Park Union Bridge, which reaches across the river of steel and wood and connects the new museum and the park. What’s inside and nearby On the other side of the museum, the front plaza of the museThe 60,000-square-foot venue, at Sierra Madre Street and Verum spills onto the newly redesigned, pedestrian-friendly Vermijo mijo Avenue, tells the stories of Olympic and Paralympic athletes, Avenue, which extends to the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum while featuring a dozen galleries that spotlight the Winter and at Tejon Street. Summer Games, an Olympic Hall of Fame, athlete training, medThe new infrastructure is intended to enliven the growing city als and the Olympic Games’ Parade of Nations, among other areas. and elevate its profile. That’s a worthy cause by Register’s stanThe museum is home to a portion of the scoreboard from the dards. Miracle on Ice, when a group of young Americans toppled a “We are global citizens, not Colorado Springs citizens,” he said. vaunted Soviet hockey team in the semifinals of the 1980 Winter “And I think the Olympic and Paralympic museum showcases just Olympics in Lake Placid. The final score of that game, 4-3, is lit up that.” Sunday, September 12, 2021

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FROM PAGE 3

A neighborhood worth discovering.

At one time, the visitor center saw more people than any other man-made tourist venue in the state — but that trend declined because of new rules to enter academy property instituted after 9/11, he said. For years academy boosters and some superintendents have aimed to move the attraction outside the gates, a step that could keep the attraction open, even when the military installation needs to be closed. It took a creative public-private partnership, including state sales taxes granted through the City for Champions initiative, to help the attraction make the big move. The City for Champions projects were granted $120 million in state sales taxes in 2013, and the center is expected to receive $13.25 million of the taxes, said Dan Schnepf, president of Blue & Silver Development Partners. The new visitor center, designed to capture a wing in flight, will replace the existing 1980s building, serve as an official Colorado Visitor Center and offer interactive exhibits right on Interstate 25. “When people just see the structure, they are going to be drawn to it,” Cope said. The modern design for the building was selected as the perfect representation of the Air Academy and Air Force, said Carlos Cruz-Gonzalez, director of logistics, engineering and force protection at the academy. “It really represents one of the key missions of the Air Force,” he said. Once inside, visitors will experience interactive exhibits, still in development, that could give them a taste of a cockpit and what they would look like in cadet flight suits or graduation uniform, said Lisa Neener, who is leading the academy visitor experience and science, technology, engineering and math outreach. Some of the hands-on experiences could feature glider controls attached to a craft suspended from the ceiling that visitors could play with, and a speed challenge on the treadmill to give people a taste of what it’s like to run at altitude, she said. In a grand atrium space, the academy may feature an aircraft, spacecraft and satellites ascending toward the ceiling and representing the evolving Air Force and Space Force missions, she said. Other exhibits will cover Air Force history and athletics. “What I want is for people to leave our visitor center wanting to come back and wanting to know more,” she said.

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Visitors to the new center spend the night in a 375room hotel and conference center in the new development and eat at new restaurants, including a brew pub, an eatery similar to Panera Bread and coffee shops similar to Starbucks or Dutch Brothers, Schnepf said. Retail shops that could house a cell phone provider and package shipping store could also move in. Cyber security and other Department of Defense contractors may also be permanently housed within the new development in a new secure office space, he said. The workers are expected to collaborate with cadets at the new Madera Cyber Innovation Center, a new thinktank under construction at the school that will focus on solving military problems. The academy supports the potential internship opportunities and exposure to real-world problem solving cadets could gain, Cruz-Gonzalez said. SEE PAGE 17

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Sunday, September 12, 2021

FROM PAGE 16

“It broadens their background, their knowledge base and helps the become better critical thinkers,” he said. The office space is also expected to house an incubator for start-up businesses that want to work with the Department of Defense and need specific security to protect them from hackers and meet federal agency requirements, Schnepf said. Previously firms with good ideas couldn’t get traction because they didn’t have space that met federal standards, he said.

Financing an expansive vision

The expansive vision needs about $310 million in bonds expected to go up for sale in September, Schnepf said. The visitor center and infrastructure will require $90 million in bonds, and the hotel and conference center will need the rest, he said. The bonds were initially slated for sale in March 2020, around the time the bond market collapsed because of the coronavirus. The bond sales have been delayed a few times since and were recently slated to be sold in June, the Gazette reported earlier this year. Schnepf expects the bonds will be well received by the market based on similar sales for hotels that have drawn more buyers than bonds available, he said. The bonded debt will be paid back in part using new taxes generated by the project, which will be substantial because the green-field site is currently owned by the Air Force Academy, a military property that does not pay taxes, he said. The debt must be paid back in 30 to 35 years depending on the terms of the bond, but Schnepf expects it could happen much faster. Once the bonds sell, infrastructure construction could start in October followed by work on the hotel and convention center in December because it is expected to generate the majority of the revenue to pay off the bonds, Cope said. Visitor center construction is expected to start in March, he said. Provident Resources Group, a Louisiana-based nonprofit, is going to build the new hotel and conference center with tax-exempt bonds, said Steve Hicks, chief executive officer and board chairman previously. The project qualifies for tax-exempt bonds because it will drive tax revenue and serve a public benefit, he said. The whole campus is expected to directly employ 900 people including office workers and indirectly provide jobs for 260 more through contracts and jobs created by employee spending, Cope said. Over 25 years, the economic impact of the project could be $2.6 billion or about $104 million a year, he said. The newly developed land will be controlled by Blue & Silver Development Partners, which holds a 50-year lease with the academy for the area and will sublease it out to others, such as Provident Development Group and other companies, Schnepf said. As part of the agreement, the development group is building the $32 million visitor center for the academy as in-kind payment, Cruz-Gonzalez said. The length of the agreement spanning half a century is needed to make the project financially viable, and over time Schnepf ’s company could build out an additional 15 acres. The visitor center is planned to revert back to academy ownership in June of 2023, and the staff will start installing exhibits and preparing it for its opening in December 2023, Schnepf said.

COURTESY OF THE AIR FORCE ACADEMY

This rendering depicts what one of the exhibits at the new Air Force Academy Visitor Center could look like with an aircraft, spacecraft and satellite ascending to the ceiling.

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THE GAZETTE

GOING UP? The Broadmoor Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway reopening provides ‘spectacular’ tours BY JESSICA SNOUWAERT

jessica.snouwaert@gazette.com

JERILEE BENNETT, THE GAZETTE

Blaise Minor looks out the window of the new Pikes Peak Cog Railway before heading down June 30.

Want to visit the top of Pikes Peak without the stress of driving or the work of hiking? Take a ride on The Broadmoor Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway, which returned to operation this summer. The highest train in the country, at 14,115 feet, and one of only two cog railroads in the U.S. completed a $100 million makeover after three and a half years in June. The makeover consisted of new rails and steel ties, as well as revamped and new train cars to tote passengers to the top of Pikes Peak. The train track celebrated its 130th anniversary in June along with a ribbon cutting ceremony at the summit house that celebrated the reopening of the Pikes Peak’s Summit Visitor Center, and the return of visitors to the top of the mountain for first time since construction on the project began in June 2018. “The combination of these two attractions has already been enough to draw an incredible amount of visitors, which inherently boosts tourism and the economy of areas surrounding Pikes SEE PAGE 19

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THE GAZETTE

Sunday, September 12, 2021

FROM PAGE 18

Peak,” Sheridan Powell, communications coordinator for Visit Colorado, said. “Not only do these attractions represent the incredible history of our region, they offer an accessible experience that visitors can’t get anywhere else.” Rides up the Cog Railway’s 9-mile track resumed in May at a standard price of $58 or $48 for children 12 and under. The journey takes three hours round trip and stops at the new Pikes Peak Visitor Center, according to the release. As the summer months wane toward autumn, the railway prepares for it’s next season of tourism, when the aspen leaves change colors. “It is absolutely spectacular when that happens,” said Ron Wilson, an engineer and conductor who worked on the Cog Railway for seven years during retirement. Wilson said Cog Railway visitors not only have the views to take in when riding the train, but also a “spiel” of facts and stories that conductors tell to passengers along the way. “It’s one of the most unique, spectacular an scenic trips you will ever take,” Wilson said. The Cog Railway is owned by The Broadmoor hotel, the internationally known resort on Colorado Springs’ southwest side, which launched the attraction’s makeover in October 2017 with the initial intent of performing a few months of maintenance on the trains and rails. But during the maintenance period, it became apparent that a massive renovation would be more cost-effective in the long run. “It’s been a lot of hard work,” conductor Andy Read said. Read worked for the railway for over nine years. He came to the job with a background in car mechanics. Since then, he has become a jack of all trades for the railway, with some of his latest work geared towards revamping the train cars. “In fact, the axles themselves, it was me and two other gentlemen and it took us about 11 months,” Read said. “We had to rebuild 18 of them from scratch.” Read and Wilson helped install the train’s engines and remodel the interior and body of the train cars. “It really feels good to see this,” Read said during the trains inaugural ride. Dave Hertel, an engineer who spent most of his career working in the internet and technology industry, said driving trains is a job of passion. “I love trains, I love the Rockies, and I love history.” In June 1891 the railway claimed the title of the highest rack railway in the world. Today it is the longest and highest cog railroad in the world. Pikes Peak inspired Katharine Lee Bates to write “America the Beautiful,” and the mountain was named after Gen. Zebulon Pike, who spotted the mountain but never fully conquered its summit. “The views, look, you couldn’t ask for a more beautiful day,” said Tony Hessling, one of the train’s passengers visiting from Cincinnati, Ohio. “Colorado is phenomenal.” Six to 10 train loads of passengers come to the top of the peak every day. Visitors wander the mountain top and its brand-new summit complex, which includes a new summit house, new scenic overlooks and pathways around the top of the mountain. The Summit Complex renovation was a $65 million project designed to update the top of “America’s mountain.” The interior of the summit house building includes ceilingto-floor glass windows overlooking the view, a dining area that serves the mountain’s iconic doughnuts, a museum-like room filed with a 3D model maps of the mountain and a timeline of its exploration, and factoids about oxygen at 14,115 feet above sea level. “Tourism is thriving in Colorado Springs and the entire Pikes Peak region, and the mountain plays a central role in those offerings,” Sandy Elliott, parks operations administrator for Pikes Peak, said. “Pikes Peak has called to visitors for more than a century, and now with the new Visitor Center, we are offering a guest experience that better matches the majesty and grandeur of the summit itself.”

JERILEE BENNETT, THE GAZETTE

A cog train starts up through the rocks above tree level.

More than 182,530 visitors ascended the Pikes Peak Highway since the peak reopened June 24. Visitors remarked to the city the about beauty of the summit house and how it was a significant improvement from the previous summit house, which operated since 1964, Vanessa Zink, a spokesman for the city, said. The new summit house is designed to reduce energy consumption by 45% compared to the previous building. The final touches on the complex are expected to last through the end of September, but visitors are allowed to visit the complex with limited access to parking. “Access will all be first come, first served, and we’re asking guests to limit their time on the summit to 30 minutes so more people can visit,” Zink said. “Because of these limitations, most highway visitors will make it as high as Devils Playground until that exterior sitework completes.” Cog trains will run year round as long as weather allows. The Broadmoor hotel is owned by the Denver-based Anschutz Corp., whose Clarity Media Group owns The Gazette.

Sunday, September 12, 2021

THE GAZETTE