The historic Mill Street neighborhood just south of downtown Colorado Springs is a diverse, working class area primed for reinvestment. Residents there know it, and they're not against it. In one upcoming project, they're seeking to collaborate with the developer of a luxury hotel to help minimize the effects of gentrification.
A community organization plans to ask city council to hold off on approving an urban renewal plan until the developer signs a legally binding agreement.
Heila Ershadi with the Pikes Peak Bulletin has been covering the story. She spoke with KRCC's Andrea Chalfin about it.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Describe for me please, this historic Mill Street neighborhood that we're talking about.
Neighborhood residents describe it as a friendly, diverse, working-class neighborhood.
There is a neighborhood plan that was released in 2019, so the city has been looking at revitalizing the area for quite some time now– more than a decade really.
Yes, and planners and residents have known all along that development in that area would bring challenges – stories of gentrification follow a predictable plot. There’s a less affluent area with not a lot of investment historically, and then investment comes and brings in better amenities, new businesses, and higher property values. The downside is that existing residents can be pushed out by higher rents and home prices that are now out of reach – and with them, the culture and connections that made the place special.
The 2019 neighborhood plan includes ideas for preserving neighborhood character and affordability, everything from taking advantage of existing home repair programs to potentially working with a land trust to keep housing costs affordable.
And Norwood, they're – if not THE biggest— certainly one of the biggest developers in Colorado Springs. And they're definitely involved in the downtown area.
Norwood is a major developer and heavily involved in downtown. The group’s website lists $2.3 billion in downtown investment including hotels, apartments, restaurants and offices – plus $327 million in “tourism investment” including downtown’s Weidner Field, Ed Robson Arena, and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum. There are several parcels around the museum that are owned by Norwood, and slated for development, that are also adjacent to the Mill Street neighborhood.
They want to build a hotel right there on the edge of the neighborhood at Cascade and Moreno. This hotel isn't your average Hyatt or Best Western, is it?
It is a luxury Catbird Hotel similar to the original in Denver. It will have 180 rooms along with dining and meeting spaces. Full service and long-term stay equipped.
What are people who live in the Mill Street neighborhood saying about this new planned hotel?
Residents are concerned this project will negatively impact the character and affordability of the area. They are not trying to stop the project, but rather work with Norwood to minimize negative impacts on residents.
And what are they doing about it?
They have organized as the Mill Street Community Benefits All Coalition and are seeking dialogue with Norwood on minimizing these potential impacts.
Norwood does now have a second phase of the project, to come after the hotel, that includes “attainable housing,” which generally means housing targeted at middle income persons who may not qualify for subsidized housing but also can’t afford market rate.
Norwood is working with the Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority on this project, which allows them to use Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, which captures anticipated future tax revenues to offset some costs of development.
It's not uncommon for developers to utilize a TIF–like you said, it basically helps to offset costs. And that's what Norwood is planning for this hotel. But it might be a little confusing to know that the library gets TIF funding and the board has to vote on an amended agreement.
Right, it could be confusing for those uninitiated in the ways of urban planning why a luxury hotel project would come in front of a library board. TIF is the reason. The library district utilizes TIF, so when there is a change in TIF allocation, the board has to give the thumbs up.
The neighborhood coalition had some early dialogue with Norwood but then, according to the coalition, that communication stopped. So, members of the coalition gave public comments to the library board and asked them to not approve the TIF agreement until Norwood resumed talks with them.
However, the library board is somewhat limited in how it can vote on TIF. There are rules guiding how they vote.
So what happened when the library board voted?
At its December meeting, the library board voted 4-1 to approve the TIF agreement – with the stipulation that the TIF be allocated only to the attainable housing phase of the project.
The library board member who made the motion to approve, Debbie English, said she hoped future Urban Renewal Authority rules would not allow taxpayer dollars to be used for luxury hotels.
There is a concern in the realm of urban planning that while TIF is intended to provide public benefit, and can be a great tool for that, if it isn’t implemented carefully it can wind up putting public money in private hands without that public good. In this case, the library board did what it could to make sure the TIF money went to the part of the project with clear public benefit.
This a different approach than we often see when it comes to development and growth.
This is a really interesting story to me because gentrification is a problem all over, not just in Colorado Springs. If there were easy solutions, everyone would already be doing them. Whatever comes out of the talks between this neighborhood coalition and Norwood, it could be an example for other projects in Colorado Springs, and even beyond, as neighborhoods and communities all over the country navigate similar development issues.
