Developers Strive to Fill Colorado Springs’ Big-Box Retail …

Filling large blocks of retail space is a never-ending challenge for Colorado Springs' commercial real estate industry. It seems the minute one retailer or business announces it's taking over one of the area's 40,000-square-foot-and-up spaces, another big-box occupant announces its departure.

Some big-box spaces have been filled in the last 11/2 years: Wal- Mart opened Neighborhood Market stores in spaces once occupied by King Soopers and Albertsons groceries; Garden Ridge , a Texas -based home decor superstore, moved into a vacant Target; and farming and ranching retailer Big R and a Planet Fitness health club took over a former Cub Foods/Grocery Warehouse store.

But Kmart and J.C. Penney recently announced they'll close stores in May,. And a handful of other cavernous spaces have been vacant for several years, including the former Macy's department store at The Citadel mall, which has been empty since 2009; a Circuit City on Powers Boulevard , vacant since the electronics chain went under the same year; and an Albertsons on Central Academy Boulevard that's been shuttered since 2006.

More big-box closures loom if the Albertsons-Safeway merger announced last week results in a shakeup of the local grocery landscape. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart previously said it plans to close its Sam's Club on South Academy in favor of a new Sam's that will be part of a shopping center south of the Springs.

"That's the way this market has felt for five years or more now," said Jay Carlson , a broker with Front Range Commercial in Colorado Springs . "We make some kind of stride - one step forward. And then we take one or two steps back."

The problems of large vacant retail spaces go beyond creating a gaping hole in a shopping center or depriving a building owner of rent payments. Some of the spaces become targets for vandalism and theft, and it often hurts smaller retailers who had located near big- box anchors to feed off the traffic they draw.

Colorado Springs , like other cities, has had its share of large empty stores over the years.

One factor in play in the Springs during the last 10 to 15 years: A few retailers, such as Best Buy , closed stores on Academy in favor of moving to Powers, which has become the area's busiest retail corridor and is near neighborhoods with higher household incomes.

The local and national recessions added to the problem over the last five to six years. Circuit City and soft goods retailer Linens 'n Things , for example, went out of business, leaving behind well- located spaces along Powers and North Academy .

At the same time, some financially healthy retailers shelved expansion plans to wait for the economy to improve, which kept vacant spaces dark even longer, said Fred Veitch , a vice president with Springs-based Nor'wood Development Group .

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Developers Strive to Fill Colorado Springs' Big-Box Retail ...