Retail project to join office complex on Colorado Springs' north side

A late July groundbreaking is planned for the 24.3-acre, 340,000-square-foot Powers Office Park at Briargate Crossing. Now, the project's developer wants to add shopping, restaurants and a pair of hotels south of the office complex. The office project, southeast of Powers and Union boulevards in the Briargate subdivision on Colorado Springs' far north side, will be developed as office condominiums -- individual spaces that users purchase much like a homeowner buys a house. The project is being built by Powers Group LLC, headed by Scottsdale, Ariz., developer Harvey Salkow. The group also has a deal to buy 15.9 acres south of Powers and Briargate Parkway for a retail project, to be called the Summit at Briargate Crossing. No plans have been submitted to city officials, but the developer envisions 130,000 square feet of shopping, a pair of hotels, four restaurants, a bank and a pharmacy, said Bill Elder of Bennett Shellenberger Realty Inc. in Colorado Springs, who's marketing the project. Construction on the retail project could get underway next year, Elder said.