Mountainside Fitness coming to the Springs

Mountainside Fitness, an Arizona-based fitness chain, is expanding into Colorado, including Colorado Springs.

A fall 2008 opening is planned for a Mountainside Fitness club at 30th Street and Garden of the Gods Road. There are tentative plans for a second club on the east side of Colorado Springs, a spokeswoman said.

Mountainside Fitness facilities feature amenities such as a cycle room, a 30-foot rock-climbing wall, a stadium-style cardio area with a TV on each machine, a movie theater and Internet lounge.

New stores at Park Meadows

Park Meadows Shopping Center south of Denver is welcoming two new new stores. M.A.C., known for cutting-edge cosmetics, just opened on the lower level of the mall near JCrew. Lucky Brand Jeans will open late this summer on the lower level near Armani Exchange.

A Denver real estate company likes us, it really likes us

Why does a Denver-area real estate company invest in Colorado Springs? For DPC Development Co., which on July 5 paid $25.2 million for the downtown Colorado Square building, the company is bullish on the Springs for several reasons, said president Chris King (right). While the Springs' commercial real estate market is growing, several national investors still haven't made purchases here, which leaves the field open for a mid-range investor such as DPC Development, King said. In addition, the company believes the Springs has a diverse economy, what with tech companies, defense contractors and service sector businesses, King said. DPC also believes downtown Colorado Springs is poised to make "a pretty good turnaround," King said. The Colorado Square building was especially attractive. Constructing a similar building in downtown probably would have cost the company twice as much, he said. DPC hopes to keep two subsidiaries of Houston-based El Paso Corp. as tenants; they occupy about 90 percent of the building. If not, the building would be attractive to a wide range of tenants, King said. "Hopefully, they'll stay," he said.

Big publicity for Mr. Biggs

How does a Colorado Springs business go about getting nationwide attention? By getting robbed by a pair of knuckleheaded thieves, that's how. When news of a robbery of the Mr. Biggs Family Fun Center in Colorado Springs -- now called Bigg City -- hit local television stations and The Gazette, it quickly grabbed attention from the national media, too. In June, two burglars with door keys, pass codes and safe combinations sought to rob the northwest Colorado Springs amusement center. Their antics were captured by a security camera, which the thieves unsuccessfully sought to disable by spraying with WD-40. When they couldn't figure out how to actually open three safes, the thieves used a nearby computer and did a Google search for “how to open a safe” and “how to crack a safe.” The security video of the thieves repeatedly spraying the security camera -- the WD-40 kept dripping off -- and moving from safe to safe made its way July 11 to Good Morning America as the program's "Picture of the Morning." Hosts Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos referred to the thieves as "the Google guys," and showed a portion of the video. ABC radio commentator Paul Harvey, who typically ends his reports on a lighter note, used the story to finish one of his daily newscasts. As of July 13, the thieves were still at large.