Council approves office expansion/remodel in avenue’s 1000 block

       Colorado Springs City Council in January approved a project that would add up to four office units in the 1000 block of West Colorado Avenue and simultaneously renovate an existing building to look like the new one and theoretically blend in better with the neighborhood.
       Construction is not expected to start right away. Co-property owner Mark Cunningham, who created the plan with his mother, Lucille Cun-ningham, told the West-side Pioneer he does not plan to start building on the site at 1002-1010 W. Colorado until he has at least 50 percent of the property leased out.
       The project calls for construction of a one-story, 4,050-square-foot commercial building on a vacant lot just east of the parking lot for the existing 3,900-square-foot West Four commercial building, which will be remodeled in conjunction with the project.
       A key reason for waiting on construction is to see what kinds of tenants are interested. Some tenant might want more than just a quarter of the space. This would affect how the interior is constructed, according to Cunningham.
       The project includes the preservation of a mature ash tree near the street, whose presence actually changed the configuration of the entrance to the front parking area, Cunningham said.
       Council approved a change from the previous C-5 to C-5P zoning. This allows parking in back along the alley, which otherwise would not have been allowed, he said. According to city records, C-5P is a zone for 7th through 23rd streets on Colorado Avenue that the city created in the early 1980s after meeting with Westsiders. The idea was to provide more flexibility for small commercial and retail development along the avenue, Larry Larsen of City Planning related in his written recommendation in favor of the Cunningham proposal.
       He said the project “would be an improvement in that [the current building] does not have any historical significance in its existing condition. It is very important to determine area compatibility and to blend in with the surrounding land uses. Appropriate design and scale in character with this area of the Westside is essential.”
       When the work is done, both the old and new buildings will look much the same, Cunningham said. This will include adding handicapped access to the older building, which has four tenants.
       “We're pretty excited about how the plan turned out,” he said.

Westside Pioneer article