Castle Rock Development To Have Year-Round Skiing
P3 Advisors is breaking ground this month on Miller’s Landing, a 65-acre mixed-use project at the northwest corner of the Interstate 25 and Plum Creek Parkway interchange adjacent to Philip S. Miller Park.
The centerpiece of the $300M project is Snowsports 365, a year-round snow sport complex that will be able to accommodate up to 400 skiers an hour.
“It’s like Topgolf for snow,” P3 Advisors co-founder and Managing Director Shawn Temple said. “It’s a synthetic material that gives you the ability to carve.”
The concept is similar to the Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre operated by Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Temple said he has had discussions with several retailers that would complement what he calls an “experiential lifestyle district.”
“That’s what people are buying now is experiences,” he said.
The P3 Advisors team includes Toronto-based commercial real estate firm Avison Young, which has a Denver office, and Crown Community Development, a part of the Chicago-based Henry Crown and Co. The Crown family owns Aspen Skiing Co.
In addition to creating an entertainment district, Miller’s Landing will offer medical office and office space to attract companies that will employ Castle Rock residents.
“Fifteen thousand to 18,000 people are leaving town every day to go to work,” Temple said.
But before it can build anything, P3 has to clean up the property, which is the site of a landfill that closed in 1980. That work starts this month, and construction is expected to start next year. The plan is to deliver a 300-room full-service hotel with a 50K SF conference center and the ski hill sometime during 2019.
Castle Rock EDC President and CEO Frank Gray said one of the town’s main objectives is to provide primary jobs for its residents, and Miller’s Landing could be instrumental in that endeavor.
“Miller’s Landing could bring up to 450K SF of office product that we don’t have,” Gray said. “We don’t have the ability to serve prospects that need 5K to 10K SF. It will be one of the first opportunities we have to do that.”
Halfway between Denver and Colorado Springs, Castle Rock is proving to be a desirable location. The town is in the midst of $1B of new development, including more than $150M in the historic downtown.
In addition to Miller’s Landing, the $60M Riverwalk downtown bordering Festival Park will consist of a mix of retail, office and residential uses. The first phase is expected to be completed next fall, and total project completion is estimated by the end of 2018.
There is also the $40M Collaboration Campus on a 14-acre site in The Meadows master planned community west of Interstate 25. Its goal is to provide an educated workforce to businesses in Castle Rock. Arapahoe Community College, Colorado State University and the Douglas County School District have teamed up to create an easy transition from high school diploma to associate’s and bachelor’s degrees. The two-phase project will have two 54K SF buildings. The first building is expected to open by fall 2019. The Town of Castle Rock invested $3M to help with building permits, fees and site improvements.
“Our goal isn’t to necessarily go out and just try to bring in new companies,” Gray said. “We think you have to provide infrastructure. Colorado has a highly educated workforce, but now it’s gotten to the point where the economy is so good it’s difficult to find people, and the Collaboration Campus will help solve that.”
