Draft Report of Recommendations to be Presented on Friday, June 29 from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center

For more information, contact: Robert Krueger at 202-624-7051

COLORADO SPRINGS (June 25 2012) – A panel of nationally renowned land use experts from the Urban Land Institute (ULI) is in Colorado Springs this week to explore possible redevelopment strategies for elevating the downtown core so that it can become a vibrant and healthy attraction for future business and residents. Convened through ULI’s advisory services program, the panel sponsored by the City of Colorado Springs, will provide recommendations and alternatives for helping the city most effectively catalyze a revitalization of downtown.

The ULI advisory panel will focus on a series of questions associated with market potential, planning, design, and implementation of a feasible plan for downtown redevelopment. Panelists will evaluate the city’s economy, culture, landscape and infrastructure to help determine what can best affect a downtown renaissance. Panelists are tasked with providing counsel on how to best leverage the city’s current assets and identify what initiatives and improvements would result in the maximum return on investment.

The City of Colorado Springs specifically seeks ULI advice on answering a number of development issues. Some of these questions include:

• What are the most critical and effective actions that entities should take in order to further revitalize downtown?
• How essential is additional residential development to the continued growth and vitality of downtown?
• What are the city’s deficiencies and changes needed in attracting young and talented professionals and entrepreneurs?
• What is the best way to use and revitalize public assets, such as downtown parks and the City Auditorium?
• How does the city best manage and structure its parking enterprise?
• What actions should be taken to improve access and connectivity for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers to both downtown attractions and the suburbs?
• What are the most critical decisions and investments regarding public transportation and its connection to downtown development?

The panelists will spend the week touring and analyzing the site while conducting up to 100 individual interviews and then spend two days framing their recommendations and drafting a report that will be presented to the public at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, June 29, 2012 at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center.

The downtown Colorado Springs advisory panel is chaired by William H. Hudnut III, senior fellow emeritus at ULI and former four-term Indianapolis mayor and Congressman. Other panelists include Walter Bialas, senior real estate strategy executive, Washington, D.C.; James A. Cloar, scholar, Penn Institute for Urban Research, Tampa, Fla.; David Gazek, principal, Gazek Consulting, San Francisco, Calif.; Mike Higbee, managing director, DC Development Group, Indianapolis, Ind.; Glenda Hood, former Orlando mayor and president, Hood Partners, LLC, Orlando, Fla.; Jan Minami, principal, AMI Concepts, Fresno, Calif.; Ralph L. Núñez, president and design principal, Design Team, Southfield, Mich.; and David A. Stebbins, vice president, Buffalo Urban Development Corporation, Buffalo, N.Y.

Through the advisory services program, ULI assembles experts in the fields of real estate and land use planning to participate on panels worldwide, offering recommendations for complex planning and development projects, programs and policies. According to Tom Eitler, vice president of advisory services, the strength of the program lies in ULI’s unique ability to draw on the knowledge and experience of its nearly 30,000 members, including land developers, public officials, academics, lenders, architects, planners and urban designers.

This analysis from a wide variety of land use experts, coupled with substantial input from representatives of the communities, produces excellent results “time after time,” Eitler says. “The panel process helps build consensus to support an effort that benefits the entire community. It’s often the fresh, outside view provided by the panel that achieves these results. We seek possibilities and opportunities that might have been overlooked. The advisory services panel program is all about seeing things a different way.”

Past sponsors of ULI advisory services panels include: federal, state and local government agencies; regional councils of government; chambers of commerce; redevelopment authorities; private developers and property owners; community development corporations; lenders; historic preservation groups; non-profit community groups; environmental organizations; and economic development agencies.

About the Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute (uli.org) is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in sustaining and creating thriving communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the Institute has nearly 30,000 members representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.