Certified Appraisals, Inc. Blog

Two of the four City for Champions projects have been under way for some time; the Air Force Academy Visitors Center and the Center for Sports and Medicine at UCCS. Colorado Springs has been awaiting plans for the last two; the Olympic Museum, and the Sports and Event Center. Finally, plans for the long awaited Olympic Museum have been revealed.


Plans for the Olympic Museum will include 60,000 square feet of space and will be located near the intersection of Vermijo Avenue and Sierra Madre Street, in the southwest portion of the Urban Renewal District in downtown Colorado Springs. The museum will include exhibit space, a theater, and a cafe. The tours will go through the Olympic history of athletes as well as Paralympic athletes. Also featured will be a laboratory focusing on the science and technology of sports, including nutrition and training as well as other areas. Also in the plans is a bridge to America the Beautiful Park, which will become a natural gateway into downtown.  So far, the plan is to break ground in the spring of 2016, with an estimated completion time of December 2017. Hopes are for completion to be before the Olympic Winter Games in Korea in 2018.              

It is hoped by many that the museum will begin a new development in downtown Colorado Springs and bring more energy into the local tourism, hospitality and sports industries. The museum is expected to attract between 300,000 and 400,000 people annually. Of those, 80 percent are expected to be from out of town. That should certainly contribute to the local ecomony in a positive way.

As more of the City for Champions projects progress,  we can only hope that the last one, the Sports and Event Center, gets some traction.  With the Olympic Museum underway,  there is hope for the Sports and Events Center as well. In the meantime,  we can get excited for the completion of the other projects.