Downtown Colorado Springs sees surge in residents and visitors

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The Downtown Partnership of Colorado Springs reports that the number of people living Downtown nearly doubled in one year, from 2,574 residents in 2024 to 4,860 in 2025. Since 2013, about $2.66 billion has been invested in the downtown area.

That investment seems to be paying off, with many downtown stores saying business is good.

"We are trending to have the best year we've ever had already this year," Adam Kwas, manager of Little Richards, says.

Almost 20 million people visited downtown in 2025. Data from the Downtown Partnership of Colorado Springs shows an uptick in business across the board. As the end of March approaches, many of them are still seeing significant upticks.

"Actually fantastic," Kwas says. "Last year we had one of our best years to date, and we're already ahead of that year now. The start of the year is usually a little slower for us, but not this year."

Little Richards - the toy store inside of Poor Richards - says sales are up about 30-40%. While not every business had exact stats, places like Louie's Pizza in downtown say it's been busier than normal.

"Honestly, I think this downtown location's always done pretty well, but it is kind of surprising to see the dramatic increase in business as of late," says Carson Woerth, one of the managers of Louie's Pizza.

The report says retail sales were up in 2025. So were visits to bars and restaurants.

With more businesses set to open this year, places like Kochi Boba and Ohana Kava Bar are seeing steady business themselves with help from their neighbors.

"It's like our only city area around here," says Kochi Boba manager Taya Wise. "We have a lot of different businesses, a lot of different things you could just experience and just try that you haven't before."

"Downtown we're like kind of a big community here," says Alexandra Jones, assistant manager of Ohana Kava Bar. "So, a lot of the businesses know each other. And then we support each other by sharing like fliers with each other. So it's really like communal, which is nice."

The Downtown Partnership of Colorado Springs highlighted milestones and key trends in its 2026 downtown report.

Key highlights from the report include the following:

Visitation:

• 15.5 million non-resident visits (up 4.3%), 13.7 million out-of-market visits (up 4.4%), and 3.3 million Downtown employee visits (up 1.7%) for a total of 18.8 million in 2025.

Development and Investment:

• $2.66 billion in investment since 2013, with $190.2 million additional investment since 2024.
• Downtown (80903 Zip Code) accounted for 119 building permits, 7.6% of permits issued citywide, and 3.1% of permit values citywide ($42 million).

Tourism and Attractions:

• The 2025 average hotel occupancy rate of 67% surpassed 2024’s post-pandemic high with nearly 274,000 occupied room nights, breaking the record for the third consecutive year.
• City venues collectively brought over 530,000 visits to Downtown.

The full report can be read online here.

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