State grant for ‘City for Champions’ gets rubber-stamp

Backers of the City for Champions proposal cleared another hurdle Thursday when the Colorado State Economic Development Commission gave final approval to a $120.5 Million tourism grant for the project.

Adoption of the final resolution means the state EDC’s approval of the City for Champions Regional Tourism Act (RTA) application has been formalized.

The proposal calls for the construction of four new venues across the city with the goal of attracting tourists to Colorado Springs.

Two of the proposed venues, an Olympic museum and a stadium, would be built near America the Beautiful Park downtown. The other two venues include a new visitor’s center at the Air Force Academy and a sports medicine and performance center at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs.

The city says the formal approval of the grant means all four projects can move forward in the development process and that the RTA Advisory Board can begin crafting specific requirements for the initiative.

“We are grateful to the State Economic Development Commission, the Office of Economic Development and International Trade, and the State Attorney General’s office for granting the City of Colorado Springs this historic opportunity and for their efforts in completing this resolution and their partnership on these exciting projects,” said Bob Cope, Senior Business Climate Specialist for the City of Colorado Springs.

According to the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, the Regional Tourism Act “establishes a program that gives local governments the opportunity to apply with the Economic Development Commission (EDC) for approval of a large scale Regional Tourism Project that is of an extraordinary and unique nature, is anticipated to result in a substantial increase in out-of-state tourism, and that generates a significant portion of the sales tax revenue by transactions with nonresidents of the Zone.”

The total cost of the project is projected to be $250 million. Some tax payers have expressed concerns about whether they will end up having to foot the bill to make the project happen. At a public meeting in February, Mayor Steve Bach said he does not support a tax hike to fund the project and that if it comes down to that, voters will get to decide whether to approve the increase.