Fort Carson – With its population expected to increase by 34 percent over the next five years, this Army base southwest of Colorado Springs is in line for a new lifestyle shopping center.
Greenwood Village-based ServiceStar Development Co. LLC will develop the 300,000-square-foot Fort Carson Lifestyle Village, doub ling the amount of retail currently on the base.
The new center will incorporate the existing commissary, Mini Mall and Post Exchange (PX), where soldiers, their families and retirees enjoy discounts on items such as electronics and clothing. About 106,000 are eligible to use the facilities, but that population will swell to about 142,000 within five years as Fort Carson welcomes about 10,000 more troops, primarily from Fort Hood, Texas.
“This is an opportunity for retailers, a fresh channel for them,” Mark DeRose, chief executive of ServiceStar, said last week at the International Council of Shopping Centers convention in Las Vegas. “We’ve had a lot of positive feedback in the last couple of days.”
Private developers also are planning new retail projects in nearby Fountain, anticipating the base’s population growth. Roughly a third of the troops stationed at Fort Carson live on the base. Many of the others live in Fountain.
“The city needs retail tax to support the influx of soldiers and their families,” said Lisa Coch run, the city’s economic-development director. “The general fund that supports police, fire and roads is supported by retail tax.”
Fort Carson Lifestyle Village is expected to cost more than $80 million; will incorporate the existing bowling alley; and will include a village green, a movie theater, restaurants and shops. It will be owned and operated by the Army & Air Force Exchange Service, a Department of Defense agency. Matthew DeBartolomeis of CB Richard Ellis is handling leasing for the project.
The idea, DeBartolomeis said, is to create a destination that gives soldiers, their families and retirees the sense of community that cities with similar centers have.
Fort Carson now has a Mini Mall that includes a combination furniture and sporting- goods store, UPS Store, military clothing store, dry cleaner, tailor and Enterprise Rent-a-Car. It also has its PX, which offers household products, electronics and clothing, cosmetics and accessories with name brands such as Estee Lauder and Coach. Concessionaires in the building include a florist, GNC store, barber and eye-care shop. A commissary, not operated by the AAFES, offers groceries.
Sgt. 1st Class Tina Sherrod, who shops at the PX at least once a week, said she hopes the quality of the base’s furniture store will improve with a new shopping center.
“Everything else, they have a good selection of,” said Sherrod, who mainly shops at the PX for electronics. “The restaurants are pretty good, but they could use a health-food restaurant – not so much deep-fried all the time.”
Fort Carson Lifestyle Village is expected to open in summer 2009, which coincides with the arrival of the bulk of the additional soldiers and their families moving to Fort Carson.
It is the first of six pilot projects nationwide in which the AAFES is building shopping centers on military bases. Others include Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas; Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio; and Eglin Air Force Base in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. The agency is doing market research on two others.
The AAFES already owns and operates Fort Carson’s PX, which, along with a commissary, will serve as an anchor to the project. The store and commissary have combined annual sales of more than $130 million.
“The store is not tax-funded,” said Joe Giuffreda, vice president of strategic partnerships for the AAFES. “The PX generates enough sales to support itself.”
The AAFES gives 65 percent of its profits to the Morale, Welfare and Recreation fund, which pays to maintain and operate facilities such as day-care centers, libraries, golf courses and gyms. The remaining 35 percent pays for upgrades to its facilities. In 2005, AAFES facilities generated $229 million for the fund.
Staff writer Margaret Jackson can be reached at 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com.
BY THE NUMBERS
$34.2 MILLION
Average yearly store sales at the Fort Carson Post Exchange, not including concessionaires; only Wal-Mart’s $51.5 million and Target’s $37.9 million are higher
$43.4 MILLION
Average annual store sales at the Fort Carson Commissary; Whole Foods is next among area grocery chains at $27.8 million
$229 MILLION
Amount generated by the Army & Air Force Exchange Service for the Morale, Welfare and Recreation fund, 65 percent of its profits
