CASTLE ROCK — Downtown Castle Rock is a mix of old and new, with nothing tying the opposites together.
Gas stations keep watch at both entrances, and at night, there’s not much going on.
But officials hope a plan adopted by the Town Council recently will mean a new beginning for the historic downtown.
The plan calls for a welcome center on the northern entrance, spacious sidewalks lined with cafes and public art and specialty retail on the ground level and residential above.
“I think that the downtown of any town is the heart of the town,” said Mayor Randy Reed. “This will make it a vibrant downtown.”
Planners envision the area as a gathering place for community events as well as a place where people can come to have drinks, dine and see a movie — all within walking distance.
“We want downtown to be special so that people understand they are in downtown Castle Rock,” said Fabby Hillyard, a consultant on the project. “If downtown becomes the glue of the town, we won’t have people driving somewhere else to do all those things.”
To pay for improvements, town leaders want to create a downtown development authority and a business improvement district. That would allow money from increased property values to go toward sidewalks, roads and other amenities.
Voters would need to approve that plan, which town leaders hope to place on the November ballot.
Private investment also will be needed, they said.
The rejuvenation plan comes after several years of discussions, study and surveys from an advisory committee of business owners and civil leaders.
Redesigning downtowns built long ago is working in cities throughout the country. Olde Town Arvada, for example, went through a redevelopment several years ago. The transformation has given residents a quaint place to be entertained.
That is the same benefit Castle Rock officials are hoping for.
Mark Neel, who owns Castle Rock Bicycle Company in downtown, said people go to Denver, Colorado Springs or even downtown Littleton for entertainment.
“What the town has finally realized is, if they are going to be able to grow effectively, you have to have some type of marketable downtown and an identifiable gathering place for special events,” Neel said.
The town has focused its attention on the “outlet exit” north of downtown, Neel said, where the factory outlet mall and big-box stores have been a sales-tax cash cow.
But for a town of 43,000 people — with projections of 100,000 by the year 2020 — the downtown project will be the linchpin for the entire community.
As it is now, Castle Rock is considered by locals to be three or four towns within a town — the outlet mall, downtown and the Founders and Meadows subdivisions.
“Downtown will become the hub of the whole community,” Reed said.
