Colorado Springs to consider $700,000 sale of former Meadows Park center
CRE Holdings identified daycare as its priority use; councilmembers also discussed directing sale proceeds to parks and neighborhood benefits, but the draft resolution makes no appropriation.
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Colorado Springs City Council is scheduled to consider a proposal Oct. 27 to sell the former Meadows Park Community Center to CRE Holdings LLC for $700,000. The draft resolution describes the price as below fair market value in recognition of a community benefit. It says Council “desires and intends” that the proceeds be appropriated to the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department for park properties and improvements in Stratton Meadows. The draft does not appropriate the money or settle whether there would be a separate neighborhood share.
At an Oct. 12 work session, CRE Holdings principal John Rogers said daycare was the company’s priority use for the building. The company had not identified a daycare operator and was still exploring whether daycare could occupy all or part of the building, Rogers said at the work session.
Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Director Skyler Rorabaugh said the Park System Master Plan identified about $600,000 in Meadows Park improvements, including playground and accessibility upgrades, seating and shade improvements, and basketball-court work. The work-session minutes do not connect those projects to the proposed sale proceeds.
Assistant Parks Director Kim King said the Parks Advisory Board recommended that proceeds go to the department. Councilmember David Leinweber urged that the neighborhood also benefit; Councilmembers Nancy Henjum, Kimberly Gold and Brandy Williams supported pursuing that request, and City Attorney Stefanie Boster said it was permissible. Council President Lynette Crow-Iverson said she understood a council majority wanted the proceeds to go to Parks and asked staff to include that in an agreement for a later vote. The minutes record discussion and direction, not a final decision on how the proceeds would be allocated.
The proposed sale covers the former center at 1939 and 1943 S. El Paso Avenue. The draft resolution says the city determined in September 2025 that the center’s operations should close and the property was no longer needed for city purposes. It cites health, welfare, access to services and quality of life in Stratton Meadows and across Colorado Springs as reasons for treating the sale as a community benefit. It does not identify a specific project or service CRE Holdings must provide.
The Oct. 27 Council agenda lists the resolution for consideration. If approved, it would authorize the city’s Real Estate Services Manager to complete the disposition documents and obtain the mayor’s signature on a quitclaim deed.