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A southwesterly view across Colorado Avenue
at 30th Street shows the recently taped-off car wash at left and the neighboring
office building mostly obscured in the trees to the right. (See photo below for a
close-up view of the building.) Ent Credit Union recently purchased both
properties, totalling 54,000 square feet.
Ent Credit Union buys land, to build Westside 'hub' on Colorado at 30th
Aug. 9, 2018On the south side of Colorado Avenue at 30th Street, yellow tape has been stretched across the bays in the long-time car wash, and in the two-story office building next door most of the tenants are gone.
Ominous portents?
Quite the opposite, based on an interview with Victoria Selfridge of Ent Credit Union. The vice president of corporate communications explained
This roughly 30-year-old office building at
3009 W. Colorado Ave. is now owned by Ent Credit Union, which plans to tear it
down - along with the car wash next door - to build a financial "hub" for the
Westside.
Westside Pioneer photo
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Developed separately in the 1980s, based on County Assessor's Office data, the parcels at 3005 and 3009 W. Colorado together comprise 54,000 square feet between the avenue and Fountain Creek.
Ent purchased them following a lengthy search for a place to build a free-standing Westside location. Space is “at a premium” on the Westside, Selfridge noted, so when both properties went on the market, “it was a great find.”
According to local Realtor Jerry Trent, who was involved in the transaction, the six tenants in the office building have been given notice, and the two who still remain will be "leaving by the end of August, or maybe sooner."
Founded in 1957 to serve Ent Air Force Base, the not-for-profit financial cooperative has expanded its availability over the years to the entire community and now has 300,000 members in eight Colorado counties, including 20 service centers in the Springs.
Of those, Ent describes the seven largest as “hubs” and the smaller ones as “spokes.” One of the spokes is in the strip mall at the Red Rock Canyon shopping center off Colorado Avenue west of 31st Street. Situated there since 2000, the office consists of 1,700 square feet and is called Ent's “Westside Service Center."
It will be replaced by the much larger new facility, which will be defined as a hub, Selfridge said.
She does not yet have a construction schedule, although it's expected that the car wash will be torn down in September. A design with detailed plans still needs to be drawn up and submitted to the city, from which formal approvals will be necessary for the demolitions, a replatting (to define the two properties as one), a rezoning (to allow banking there as a commercial use) and a development plan, she summarized.
In addition, Ent needs to hire building contractors. If all goes well, “we would probably be able to start construction early in 2019,” she estimated.
As part of the planning process, Selfridge expressed a willingness to reach out to nearby residential and business groups. “We want to be good partners in the community,” she said.
In addition to in-lobby lending specialists and service representatives (which the Westside Service Center offers now), the new facility will provide a drive-up window and a new online feature: two “interactive teller machines” with touch screens that will let members have live video chats with Ent representatives during prescribed times when the credit union lobby is not open.
“If for some reason people have missed normal banking hours, no worries, they can use this convenience to get all their odds and ends worked out,” Selfridge outlined.
As for parking, 40 spaces will be provided at the location, which Ent has gauged will be more than enough for the maximum number of visitors.
Westside Pioneer article
(Land:
Proposals)
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