Jan 6, 2008

Business is booming in Manitou SpringsBy Bill RadfordGazette.com

Manitou Springs seems to be a sweet spot amid a generally sour economy.

Certainly it appears to be doing better than its bigger neighbor to the east. While Colorado Springs’ budget was plagued by largely stagnant sales tax revenues in 2007, Manitou saw its key summer months post increases in sales tax collections as high as 27 percent from the summer before.

As downtown Colorado Springs looks to fill numerous vacant storefronts, businesses are said to be desperate for a spot to open up on “the avenue” — Manitou Avenue — in downtown Manitou Springs.

“The mood is really positive by the merchants,” said Kitty Clemens, director of the Manitou Springs Economic Development Council. “I have some merchants who bypassed their 2006 sales by the end of July 2007.”

Manitou, hailed recently by The New York Times as “a little jewel box of a village at the foot of Pikes Peak,” benefited from a strong summer tourism season statewide in 2007. But many other factors have also come together to put the town on a positive path.

Manitou voters in 2003 overwhelmingly approved a three-tenths-of-acent sales tax increase for a downtown revitalization project.

Work continues until 2010, with a new phase beginning this month, but the streetscape improvements completed so far already make for a more inviting Manitou, merchants say.

Read complete article.