Downtown Colorado Springs experienced stable growth and resilience in 2024 amid a cooling economy punctuated by inflation and political uncertainty, underscoring strong support for the area and pervasive optimism for its future, according to advocacy group the Downtown Partnership.

Long considered to be the city’s economic, cultural and government hub, downtown saw increased investment last year, growing to nearly $2.5 billion total since 2013.

In 2024, completed downtown projects broke the $1 billion benchmark after 824 new apartment units opened in the last half of the year — a surge that is poised to continue, with more than 1,000 additional units planned for 2025 and another 1,000 planned in 2026, the organization said.

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Vacancy rates spiked to a high of 34.6% in the last quarter of 2024, which experts anticipated, thanks to the influx of new apartments that came online last year. But among downtown area multifamily properties that have been accepting lessees for at least 12 consecutive months, the vacancy rate is 8.8%, compared with citywide apartment vacancy rates of 12.6%.

As downtown welcomed more residents, it also enjoyed more overnight visitors. Though the hotel occupancy rate in the area reached 66.8%, exceeding 2023’s post-pandemic high, that figure is only 3.3% below downtown’s 2019 pre-pandemic rate. Because there are now more than double the number of hotel rooms downtown than there were in 2019, the city set a record in 2024 for total occupied room nights downtown.

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These highlights show the “real” state of downtown, Downtown Partnership Interim President and CEO Hannah Parsons said Thursday afternoon. The merchant group unveiled its 10th annual State of Downtown report at Weidner Field, highlighting trends and market conditions in the area throughout 2024.

The report cites data gathered from more than a dozen sources, including various city departments, the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce & Economic Development Corp., the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department and others.

It serves as a resource for developers, investors, employers and others who could be interested in doing business downtown.

Parsons criticized local media outlets that in recent months have reported on the state of downtown, including business closures and openings as well as unique downtown challenges like parking woes and homelessness. Parsons said the coverage has helped paint a narrative that downtown is struggling.

“When I’m asked about downtown, my response is that downtown is likely stronger than you think it is,” she said. “… Are there challenges? Yes. Are macroeconomic conditions challenging? Absolutely. Do we struggle with issues such as homelessness? Yes, we do. All downtowns do. Is downtown losing the battle as a result of these challenges? Absolutely not.”

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Other highlights in the State of Downtown report:

• More than 16.2 million people came to downtown in 2024, including more than 12.3 million visitors, down by a slight 1.5% from 2023. More than 3.2 million employees visited downtown outside of work last year, and the area logged about 630,000 resident visits, too — up from 428,000 visits in 2023.

• The 80903 ZIP code downtown accounted for 515 building permits, or roughly 6% of all permits issued in Colorado Springs and 4% of permit values citywide.

• Weidner Field, Ed Robson Arena at Colorado College and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum, all City For Champions projects, collectively brought more than 600,000 visits to downtown.

• Asking rents in the fourth quarter of 2024 were $1,830 per unit, down 4.6% from $1,918 in the fourth quarter of 2023, reflecting how more supply moderates rents, the Downtown Partnership said.

• The growth rate for downtown household population from 2020-2024 was 8%, above the citywide rate of just 1.15%.

• Twenty-nine new businesses opened downtown last year, the same as in 2023.

• Downtown saw “relatively minor” office vacancy rates compared to other cities, at 8%. Downtown’s office vacancy rate peaked at 9% in the third quarter of 2024 before declining, the first quarterly decrease in all-office vacancy rates after 11 straight quarters of increase.