Commercial construction dominated the Colorado Springs building scene in 2025.

Nearly 400 permits for new commercial projects were approved by the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department last year, according to a news release issued Monday. This is up 31% compared to 2024 and the region’s most since 2022.

The year ended with a bang. December was the busiest month of the year for commercial construction, according to a social media post from the department.

“We issued permits for 398 new commercial projects. … It comes after three straight years of declining commercial numbers, so it was a nice turn around,” the department said on social media. “The rebound was fueled by a large increase in apartment construction.”

In December alone, 60 new ground-up commercial projects were approved by the department, including two hotels, two “large apartment complexes,” the new El Pomar Conference Center and a new retail building in the InterQuest area, according to the post.

The two new hotels will be located at 150 Spectrum Loop and 9500 Federal Drive, according to PPRBD records. They are valued at $22 million and $10.5 million, respectively.

City records indicate a hotel called the After Sunset Resort and Hotel will occupy approximately 5.5 acres on the Spectrum Loop plot, across the street from the Ford Amphitheater. The Federal Drive hotel will be a Marriott brand concept known as StudioRes and will offer 108 rooms, according to city records and the hotel group’s website.

Plans indicate the InterQuest project will be a large, 40,000-square-foot structure. As of Monday, crews had begun work on the project, according to PPRBD. Records with the city’s public records system Accela only show records for a project called “Interquest Marketplace,” though no associated documents are attached to those records.

The El Pomar Conference Center, located at 2 Penrose Blvd., will be renovated starting in spring or summer this year, the El Pomar Foundation said. The building was home to the Namaste Alzheimer Center until 2023 when the memory care facility closed and the El Pomar Foundation purchased the building.

The renovations will bring more meeting spaces, dedicate archival and care space for the foundation’s records and objects, provide administrative space for Penrose House, and improve the foundation’s ability to support area nonprofits, the group said.

The building department in 2025 approved permits for apartment complexes that will bring more than 2,700 units to the region. Further, apartment projects approved in previous years have started to open their doors to renters. More than 4,100 units received certificates of occupancy during the year, and 4,500 more units are under construction, the department said.

Two major projects were approved in December. One, located just north of Pikes Peak State College and Fort Carson, will be called Venture on Venetucci. It was approved early in December. Plans with PPRBD and information shared on builder Thompson Thrift Construction’s website indicate the complex will bring 336 apartment units to the city.

Further north in Monument, Thompson Thrift plans to build what it is calling “The Maverick,” which will bring 300 units to Monument just south of Lewis-Palmer High School, the builder’s website shows.

“I think the permit numbers are an encouraging sign for 2026 as the resulting construction will be a lift for overall economic activity in the region,” said Bill Craighead, director of the Economic Forum at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. “This hopefully reverses the drag we’ve seen from this category in the past couple of years.”

While the boost in commercial construction was led by a large increase in multi-family construction, particularly in the final two months of the year, the release said, “Residential construction was a little slow in 2025, but it ended strong with a busy fourth quarter.” 

In total, PPRBD approved permits for 2,811 single-family homes in 2025, a 1% decline from 2024. The department also issued permits for 64 new condos, the most since 2007. Colorado Springs may need upwards of 27,000 more housing units, according to a housing needs assessment conducted by the city, if population trends continue.

The trend in housing projects may also help alleviate housing affordability concerns over time, as the permits evolve into real units the city can add to its inventory, Craighead added.

Construction throughout the region in 2025 totaled around $3.7 billion, an 8% increase over 2024, the department said in the release.

Here are some apartment projects approved in 2025:

1. Sierra Junction Apartments, 368 units, 13050 Sierra Creek Circle.
2. Bradley Ridge Apartments, 336 units, west of Bradley Landing Blvd. and south of Bradley Ridge Dr.
3. Venture on Venetucci, 336 units, 4446 Venetucci Blvd
4. Downtown Flying Horse Apartments, 240 units, intersection of InterQuest Parkway and Powers Boulevard.
5. Royal Pine Apartments, 232 units, intersection of Union and Powers Boulevards.

Here are the highest-valued commercial projects from 2025:

1. American Furniture Warehouse (estimate): $45 million. 
2. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Giraffe Exhibit: $25 million.
3. After Sunset Hotel and Resort: $22 million.
4. Jenkins Middle School Expansion: $14.3 million.
5. El Paso County Sheriff Substation (Falcon): $8.2 million.