Building toward the future in Cripple Creek

(CRIPPLE CREEK, Colo.) — Just a few blocks away from downtown, crews are hard at work building the newest residential housing in Cripple Creek. Prospector Place Townhomes, led by Gibraltar Developments, aims to alleviate the city’s housing shortage by offering a new place to call home.

“The city is undergoing a lot of growth and opportunity in the casino industry and that has manifested itself in a tremendous need for housing in Cripple Creek,” Project Director for Gibraltar Developments, Mike Beattie, said. “So, we’re hoping to help fill in a little bit of the void in housing as we move forward.”

Over the decades, Cripple Creek has greeted visitors from all corners of the state, and with the recently built casino, it’s expected that even more people will make the journey to this former gold mining camp.

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“It’s needed,” resident Lisa Cannon said. “Even a lot of people that we have here, need the housing… a lot of the houses are older houses, so you know how it is with repairs, maintenance, things like that.”

A hope, both for locals like Cannon and for the developers of Prospector Place Townhomes, is to bring more housing to this historic community and its newly employed residents.

“We want people up here working,” Cannon said. “I know over in Victor and in Cripple Creek, we still have a lot of buildings that are empty, and we just want to get those filled and get more families up here.”

Prospector Place Townhomes will provide 24 units, offering two- and three-bedroom options throughout the four buildings on the property.

“There’s a lot of opportunity and I think our generation appreciated the hard work our parents put in, they don’t necessarily appreciate the old historic feel,” Beattie said. “What we are striving for with Prospector Place is a kind of a gold rush feel, but all the modern amenities that you would expect in a subdivision in Colorado Springs, for example.”

Construction crews claim this residential housing project is the first of its kind to emerge in decades, which is why they take great pride in being a part of it.

“We’re the first development in Cripple Creek in probably 15 or more years,” Beattie said. “So, with the demand for housing being what it is for casino staff, law enforcement, the fire community, emergency responders here, as well as city and county workers. We weren’t sure if the market was going to go 100% owner occupied or if the investment community may come in and purchase some as rental options for local staff, whether it be casino staff members or city or fire, or teachers.”

The vision of this housing development was made possible thanks to the city working with Gibraltar Developments to ensure more housing could be made available to future families and employees of Cripple Creek.

Brandon Bachik, CFO of Gibraltar Development, explained, “When a lot of stuff shifted around 2020 before COVID, and a lot of gaming restrictions were really taken off the shelf and elevated, really what happened was the city contacted us and said ‘Look we have a lot of jobs coming to Cripple Creek and we don’t have the adequate housing and I know you’ve owned a lot of land which you have a lot of interest in developing stuff up here.'”

The projected timeline for the Prospector Place Townhomes is to have the first building completely framed and dried by the beginning of June. As crews work hard on this project, it is evident that this investment will significantly contribute to the future prosperity of this historic gold mining town.

“I think that Cripple Creek is wanting community and community starts with families,” Beattie said. “Because of the shortage of housing, it’s difficult from a family perspective and we’re hoping that this will bridge the gap and really bring some family and community activities to the city.”

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