The Cresterra business park at the Colorado Springs Airport is open for business.

Cresterra Parkway, a six-lane road with multiple turn lanes, provides easy access to the park. A major wastewater line is in place. The park boasts spectacular views of the Front Range; about 1,300 acres for future offices, retail, industrial buildings, hotels, a golf course and open space; and a southeast side location that puts it in the geographic center of the Pikes Peak region's military installations.

Now all Cresterra needs is more users beyond the handful it has so far.

That's the message Cresterra's developer and city officials sought to get out to the business community Thursday during a "takeoff event," which they hope will put a spotlight on the business park. The event drew about 60 people, including several local commercial real estate brokers that airport and Cresterra officials hope will bring potential users to check out the park.

Cresterra, east of Powers Boulevard and the Milton E. Proby Parkway and immediately south of the airport itself, has been master planned over the last decade. The airport and business park long have been envisioned by city, civic and economic development officials as an economic hub for the region - an area where employers would bring thousands of jobs and trigger additional commercial development.

The city owns the business park land, and in 2007 hired Corporate Office Properties Trust, or COPT, a Maryland real estate company, to develop the property. COPT, whose client list include many defense contractors in Maryland, Virginia and other areas, has a $5 billion real estate portfolio around the country and owns 21 buildings in Colorado Springs.

Northrop Grumman Corp. and Aerospace Corp. already have office buildings in the park, and the Department of Defense's 89-acre Rapid Deployment Facility allows the Air Force to deploy local Fort Carson troops anywhere in the world on short notice.

But attracting additional users remains the major challenge for Cresterra, given the ongoing local and national economic downturns and the reluctance of businesses and employers to expand.

Colorado Springs Mayor Steve Bach, who spoke at Thursday's event and who's a retired commercial real estate broker, said the city lacks enough commercial space for new research and development buildings and for multiple-use buildings - commonly known as flex space. Cresterra's master plan - a blueprint showing various land uses - will help attract businesses because they'll have a guarantee on how the property will develop, he said.

The Powers Boulevard connection to the airport, along with recent upgrades to the Proby Parkway, will provide access from around the city, he said. And, there's a large labor pool on the south and southeast sides for employers, he said.

"This offers a much better opportunity for all kinds of companies," Bach said of Cresterra.

But Bach acknowledged the poor economy is a hurdle, and said the city needs to do more to help attract employers. He also said construction of a speculative building by COPT - one built with the expectation that tenants will come later - would help attract other users. Of its 21 properties in the Springs, COPT has built one- third of them.

George Swintz, COPT's asset manager in the Springs and previously a longtime local commercial broker, said the company has no plans at this time to construct a building. And because of the uncertain economy, he said he can't predict when the next building might be constructed - by COPT or anybody else.

But Swintz believes there will be a demand among businesses for new commercial space. For example, many call centers are on the Springs' north side; the southeast side would be a perfect location for one, he said, because of the area's labor force - potential workers who live in the area, in part, because their spouses are deployed at Fort Carson or Peterson Air Force Base.

"What drives it down here, even in a difficult economy, is the fact that people want a shorter commute, and employers are going to recognize that," Swintz said.

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