Sixty-nine acres of airport-owned business park changes what a warehouse can be. In February 2020 Amazon bought 69.2 acres in Peak Innovation Park, the 960-acre park owned by Colorado Springs Airport, for $6.33 million, and the plan reported with that sale was a distribution and sorting center of about 4 million square feet over five stories, with 800,000 square feet on the first floor. Whatever any single user decides, that plan shows the range of what the city's airport ground can host: multi-level logistics, deep floor plates and a runway next door.
We build for that range. A single-level distribution center on a spec basis, a build-to-suit shell sized to a 3PL's dock count, a parcel building where van staging matters more than trailer positions, or a heavier structure that carries racking and mezzanine loads. Each starts with the same questions: clear height, dock doors per thousand square feet, trailer stalls, and the date the first pallet has to move.
Colorado Springs also runs on a defense payroll. Fort Carson reports 23,716 active-duty soldiers, 5,412 civilians and 1,450 contractors, and a total economic impact of $2.67 billion. That demand feeds regional distribution, supply staging and parcel volume, and it is the reason we plan these buildings for steady, year-round throughput rather than a single peak.
Floor plate, dock package and yard for an airport-park site
Airport-park sites tend to be large, graded flat enough to work and free of the infill constraints that squeeze a metro parcel. We turn that into a clean sequence: mass grading to the geotechnical recommendations, utilities stubbed to the building pad, then the slab. On a tilt-up shell the slab is the casting bed, so floor flatness, joint layout and curing are decided before a panel is poured.
The dock package follows the tenant's trailer mix. We lay out door spacing, apron depth and staging against the turning path of 53-foot trailers, then coordinate levelers, seals and bumpers with the last-mile parcel hub model where van lanes sit on the opposite face from trailers. Truck court design is half the building's operating efficiency, and we draw it that way.
Which code we design to in El Paso County cities
Colorado Springs adopted the 2023 Pikes Peak Regional Building Code, which carries the 2021 International Building Code, by Ordinance 23-16 (passed March 28, 2023, effective April 10, 2023, implementation June 30, 2023). The Pikes Peak Regional Building Department enforces it. We pull permits against that edition, and we bring the plan reviewer into the schedule early so questions about egress, fire access and occupancy separations are answered before drawings are final.
Fire protection is the long pole on high-piled storage. We coordinate sprinkler design, ESFR layout against the racking plan, water supply and fire department access during design, because a late change in commodity class can reshape roof framing and underground work.
Utilities and site work that decide the delivery date
Large logistics buildings consume utilities before they consume tenants. Fire water, domestic service, sanitary, power and telecom each have lead times that can set the date more than the shell itself does. Our site utilities package sequences those connections with the grading and slab work, so the building does not finish ahead of its power.
Detention, paving and truck court follow. We plan haul routes and the construction entrance so deliveries do not cross the area where panels are standing, and we hold pavement sections to the traffic the tenant will really run. Heavy concrete at the dock apron and the trailer parking stalls, lighter asphalt in the employee lot, and a clean joint between them keeps maintenance low for the owner.
Why the airport corridor keeps pulling logistics users
The 2025 Colorado Aviation Economic Impact Study, covering 2023 activity, reports 34,829 jobs (up from 25,093 in the 2020 study), $2.7 billion in payroll and $5.2 billion in business revenue tied to Colorado Springs Airport. For a site selector, that is a large, growing employment base around the field, and it explains why users look to airport ground first.
E-commerce and parcel operators care about two things on a site like this: labor within a short commute and a route onto the interstate that keeps drivers off local streets. Developers reading the same market weigh e-commerce fulfillment demand against absorption, and we price shells with both outcomes in mind.
What moves the number on a large Colorado Springs shell
Floor area gets the headline, but the budget moves on a short list: depth of the slab and its flatness requirement, clear height and column grid, the fire protection design, and how much site work the parcel needs. Two buildings of equal square footage can differ widely when one needs a 40-foot clear height and the other needs 32.
We price in layers so you can see each driver: shell, slab, dock package, fire protection, site and utilities. A developer can then trade clear height against rent or cut a phase without losing the structure of the estimate.
Hitting a lease commencement date without surprises
Lease dates are the real deadline. We work back from commencement through permit review, long-lead items such as dock doors, roof-top units and electrical gear, and the weeks needed for panel curing, erection and roofing. Each of those gets a named owner and a date on a single schedule.
Where the plan includes expansion, such as a second building on the same campus or a follow-on building south in Fountain or north in Monument, we build the first phase with stubs and pads ready for the next, so tenant two does not tear up tenant one.
Send the site and the lease date
Send us the parcel, your clear height and dock count, and the date your first pallet has to move. We will return a sequence and a budget range you can take to your lender.
Common Questions
Which building code applies to a warehouse in Colorado Springs?
The city adopted the 2023 Pikes Peak Regional Building Code, which carries the 2021 International Building Code. The Pikes Peak Regional Building Department enforces it. We confirm the current edition and any local amendments at the start of design, and we lock the design basis before drawings go to review.
Can a multi-level distribution building work here?
The airport park contains a reported plan for a five-story sorting center of about 4 million square feet, so the idea has been tested at scale. Multi-level buildings add structure, vertical conveyance, egress and fire separation cost, so we price them against a single-level alternative before you commit.
How do you control floor flatness on a big slab?
We set the specification at the start, choose the placement strip width and joint layout, and run a laser screed with a trained finishing crew. Flatness is measured and reported after each pour, so any drift is caught before the next placement.
How should we plan for peak-season hiring near the airport?
Employee parking, bus or shuttle turnaround and shift-change traffic belong in the site plan. We separate car lanes from trailer lanes and size the lot for a peak-season workforce rather than the average shift.
What is a realistic schedule for a spec shell?
It depends on size and long-lead items, but permit review, utility availability and electrical gear usually set the pace. We build a backward schedule from your target occupancy and tell you early if a milestone cannot be met.
