Aerial map showing the location of Miller’s Landing, along with renderings of major and proposed roadways and existing trails and potential future trail connections.

Article and photo by Bryan Goodland; rendering courtesy of Navpoint Real Estate Group

Landfills are a part of the modern world, but they don’t have to stay that way forever. In the Town of Castle Rock (Town), they are taking what used to be a landfill and turning it into an opportunity.

Miller’s Landing is a 65-acre parcel of land on the northwest corner of I-25 and Plum Creek Parkway. The area was operated as a landfill in the 1970s, and then in 2015 it was evaluated. The landfill contained trash from area homes and the groundwater didn’t have signs of contamination. With that in mind, a proposal to reuse the land was started.

The idea is to turn Miller’s Landing into a modern, high density urban mixed-use development consisting of a hotel (developer Summit Smith is already on board), retail and office space. Prior to that though, the landfill had to be cleaned at an estimated cost of $12-$15 million. Now that the cleanup stage is complete, it is time to move forward.

Miller’s Landing will offer 877,000 square feet of mixed-use space in a staged approach over four different build-out phases, culminating in 2023. Phase one is slated to begin in the second quarter of 2019. Phase one has 1-4+ acre pad sites available, with sites up to 20+ acres in the later phases. The office, retail and hotel space will take up the vast majority of the square footage, followed by the entertainment and the food and beverage options.

The space and opportunities to buildout is currently being offered by NavPoint Real Estate Group.

One of the more interesting proposed additions adjacent to the area is the SnowFlex project by SnowSports 365. The proposal is to have a hill area with artificial snow for those in the area who don’t want to face the long commute and expense to the mountain resorts. The construction is set to begin in 2020.

At an event held at the Millhouse at Philip S. Miller Park last month, potential concept renderings of the future Miller’s Landing project were unveiled.

In order to attract businesses and retail stores, company signage visible on I-25 will be made available. The nearby I-25 corridor pushes through more than 85,000 vehicles daily. In addition, the 300-acre Philip S. Miller Park across the street has more than 1.5 million visitors each year who could potentially stop at the restaurants and retail establishments. Castle Rock itself is also home to more than 60,000 residents with more people moving in every year.

Along with the retail and other venues, part of the plan is also to bring jobs to the area. “It will be an ideal location for employers to locate new offices to attract the thousands of talented people in Castle Rock so they can enjoy more of a life/work balance. The community will have a beautiful venue for weddings, charitable and nonprofit events,” said Shawn Temple of P3 Advisors, LLC.

The project received approval from the Town Council in 2017. The entire project is a collaboration between the Town, P3 Advisors, LLC, Crown Community Development and the NavPoint Real Estate Group.

To celebrate the completion of the cleanup efforts and moving on to the next phase, an event was held at the Millhouse at Philip S. Miller Park in Castle Rock. The event offered everyone a chance to see all the companies involved in the effort and several artist renderings of what the area will look like. Flying Horse catering, a local established Castle Rock business and long-time business partner of The Connection, provided the food and beverages for the event.

For more information on Miller’s Landing, visit www.millerslanding.co. There is also a video on the project available at https://vimeo.com/202215947.