historic colorado springs event center to get upgrade

Plans are now solid for the renovation of the Norris-Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs, a multi-building facility that includes a 10,000-seat stadium that hosts football games, rodeos, and music events.

Members of the El Paso County Commission have given their approval to a project that will see roughly $2.6 million in upgrades to the facility.

As part of that approval, commission members also stipulated that the owners of the center, the Bust Rodeo Foundation, must purchase liability insurance should any part of the larger site require remediation.

According to county records, that insurance in the form of a ten-year policy will have a cap of $10 million.

More than a century ago, the property at 1045 Lower Gold Camp Road was used as a dumping ground for toxic tailings left over from a gold ore processing operation.

After that, until at least the late 1950s, the site was a trash landfill.

An earlier effort on the part of the county to obtain federal funding to clean up the site fell through when it was learned that the county would be required to provide matching funds.

The upgrading of the site’s main building will see the renovation of kitchen space, new air conditioning and electrical systems, as well as exterior façade improvements.

The Norris-Penrose stadium is most known for an annual July rodeo show, which raises money to support programs for area military families - an event that has brought in around $360,000 in the last four years.

By Garry Boulard

---