Two upscale restaurants – one specializing in steaks and seafood and the other in Italian fare – are planned for South Tejon Street as part of an urban renewal project proposed along South Tejon and South Nevada Avenue.

A development group headed by downtown Colorado Springs businessman Sam Guadagnoli has proposed Prime Steakhouse and Seafood at 1605 S. Tejon, in a two-story, 8,300-square-foot building that would be remodeled to accommodate the new restaurant.

At the same time, Guadagnoli’s group plans Cansano’s, an Italian restaurant and winery in a three-story, 8,000-square-foot building nearby at 1515 S. Tejon.

“We think they’re going to be highly complementary,” said Ray O’Sullivan, a Springs real estate developer working with Guadagnoli.

Guadagnoli and groups headed by real estate developers Danny Mientka and Walt Harder have proposed an urban renewal project for a 100-acre area along South Nevada, between Interstate 25 and East Cheyenne Road. The area stretches to Wahsatch Avenue on the east and Tejon on the west.

The City Council is scheduled to consider whether to designate the area as an urban renewal site at its meeting Tuesday.

The Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority already has agreed with a consultant’s finding that the area is blighted and has recommended that the council approve the urban renewal designation.

The Guadagnoli, Mientka and Harder groups each have separate redevelopment proposals for land in the area they’ve either purchased or have contracted to buy. In general, the groups are looking to bring new restaurants, stores, groceries, apartments and the like to a congested area that’s populated by aging hotels, fast-food restaurants and other uses.

Guadagnoli – who owns nightclubs and bars downtown – and his group envision apartments, townhomes, restaurants, cafes, a hotel, trails, a park and an amphitheater, among other uses on their property; much of their redevelopment efforts would take place along Cheyenne Creek, which would become the focal point of an entertainment district planned in the area. Several homes and small commercial buildings would be razed, while others would be remodeled.

The Prime Steakhouse and Seafood restaurant would feature a main, first-floor dining room, with overflow seating and a newly constructed deck on the second floor, according to plans that Guadagnoli’s representatives have submitted to the city’s Land Use Review Division.

Cansano’s, meanwhile, would include a first-floor winery and dining on the second and third floors. The second floor would have a deck, and the third floor would feature a banquet room, O’Sullivan said. An elevator also would be added to the building, he said.

Both buildings would share a new parking lot that would be developed behind the planned 1605 S. Tejon building.

The restaurants, which are targeted to open in April, are expected to become part of an entertainment destination for Springs residents, especially those on the city’s southwest side, O’Sullivan said.

At the same time, the restaurants and other new land uses will cater to residents living in the new apartments and townhomes planned for the area.

“The whole intent is to get . the entertainment district built with the park and the amphitheater and all that, and plenty of parking, of course,” O’Sullivan said. “The idea is to get people to drive down there, park and figure out where they want to go.”

If the City Council declines to designate the area as an urban renewal site, which provides financial incentives for developers to revitalize the South Nevada and South Tejon corridors, Guadagnoli’s group then will look at the economics of the restaurants to see if they’re still viable, O’Sullivan said.