Sunflower Motel demolished for ‘No Man’s Land’ project near west Colorado Springs
All that was left of the Sunflower Motel south of Manitou Springs Wednesday was dirt as a construction crew directed traffic and hosed down the building remains.
Wildcat Construction began demolition of the Sunflower Motel at 3703 West Colorado Avenue Wednesday about 8:30 a.m. as part of the effort to improve the area.
This is a milestone in the $30 million multi-jurisdictional project transforming a 1.5 mile section of Colorado Avenue known as “No Man’s Land,” into a safe and compatible link connecting Old Colorado City to Manitou Springs, Ute Pass and the mountain communities to the west.
In August 2016, the motel was acquired by El Paso County, which was in the process of purchasing another parcel to make room for landscaping, sidewalks and road construction.
The Sunflower property was acquired to accommodate roadway widening, installation of sidewalks, bridge replacement and trail realignment, and is the only business that had to be sacrificed for the project.
The county plans to have all work completed by the end of 2018.
The front office of the Sunflower Motel was demolished in less than an hour on W. Colorado Blvd. as a part of the Westside Area Action Plan on Wednesday, May 3, 2017. The motel was built in 1940 and is being torn down to make way for a bridge with a tunnel under Colorado Ave. that will connect both sides of the Midland Trail. Currently, trail users have to cross a busy Colorado Ave. to continue on the trail. The rest of the cabins will be torn down and debris cleaned up by the end of the week. Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette
The front office of the Sunflower Motel was demolished in less than an hour on W. Colorado Blvd. as a part of the Westside Area Action Plan on Wednesday, May 3, 2017. The motel was built in 1940 and is being torn down to make way for a bridge with a tunnel under Colorado Ave. that will connect both sides of the Midland Trail. Currently, trail users have to cross a busy Colorado Ave. to continue on the trail. The rest of the cabins will be torn down and debris cleaned up by the end of the week. Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette