Tony DeSimone and Confluence Companies are changing the face of Douglas County, for the better.
With the My Mainstreet project finally under contract, the town is poised to see a transformation of downtown. Enter Tony DeSimone. The architect of the Castle Rock downtown reformation, Tony and his team have plans to bring new life to Mainstreet. Although the land is much larger than what Confluence redeveloped in Castle Rock, DeSimone said their approach to the Parker project has been similar.
DeSimone: We’ve found success developing mixed- use projects, where we bring in a residential component and the residential component helps subsidize the restaurant space in the retail to make it affordable to attract the right retail and restaurateurs. The new buildings will help keep more people coming to downtown and spending time there while enhancing the west side of Mainstreet. It’s their more historic section of downtown Parker, but as you head to the east, there’s just a lot of vacant land. So we see a lot of opportunity to help … create walkability.
Downtown Parker has some really great parts, but it's missing more activity. It's missing the places for people to work. From an entertainment / restauant perspective there is a need. There are some good municipal projects, but I think what's missing is how you fill in between those. One night it was 6:30 or 7:00 when I was driving Mainstreet before a town council meeting. I literally only saw one person walking on Mainstreet that evening. It was a nice night.
But that's what it's missing: the foot traffic. That's what this new development really is able to bring.That's what I think it's missing today, is more things to do and a draw to get people downtown.
We're trying to create a really vibrant mixed use environment.Not dissimilar to what we've done in Castle Rock but unique to Parker. Ground floor retail, ground floor restuarants. Incorpoarting an office component to get people an opportunity to live on Mainstreet, walk to work, and then recreate after. It's a place for people to live, dine and shop,and a place for people to work.
I think the one thing you'll see a little differently there that we do; we're going to try to focus hard on the art component
We want the local residents to have an opportunity to own their real estate. Whether it's a business or a residential unit, I think that's really important to downtown redevelopment. That pride of ownership.
It takes a lot of people, all working collaboratively together, to create these complicated mixed-use projects.
I’ve been leading the process for our team, but there are so many of our team members that play an important role in what we do (our architect, Craine Architecture, my business partners, Tim & Matt, and our entire company team of builders and property managers as well as the local politicians and town staff.)
This isn't just business for Tony. He has a history with Douglas County that he is proud to share.
DeSimone: My wife and her family has a long history in Douglas County. Some of the family dates all the way back into the 1860s when they homesteaded in Castlewood Canyon. I was introduced to Colorado in the Army after graduating from West Point. I was stationed at Fort Carson for my first assignment. I just loved Colorado. I would meet in Castle Rock to take my wife on dates back in the '90s. At the time, the town struck me as a charming town. When we left the military in 2005, we actually moved to Castle Rock and raised our children in the town.
I feel a lot of responsibilty to do a good job just because of my wife's family history here, and we're in the community. We want to be proud when we show up to our buildings and our communities.
To see the presentation of this plan to Town Council, go to parkerco.portal.civicclerk.com/event/1898/media.