It has been less than a year since it completed its high-profile spinoff, but already Curbline Properties' expanding stake in Colorado's second-largest city is lending an ample boost to the region's retail investment market.
The Beachwood, Ohio-based landlord marked its second acquisition in the Colorado Springs area with its late 2025 purchase of the Shops at Falcon Landing. It was one in a series of deals the real estate investment trust closed in its early months as a standalone firm, spending $1 billion to mostly acquire convenience retail properties.
The nearly $42 million purchase of the center on North Academy Boulevard helped cement the city's standing as a market to watch for retail investors, earning the deal the 2026 CoStar Impact Award for sale/acquisition of the year in Colorado Springs, as judged by real estate professionals familiar with the market.
Located on one of the city's arterial thoroughfares, the nearly 61,650-square-foot strip center is leased to a mix of tenants such as Shake Shack, Chewy Vet Care, Orangetheory Fitness, Wells Fargo and others that cater to the city's ongoing population boom.
Even with the population, employment and economic growth in the region, new retail construction hasn't caught up, pushing demand among both tenants and investors for existing shopping and strip centers to all-time highs — especially for properties in the best locations.
"The Shops at Falcon Landing is located in Colorado Springs' retail epicenter, making it a highly sought-after, rare asset in the metro area," CBRE's Parker Brown, one of the brokers involved in the deal with Curbline, previously said of the sale. And beyond the price tag, he said, the deal underscores the city's strengthened standing among investors and ability to attract some of the largest names across the national retail scene.
Buyers collectively spent nearly $160 million on Colorado Springs retail properties in the first half of 2025, according to CBRE, a total that marked a more than 19% spike compared to the year prior.
And for Curbline, the Shops at Falcon Landing is expected to help bolster the REIT's own portfolio as it aims to establish its own reputation and standing in the market.
"We continue to lead in this unique capital-efficient sector with a clear first-mover advantage as the only public company exclusively focused on acquiring top-tier convenience retail assets across the United States," Curbline CEO David Lukes recently told analysts. "The strategy for us is to be very specific about which pieces of real estate we buy. If you're buying high-quality real estate, that's most likely to outperform in a recession, and that's a strategy investors would want to see us pursue."
About the project: Built in the early 2000s, the Shops at Falcon Landing span three standalone buildings leased to a mix of food and beverage, health and wellness, financial services, and general service tenants that cater to the surrounding Colorado Springs area.
What the judges said: "The sale demonstrates a commitment and investment in Colorado Springs retail," CoStar Impact Awards judge Christian Lauter, a client services manager with Greystar Real Estate Partners, said of Curbline's acquisition. "This sale will stand as a benchmark for years to come and will guide future investment acquisitions throughout the city. The performance of this acquisition will be a model for retail buyers through the remainder of the 2020's."
They made it happen: CBRE's Parker Brown, Matthew Henrichs and Brad Lyons listed and marketed the retail center on behalf of the seller, Colorado Springs-based Kraft Commercial Properties.
CoStar Market Manager Kathryn Binns contributed to this report.