The new Air Force Academy visitor center is expected to open in May after facing substantial delays.   The Hosmer Visitor Center outside the academy’s north gate is a $90 million gift to the school, and it’s the last of the City for Champions projects, said Jariah Walker, executive director of the Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority. The other venues, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum, the William J. Hybl Sports Medicine and Performance Center, Weidner Field and Ed Robson Arena have all welcomed visitors for several years. With a projected annual visitation of around 1 million people, the visitor center is expected to be a significant draw for tourists. “I actually think the visitor center is going to be one of the most successful of all the projects,” Walker said.  The original completion deadline for all projects was approximately 10 years after the initiative started in 2013. But the visitor center was the most challenging, and there was “a lot of hesitation on whether it would even work,” he said. One of the challenges was working with the Department of Defense. Another was the day the bonds were slated to go up for sale, the market for tourism projects collapsed due to the pandemic.  After that setback, the shell of the highly visible structure, intended to invoke a wing in flight, was finished in April 2024 and given to the Air Force Academy to fill with exhibits for the public, said Dan Schnepf, Matrix Design Group board chairman. Once the shell was finished, the academy had six months to complete the project, he said.  The timeline has been extended a few times.  Rep. Jeff Crank, R- Colorado Springs, raised concerns Monday during a Board of Visitors meeting about the delayed opening and how it could impact paying off the bonds that funded the Hosmer Visitor Center.  “I am very concerned,” Crank said.   Paying for the building and infrastructure will rely on taxes from planned retail buildings and restaurants that do not want to commit to the property until the visitor center opens. “We are missing out on things because it’s not open yet,” Walker said, but “as long as it opens in May, we’re going to be fine.” The project planners put extra into reserve accounts to pay the bonds to get the project through to maturity, which typically takes about five years, Schnepf said. But the delay has created some stress and prompted a reassessment of what type of adjacent development would be the best fit. Instead of office space, he hopes to put in a senior living development. In recent years, the vision for planned exhibits has also shifted, another point that concerned Crank.  Crank said that previous Air Force Academy leadership had planned to spend $6 million for interactive exhibits on the mezzanine of the visitor center, even though it wasn’t a written commitment. However, that investment hasn’t been made, he said.  Air Force Academy Superintendent Gen. Tony Bauernfeind said the Department of the Air Force didn’t approve the money for those exhibits, so the mezzanine of the visitors center will be an event space at least initially.  “Those interactive capabilities may come to bear as we work closely with other benefactors,” Bauernfeind said. The Air Force Academy’s Association of Graduates is tasked with raising money for these kinds of projects. In May, the visitor center is expected to open galleries that will cover topics, such as famous graduates and ceremonies at the academy, Schnepf said. It will be a modern display, but not the immersive experience planned to give visitors a taste of the cadet experience, such as a virtual reality skydive, among other activities. The vision for development around the visitor center has shifted because demand for office space has diminished, and Schnepf would like to bring in a senior living complex instead that could serve graduates of the academy, Air Force retirees, veterans, and others, he said. It would have to be open to all seniors, but there is a strong interest from older graduates who would like to live near the academy.  A senior living complex would require additional approvals that the project does not have yet. So for now, Schnepf is focused on the visitor center opening around Air Force Academy graduation in May.  “I am optimistic it will open,” he said.  Hotel Polaris’s ownership is also looking forward to the opening. The hotel was planned to open after the center, but instead opened well ahead of it in November 2024. It has faced other challenges as well because the Air Force Academy chapel, a main attraction, is closed for renovation, and new security restrictions have been put in place at the north gate, said Chris Hicks, president of Provident Resources Group, which owns the hotel. So the management has focused on drawing in groups and the hotel is still ramping up in terms of visitation, he said “We feel really good about the project,” he said.  The hotel’s revenue is currently covering its bonds, Hicks said. The state’s Economic Development Commission will vote on whether to approve the delay of opening the visitor’s center on Dec. 16.  ...read more read less