A FRIEND INDEED
September 1, 2016 VOLUME 15 | ISSUE 33
Therapy animals help bring comfort for those in need. PAGE 12
LoneTreeVoice.net D O U G L A S C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O
A publication of
20 YEARS OF PARK MEADOWS
‘A magnet’ for growth, business BY THE NUMBERS
1.57million
Square feet of space occupied by Park Meadows
20 million
Visits to Park Meadows each year
55,250
Visits to Park Meadows each day
150,000
Number of visitors to Park Meadows on the Saturday before Christmas Source: Park Meadows
Park Meadows attracts more than 50,000 visitors on a typical day, and more during the holidays. Photo by Mike DiFerdinando
Mall reaches 20th anniversary as major destination for retail
“
By Mike DiFerdinando mdiferdinando@coloradocommunitymedia.com
People need technology. They need the things to make their lives better, but I also think you are going to see nostalgia.”
W
hen Park Meadows mall was being built in the mid-1990s, some in the fledgling city of Lone Tree didn’t favor it — some didn’t even know what the massive structure near I-25 and County Line Road was going to be. “When I first moved here, I was signing my kids up for soccer and I was telling one of the other parents how I moved here for Park Meadows. She said, ‘It’s so beautiful. I love that building. How many seniors is it going to house?’ ” said Pamela SchenckKelly, Park Meadows’ general manager for its 20-year existence. “I came back to the construction trailer the next day and said, ‘Folks, we have our work cut out for us.’ ” Sharon Van Ramshorst, one of Lone
Tree’s first residents in the early 1980s, remembers that not everyone welcomed Park Meadows with open arms. “Despite the fact that there were huge signs on the site that said ‘future mall,’ people would say, ‘I didn’t know there was a mall there’ and ‘We don’t want that mall,’”
LEADERSHIP AND BEYOND
Pamela Schenck-Kelly, Park Meadows’ general manager, on what the future holds for the mall said Van Ramshorst, who served on city council from 2004 to 2012. “It was a small number of people, but they were very vocal.” That isn’t the case anymore: The shopping center, one of the state’s most popular tourist destinations, has shaped what Lone
Tree is today, city leaders say. Park Meadows, billing itself as a “retail resort” lifestyle center rather than a shopping mall, opened its doors on Aug. 30, 1996. Twenty years later, it has proved to be Lone Tree’s economic and community engine, largely responsible for spurring development of the city, both commercial and residential. Within its first year, Park Meadows opened 37 stores and restaurants new to the Denver metro area. It was home to more than $1 million in artwork commissioned from Colorado artists and boasted 66-foot-tall fireplaces, wood-beamed ceilings and comfy leather seating throughout its mountain-themed, elegantly appointed two floors. Mall continues on Page 6
REF ROAD AHEAD
IF THE SHOE FITS
Leadership program teaches about the compassion and confidence behind achieving platinum records and gold medals. PAGE 4 Cinderella arrives at the ball on Lone Tree stage. PAGE 8
Once plentiful, officials are harder to find for football games. PAGE 26
$250 OFF
for the month of September 303-945-2080 David Verebelyi, MD
See page 5 for more information on Cellfina®.