Creekside Shopping Center

The Colfax / Wadsworth Reinvestment District was designated in 1999 as a reinvestment area, and the Creekside project was deemed an urban renewal project that same year. The reinvestment area and the project share identical boundaries and are located at the northeast corner of West Colfax Avenue and Wadsworth Boulevard. Once occupied by a Kmart, this site sat vacant for 10 years due to challenges associated with multiple ownership and drainage issues, despite its potential as a location with high vehicle traffic volume. Designation as a reinvestment area enabled the use of tax increment financing to overcome these challenges, and the site was redeveloped as Creekside Shopping Center. Creekside is now home to a 220,000 square foot Super Walmart and five pad sites including 37,000 square feet of shops ranging from restaurants to smaller service retail stores.

No corner of Lakewood has seen more change since 1999 than this intersection. Creekside has created a ripple effect of improvements at this major intersection, which accomplishes one of the main objectives of any reinvestment plan. Because Creekside replaced a long-abandoned storefront with an attractive area of activity, other companies and developers, such as Home Depot and the developer of Colfax Central,
became interested in building and renewing along West Colfax.

A new report shows that in 2008 Creekside produced $6.8 million in economic and fiscal impact for the local economy, including $1.2 million in net revenues for the City. Creekside is the kind of shopping center that draws shoppers and employees from outside Lakewood to spend money, and it shows in sales tax revenue generation from this site.