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The New Colorado Springs Independent

Pikes Peak Media Company Leads Revival of the Colorado Springs Independent and the Colorado Springs Business Journal

Colorado Springs, CO- February 15, 2024- Entrepreneurs Kevin O’Neil and JW Roth have established Pikes Peak Media Company (PPMC) and, through this new venture, have taken ownership of two key local publications, The Colorado Springs Independent and the Colorado Springs Business Journal. This strategic move aims to revive and sustain these publications, while ensuring that these critical components of the Colorado Springs media landscape remain operational and under local ownership.

Former Colorado Spring Independent Publisher, Fran Zankowski, has been named Interim Publisher and will oversee the search for a new Editor, Publisher and additional Editorial Staff. Fran most recently oversaw the Colorado Springs Independent and Colorado Springs Business Journal until its closing in December of 2023 and was previously with the publications for over a decade.  

“The Colorado Springs Independent and the Colorado Springs Business Journal have a 30-year legacy of outstanding journalism,” said Fran Zankowski, Interim Publisher. “Collaborating with JW and Kevin has been exciting as we propel the papers to new heights with expanded city-wide coverage. With their advocacy, the publications are set to grow and become a thoughtful voice for the city.”

Under PPMC's stewardship the publication’s printed distribution will be drastically increased to upwards of 30,000. With printed copies directly mailed to households and placed in traditional distribution racks across the Pikes Peak region. This distribution initiative aims to triple the previous readership and engage a larger footprint of neighborhoods in the region, heralding an exciting new chapter for these publications. The initial phase and publishing schedule will commence with the Colorado Springs Independent in Spring 2024, followed by the revival of the Colorado Springs Business Journal. 

JW Roth, co-founder of PPMC says “As a 5th Generation Coloradan, I take great pride in providing my hometown with another trusted, civic driven, and relevant publication. This opportunity offers the Independent and the Business Journal a chance to thrive under unprecedented stability. From the feedback that we are hearing, this is a welcomed change in historical landscape.”

“As a native of our region, I have invested in many businesses and organizations in Colorado Springs and this opportunity fit my focus on building a stronger community where a diverse range of voices are heard.” Says Co-founder of PPMC, Kevin O’Neil. “A robust media landscape telling all our stories makes our community better, so I am pleased to be in a position to support this effort for Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak Region. We are excited to engage with our unique neighborhoods, industry, arts and culture, academia, non-profits, civic organizations, and the military to showcase what makes us one of the best places to live and work.”

Yemi Mobolade, Mayor of Colorado Springs said in response to the news of the revival, “I applaud and appreciate the efforts of these local leaders to lead a resurgence of the Colorado Springs Independent and the Colorado Springs Business Journal. These publications hold a unique place in the Colorado Springs media landscape, offering a platform for diverse perspectives and contributing to the civic life of Colorado Springs. Our local news outlets serve a core public service and are critical to community building. The information shared through these outlets is vital in giving residents the information they need to improve their quality of life.” 

“We are excited about PPMC’s acquisition of the Colorado Springs Independent and the Colorado Springs Business Journal, creating jobs, and bringing in new energy and diverse perspectives to continue to inform and tell the Colorado Springs story,” said Johnna Reeder Kleymeyer, President & CEO of Colorado Springs Chamber & Economic Development Corporation. “Kevin O’Neil and JW Roth are visionaries that love our region and are invested in driving the growth and prosperity of the Pikes Peak region. Today’s announcement is an affirmation of their commitment to our region.” 

Following its hiatus, the Colorado Springs Independent and Colorado Springs Business Journal, a cornerstone of the community for three decades, is now primed for a remarkable resurgence. PPMC's acquisition encompasses all rights to the brands, trademarks, copyrights, and associated events of both the Colorado Springs Independent and the Colorado Springs Business Journal. 

About Pikes Peak Media Company: Pikes Peak Media Company (PPMC) is a dynamic media enterprise founded by Kevin O’Neil and JW Roth, dedicated to revitalizing, and enriching the media landscape in Colorado Springs. Through strategic acquisitions and innovative initiatives, PPMC aims to foster community engagement and deliver quality content to audiences across the region. 

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Ranch Foods Direct’s Mike Callicrate plans a “local food village” in Monument

Ranch Foods Direct

A rendering for the hopeful public market. 

It’s been 10 years since I first spoke with Ranch Foods Direct founder (also political activist and independent cattle producer) Mike Callicrate about his vision for what was then being called Peak Public Market. The project — a food-hub for area growers and producers, something like Seattle’s Pike Place Market for C. Springs — never came to be. Instead, a drastically scaled-down (read: sad) Pikes Peak Market was born, existed in constant flux, and went dark in 2019.

“The leadership of Colorado Springs rejected the idea of a public market," he says, citing the City's own public polling that showed interest in a downtown public market at the top of a list of initiatives, with other projects that came to be (like a downtown stadium and the Olympic Museum) at the bottom of the list.

"Instead, we got three food halls and more business for Sysco," he says. 

Callicrate has never abandoned his idea for a public market, while evolving RFD in various ways over the years. And he’s just recently announced plans for a yet-to-be-named “local food village” in Monument, adjacent to Woodman Valley Chapel. (West of I-25 between the Baptist Road and Monument exits.) 

"The town of Monument appears very much in favor,” he says of early meetings with the town's leadership. 

“The goal” he says, “is to create a separate local/regional food infrastructure that connects farmers, ranchers and independent food-related businesses more directly with consumers, while building stronger, healthier more sustainable communities.”

What that would look like is a cluster of businesses on 8.3 acres (currently under contract, tentatively to close Nov. 1 with a projected opening sometime in 2024), to include another RFD retail marketplace and expansion for Sourdough Boulangerie, El Chapin (the Mexican food cart parked outside RFD on Fillmore Street), Mountain Pie Company and Monte Cervino Winery (those currently signed on), with plans for a brewery entity, distillery and several dining/retail storefronts (in other words: space is available for interested parties). He also notes commercial kitchen space to help incubate new businesses as they develop their brands. 

Callicrate says each entity would own their own real estate, enjoying more profitable market access, “while taking advantage of the synergy of co-locating with similarly minded businesses.” 

Ranch Foods Direct

A tentative rendering of the local food village that would share parking with Woodman Valley Chapel. 

Callicrate makes a distinction that this wouldn’t be another food hall (even with businesses potentially sharing storage spaces and common areas, as at food halls), but rather a public market geared toward producers, to highlight their products. For example an RFD butcher would be visible, cutting meats for clients, and customers could interface with their baker, brewer, distiller, roaster, etc. more directly.

“We want manufacturing on display. What if we could create a space to deal directly with the consumer and cut the middleman out?” he asks. "And cut the predators out of the equation." 

He's in large-part referring to Big Ag entities, the Big Food Cartel, he labels them, who're putting small farmers and ranchers in rural communities out of business and operating in unsustainable ways (related to the environment, labor practices and monopolistic business practices). 

"We're losing our food systems from the ground up," he says. "Consumers have never paid more for their food than now, and a lot of that money isn't getting to the producers." 

His concept for this new public market space is as a community gathering space that actually checks the boxes of President Joe Biden's Build Back Better plan, he says, noting regional and local food development — "buildingcommunity and educating people around the food supply." 

Ranch Foods Direct

"The key to making this work is a development partner," he adds, naming Marvin Boyd, formerly with Phil Long Ford for many years, as that partner. (Callicrate's former fallout with the downtown market was with Nor'wood Development president Chris Jenkins.) 

"This is the answer to what we could have done 10 years ago. That parking lot now outside the Olympic Museum could have been the public market, drawing thousands of visitors a day," he says. (FWIW, at least museum attendance itself has grown.)

"But in a lot of ways," he concludes, "this will be better than that public market" (would have been).  

Now, it just needs to actually come to fruition.

 

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