After years of planning and design, shovels have hit dirt and CityROCK North, a new indoor climbing facility coming to northern Colorado Springs, is going vertical.

CityROCK, which first debuted in 2009 in the heart of downtown, broke ground last week on its long-awaited second location on the city’s far north side.

The new 32,500-square-foot facility — the largest and tallest climbing gym south of Denver, the company said in a recent news release — will be located at 11541 Ent Parkway, at ONE La Plata’s Campus at Foothill Farms mixed-use development.

The April 15 groundbreaking was a major milestone for founder and majority owner Lara Grosjean and other gym leadership who have been working on the project since 2019. The new gym will offer more space for climbers and expand local access to indoor climbing, fitness and community programming, she said.

“We believe we offer a critical service that’s important and getting more difficult to find,” Grosjean told The Gazette. “It’s the ability to meet other people in a positive, healthy environment. In our increasingly electronic, socially distanced society, CityROCK is a place where people can build actual in-person relationships with other humans. It’s a low-stress environment where they can choose the level of social interaction they want. We pride ourselves on having an environment where everyone is welcome, regardless of climbing ability or anything else.”

CityROCK’s owners and operators used their 20 years in the indoor climbing industry to inform the building’s design, Grosjean said.

Climbing walls constructed by Walltopia, a world leader in climbing wall design, will reach a maximum height of 55 feet in CityROCK North’s main gym. At its downtown location, the climbing wall in the main gym reaches a height of 43 feet.

Gym leadership wanted to intentionally address their younger climbers at the new space, so CityROCK North will include separate climbing spaces for adults and youth, Grosjean said. Bouldering, auto-belays, top rope and lead climbing will be available in each section.

Dedicated rooms for training boards, free weights, cardio equipment and yoga, an outdoor play area, patio space, saunas in the locker rooms and a designated parking lot are also planned for the northern facility.

Grosjean envisions an area for food trucks and wants to eventually introduce a kitchenette space where climbers can purchase premade offerings from Commonfork Bites & Brews, the full-service bar and restaurant located at CityROCK downtown.

CityROCK’s commitment to youth climbers, its longtime staff with years of expertise — some have worked for the company for 15 years or more — and its approach to teaching climbing to all people, irrespective of age, is what make it stand out from other climbing gyms in the area, Grosjean said.

The location just off of Interstate 25 in a rapidly growing area, only a roughly 20-minute drive north of CityROCK downtown, and within ONE LaPlata’s 416-acre master-planned community called The Farm, was an ideal spot for the new facility, Grosjean said.

Last week’s groundbreaking was a hard-won landmark moment for Grosjean and her staff, she said. For years, they endured an emotional rollercoaster of challenges that pushed back their planning and construction schedule through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

A global pandemic, an initial design that had to be scrapped and redone, the two-time sale of their bank, and Grosjean’s divorce from her now ex-husband and former business partner delayed the schedule over the years.

“It feels good,” Grosjean said of the groundbreaking. “It started to feel real.”

The facility will join several other businesses on the growing InterQuest Parkway corridor along I-25 on Colorado Springs’ far north side. It will be located near major anchors such as Ent (becoming Wings) Credit Union headquarters and the Great Wolf Lodge.

Just south of the new facility, dozens of retailers and restaurants, including Scheels, Regal Cinemas, Starbucks, Chili’s, an In N Out restaurant and its regional office and distribution facility, Whataburger, Taco Bell and more are also located along InterQuest Parkway inside the Interquest Marketplace.

Several single- and multifamily residential communities are located in the surrounding area, including The Farm, the Midtown Collection at Foothills Farm, the 264-unit Springs at Foothill Farms, 280-unit Springs at Allison Valley Apartments and the 264-unit The Overlook at Interquest.

CityROCK North is expected to open around the summer of 2027.