El Paso County, Colo., road may be next retail hotspot.

Byline: Rich Laden

Jun. 27--With Fort Carson and the mountains as barriers to the south and west, Colorado Springs grows to the north and east, and its retail frontiers can be found every mile or so along major north-south roadways.

Stores, restaurants and other retailers set up shop years ago on Union Boulevard. Then, development moved east to Circle Drive and later farther east to Academy Boulevard. Recently, Powers Boulevard on the city's east side became the Springs' hottest retail corridor.

Now, the easterly march of housing -- in the city and in portions of unincorporated El Paso County -- has reached Marksheffel Road, which runs east of Powers from Woodmen Road on the north to the city of Fountain to the south.

Marksheffel currently is a single lane in each direction, with only a smattering of industrial businesses north of U.S. Highway 24. The road has yet to see its first grocery store, convenience store or gas station.

But as the business adage goes, retail follows rooftops. So is Marksheffel poised to become the region's next retail hot spot?

Well, not quite.

Marksheffel has several things going for it, but not enough to make it another Powers Boulevard. Think Powers Lite.

"You won't have a First & Main, for example, or that intensity," Dave…