The Denver magazine 5280 spent a “perfect art-filled day” in Colorado Springs and crows about it here.

Ramtron International Corp. has boosted and extended its revolving credit line with Santa Clara, Calif.-based Silicon Valley Bank to $6 million from $4 million but will pay a higher interest rate — the Colorado Springs-based semiconductor firm will pay 1.75 percent above the prime rate instead of 0.5 percent above prime. The credit line, which currently has a zero balance, was to expire Sept. 1 and now matures in August 2011.

Joan Saunders, chief operating and financial officer of the Greater Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce since 2007, will become CEO of the Pet Care Services Association on July 20. The association is headquartered in Colorado Springs.

“We’ve graduated another outstanding member ofour staff to a vital leadership opportunity in the community and nation,” said Dave Csintyan, chamber president and CEO.

Hotel occupancy in the Colorado Springs area fell 4.7 percentage points in May compared to 2008, according to the Rocky Mountain Lodging Report prepared for the Colorado Hotel and Lodging Association.
Rates dropped to 59.2 percent in the month. The average room rate also tumbled $6.11 to $85.41 compared with a year ago.
Statewide, occupancy rates dropped 7.9 percentage points to 52.4 percent, and the average room rate fell $8.95 to $103.97.

Anchor Blue Retail Group Inc., parent company of specialty retailer Anchor Blue and outlet store retailer Levi’s & Dockers Outlet by MOST, announced Wednesday that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. As part of its reorganization, it is closing roughly 50 “underperforming” Anchor Blue stores, including its store at Chapel Hills Mall in Colorado Springs. A spokeswoman said the closings would involve “an orderly wind down of business over the next several weeks.

Passenger traffic at the Colorado Springs Airport improved slightly during April by posting the smallest decline of the year, airport officials reported Tuesday. The 71,061 passengers boarding flights last month was down 10.6 percent from a year earlier, better than the 11.9 percent, 16.7 percent and 17.1 percent drops in the previous three months.
Passenger numbers for the first four months of the year are down 13.9 percent from a year ago to 263,922, mostly as a result of flight cuts by eight airlines serving the Springs. No further cuts are expected, said Gisela Shanahan, the airport’s assistant aviation director for finance and administration.

Apartment vacancy rates in the Colorado Springs area surged to a two-year high of 11.7 percent in the first quarter, according to a survey done for the Colorado Division of Housing by University of Denver business professor Gordon Von Stroh. That is up from 10.4 percent three months earlier and 9 percent a year ago and nearly two percentage points higher than a similar study by Apartment Insights, an online research firm. The average Springs area rent in the first quarter fell 2.8 percent from the end of the year to $693.14, but was up 0.5 percent from a year earlier.

Kathy Boe, president and chief executive of Boecore Inc., and Frank Backes, chief executive of Braxton Technologies LLC, both based in Colorado Springs, were among 21 Colorado executives named Thursday as finalists for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for the Rocky Mountain region. The winners will be announced during a banquet June 18 at the Grand Hyatt Downtown Denver and will be eligible for national awards to be presented Nov. 14 in Palm Springs, Calif.

Despite the dour economy, travelers are planning to take to the road during the Memorial Day holiday, according to the AAA projections. AAA projects that 12.6 percent of residents of the mountain region, which includes Colorado, will travel over the weekend, slightly higher than the national prediction of 10.7 percent. AAA said low gas prices and a pent-up demand for a vacation are fueling the travel urge.