DURA advances Rock Drill urban‑renewal plan, seeks up to $39 million in tax‑increment support

The Denver Urban Renewal Authority on Aug. 26 presented an urban redevelopment plan and a city‑developer cooperation agreement to the Finance and Business Committee seeking tax‑increment financing to support redevelopment of the historic Rock Drill site in the Cole neighborhood. DURA staff said the plan and a companion cooperation agreement will be part of a public hearing package the city will consider Sept. 15; the committee voted to forward the matters to full council.

Tracy Huggins, executive director of the Denver Urban Renewal Authority, told the committee the proposed urban redevelopment area is about 8.4 acres in Cole, roughly 0.3 miles from the 30th & Blake RTD Station. The project team proposes a mix of new construction and adaptive reuse of historically significant sawtooth industrial buildings. Huggins said the development would deliver roughly 700–800 residential units, office and retail space, a hotel and parking, and possibly a grocery store.

DURA’s underwriting concluded the project requires public assistance to proceed as proposed. Huggins said the authority seeks both sales‑tax and property‑tax increment, coterminous with the project area, to reimburse approximately $39,000,000 of eligible public‑purpose costs, notably environmental remediation, rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of historic buildings, utilities, and public‑space improvements. Huggins said the $39 million represents just under 7% of the project budget in DURA’s underwriting and that tax‑increment assistance would be limited to costs with a demonstrable relationship to remedying blight.

Huggins described the blight findings and condition study that underlie the urban‑renewal designation. She said the condition study materials were provided to council and that state law requires a finding that the area is blighted before DURA can use urban‑renewal tools. The plan would create a tax‑increment area with a maximum term of 25 years, unless the project repays obligations earlier.

DURA identified several local entities that levy taxes in the area and described negotiated or proposed treatments: Denver Public Schools (DPS) performed an impact analysis and DURA reported DPS will receive $1.3 million from the tax increment over 25 years; Urban Drainage and Flood Control District reported no impact and will retain amounts attributable to its mill; the RiNo (River North) Business Improvement District will be paid any amounts attributable to its levy as collected; and a metropolitan district exists but is not currently levying and would receive attributable collections when levied.

Huggins said DURA requires projects receiving tax increment to comply with its project standards and programs, including First Source hiring, small‑business enterprise utilization, construction employment programs, project art requirements and prevailing‑wage compliance where applicable. She noted prevailing wage may not apply to public‑infrastructure components in this case, but the other DURA programs would.

Committee members asked about environmental remediation costs and open‑space connectivity to the adjacent 30th Avenue Greenway. In response to a question on whether DURA had considered investments in greenway connectivity as part of the blight analysis, Huggins said, "So there as part of our evaluation, we do not look at unless there's a specific request from the city, how the tax increment may be able to use to support other improvements in the area." On remediation costs, she said two sources inform project costs: the condition study and the developer's pro forma submitted for underwriting; environmental cleanup was identified as an eligible public‑purpose cost in the plan.

Members also probed housing affordability commitments. Representatives of the developer, the Oliver Buchanan Group, said 10% of the proposed 700–800 residential units would be income‑restricted at 50% of area median income and that the affordable units would be rental. A developer representative said 15% of the affordable units would be two‑bedrooms or larger; the developer said there was not a current plan to increase the share of affordable units beyond the stated commitment.

DURA staff said the Dura Board of Commissioners approved the urban‑renewal plan the prior week and that Denver Public Schools was considering the cooperation agreement on the night of the committee meeting. Huggins said DURA intends to bring the rezoning, development agreement, urban‑renewal plan and cooperation agreement to a joint public hearing before City Council on Sept. 15 so council can review all components together.

A committee motion to forward the DURA package was made and seconded; the committee indicated support and the items will be scheduled for council consideration at the public hearing in September.