Committee advances Rock Drill rezoning and development agreement including preservation, affordable housing and TIF plans

The Community Planning and Housing Committee of the City and County of Denver on July 23 advanced two related items for 1717 East 30th Avenue — a rezoning to CMX‑12/CMX‑16 and an associated development agreement — that together set conditions for a mixed‑use redevelopment of the former Rock Drill manufacturing site in the Cole neighborhood, in Council District 9.

Tony Lechuga of the city’s Community Planning and Development (CPD) told the committee the roughly 6.7‑acre site contains multiple historic industrial buildings and has been underused for more than a decade. The owners, the Weiss family, and a developer team are proposing to map most of the property to CMX‑12 (12‑story incentive height) with a small corner mapped CMX‑16 (16‑story incentive height) and to execute a development agreement linked to an urban renewal/TIF financing plan.

Lechuga said the proposal went through the Large Development Review (LDR) process because the site exceeds five acres and because the project requires coordinated infrastructure, new right‑of‑way and an infrastructure master plan. He told members the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s voluntary cleanup program and Denver’s materials‑management requirements will guide remediation if contaminated soils are found during redevelopment.

Key community benefits and conditions in the proposed development agreement include a high impact development compliance plan tied to the city’s adopted equitable housing…