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Developer says Center Street at Baseline is advancing, but financing and leasing risks remain
Summary
McWinnie Real Estate told Broomfield council that Center Street’s horizontal infrastructure must be in place before retail and housing go vertical, that a first-phase retail opening is targeted for summer 2028, and that financing and leasing thresholds — including an underwriters’ informal 50% pre-leasing target — are material risks to the schedule.
McWinnie Real Estate LLC provided the City and County of Broomfield an update on the Center Street District and other Baseline-area projects, highlighting infrastructure work under way, a construction schedule tied to bond issuance and life-safety systems, a grocer under lease, and financial and market risks that could affect the project timeline.
Kyle Harris, senior development lead with McWinnie, told the council that Baseline infrastructure work is approaching final phases and that residential and park construction is anticipated to progress into vertical construction later this summer for several parcels. Harris said Center Street’s "horizontal" infrastructure must be in place before substantial retail and residential vertical construction can begin and that the developer is aiming to start construction in the first quarter of next year.
Harris said the project’s financing plan includes bond issuance to fund public infrastructure. An aspirational first bond issuance date listed in presentation materials – Dec. 18 – is unlikely, Harris said, because issuers rarely sell bonds between Thanksgiving and Christmas; he said a more realistic window is the second week of January. He told council that underwriters and equity investors are looking for proof of leasing and equity before advancing, and that the team aims for roughly 50% pre-leasing to satisfy underwriters.
On leasing, Amanda Steinle of McWinnie said the team has secured a grocer and is negotiating letters of intent that together encompass roughly 16,000 square feet in one set of discussions and about 63,000 square feet in a larger set. Harris said retail storefronts are targeted to open in summer 2028 if construction proceeds on the current timeline.
Harris also addressed a recent departure of the Butterfly Pavilion from a Baseline site: "We did not cause them to leave. Quite frankly, the Butterfly Pavilion is something I've taken a a personal interest in," he said, adding that McWinnie remains "100% committed to the Pollinator District" and that a representative from the Butterfly Pavilion remains on the project’s design review board.
The presentation included construction logistics: an intersection closure to finish work at 1st Avenue and Sheridan Road will be timed to avoid conflict with Prospect Ridge Academy’s closing and will last about seven days followed by a six-week median improvement period; a new traffic signal at 160th Avenue and Seventh Street is expected to be operational in July. Harris said some public- realm features — the quad, pocket parks and a woonerf — are complete or nearing completion.
Council members asked no substantive planning questions after the presentation; staff reminded council the Center Street land-use application is in the development-review process and that the item is quasi-judicial (the council must refrain from substantive discussion before the public hearing). Harris and his team offered to return for future updates.
No formal action or vote was taken.
