Centennial planner outlines East Midtown update, cites roughly 300 acres with redevelopment potential

David King, a senior planner with the city, told Centennial City Council on March 3 that the Midtown Centennial subarea covers nearly 800 acres and that "nearly 300 have what we called redevelopment or reinvestment potential." He presented an existing‑conditions analysis, identified zoning patterns and flagged airport noise and large block sizes as key constraints to future development.

The presentation traced Midtown’s origin to the city’s comprehensive plan, Centennial Next, and the subarea vision adopted last year. King said the plan emphasizes placemaking — parks, open space and pedestrian connections — and a backbone for multimodal circulation across the I‑25 corridor. He described East Midtown as primarily commercial and business‑park zoning (BP districts with typical permitted heights of about 35–50 feet) and noted a prevalence of 1–2 story light‑industrial and flex buildings rather than multi‑story office towers.

King summarized the existing‑conditions work completed with OV Consulting and Civitas, funded by a Denver Regional Council of Governments Livable Centers grant that required no city match. He told the council the team completed a parcel‑level review using building age, land‑to‑building ratios, floor‑area ratio, transit proximity and vacancy to identify redevelopment opportunity. "This analysis showed is that of the nearly 800 acres within Midtown Centennial, nearly 300 have what we called redevelopment or reinvestment potential," he said.

Airport influence and noise contours were a central concern. King described the city’s airport influence area (AIA) maps and noise contours, which are incorporated in the land development code based on a 2016 airport study, and said Centennial Airport is updating that work through a Part 150 study. "There will be a lot of time for us over the course of this year to dive into the fine details on the airport influence area map," he said, adding staff will coordinate with the airport as the maps are revised.

King also highlighted physical challenges and opportunities: several East Midtown blocks exceed about 50 acres — compared with a largest block size of roughly six acres across I‑25 — making pedestrian connectivity difficult but offering potential for large‑scale, intentionally planned redevelopment where an owner or consortium can assemble land. He noted wide rights of way with low vehicle volumes and recent re‑striping that added bike lanes, which the city can build on to improve multimodal access.

On outreach and next steps, King said staff will pursue a circulation plan to improve connections to the Dry Creek Light Rail Station, develop a public‑realm framework similar to the west side work, continue evaluating the AIA/noise maps and undertake targeted engagement with property owners, employees and businesses in East Midtown. He said the study area for East Midtown extends roughly from I‑25 east to Havana Street and from Castilla Street south to Dry Creek Road, with extended influence areas to Arapahoe Road and Lima Street.

Council members pressed staff on utilities, redevelopment scale and housing. Council member Sheehan asked, "What has Excel said about their ability to provide capacity on the East Side on East Midtown?" King acknowledged the omission of the utility from a slide but said the city has not stopped engaging with the utility and will continue outreach: "They are certainly not off of our contact list for this side of the highway." Council member Sandhu asked what portion of the roughly 300 acres lies in East Midtown; King said East Midtown represents a smaller share than the west side and is harder to quantify precisely, though he pointed to edges along Havana and I‑25 as locations seeing current interest.

When asked about residential development and pedestrian crossings over I‑25, King identified two known multifamily projects — one existing apartment complex visible from I‑25 and a former Centura site with an approved multifamily site plan — and said the immediate focus is improving connections to an existing bridge near IKEA and developing a potential greenway, while a new pedestrian bridge north of Dry Creek would be a longer‑term prospect that depends on more East‑Side development. He also said the city will coordinate with Greenwood Village and Arapahoe County on annexation possibilities but has no immediate annexation plan for the area.

King closed by saying staff will return to council with additional East Midtown planning updates this spring and provide general Midtown updates through 2026. The study session adjourned at 6:50 p.m. and the council reconvened for the regular meeting at 7:00 p.m.