The owners of the dirt-and-asphalt crater next to the I-25 and Broadway light rail station have finally found a buyer to build homes, businesses, offices and parks on the site.
Austin-based Endeavor Real Estate Group closed on the land, part of the former Gates rubber factory site, Tuesday afternoon. The company would not disclose the price it paid for the 7.5 acres at Broadway and Mississippi.
People are calling the eventual district "Broadway Station." They're also calling it "Mid-Town" and "Midtown" (no one is calling it MidTo). But there won't be a "there" there for a while.
Endeavor plans to break ground in 2020, almost two decades after a developer tried and failed to finance a project there.
"Obviously we know how important this is because of the false starts that have taken place in the past," said Lisa Ingle with Broadway Station Partners, which sold this slice of the Gates site. "We're hoping that this blighted property is going to have its vision realized."
That vision for a walkable district anchored by the train station was approved by Denver City Council in 2017 after a public process. Expect buildings up to 16 stories high.
Endeavor's parcels, on the east side of the tracks, will sport either four apartment buildings and two office buildings with ground-floor shops and restaurants, or up to six apartment buildings with ground-floor amenities, according to Broadway Station Partners.
More than 13 acres are still available on the west side. Combined, those sites will see an estimated 2,500 apartment homes, 1 million square feet of office space and 200,000 square feet of retail, according to the master plan.
"As Denver continues to grow at a rapid pace, this project will be key in creating a transit-oriented hub for people to live, work, and play while also delivering on key infrastructure and quality of life amenities for the broader community," City Council President Jolon Clark, who reps the district, said in a statement.
It's unclear what will happen to RTD's 1,200 park-and-ride spaces. Endeavor has not reached an agreement with the transit agency, according to Alana Watkins, a company spokesperson.
The developer will build attainable housing.
Broadway Station Partners "voluntarily agreed" to make 13.5 percent of homes in every rental building "affordable," according to a Denver Office of Economic Development contract. That means households making 80 percent of the median income or less will qualify.
"In terms of the affordable component, Endeavor will comply with what was established with the original agreements that the seller put in place with the city when they secured the original entitlements, but we have no further details than that at this point in time," Watkins said via email.
