Former Mayor Wellington Webb and his partners bid Monday on redeveloping the Dahlia Square shopping center, putting Webb in the position to potentially profit from about $11 million he set aside as mayor to help revitalize the site.
Only Webb’s company, Alliance Development Partners Inc., and one other developer, Centex Homes, bid on the 8.3-acre site, which is in the middle of environmental cleanup.
“It’s a tough project,” said Tracy Huggins, head of the Denver Urban Renewal Authority. “But someone wants Dahlia.”
Webb was hounded by community leaders to redevelop the area while he was mayor. During his last year in office, black community leaders accused Webb of ignoring Dahlia while infusing mostly white neighborhoods with urban renewal money. The center is in northeast Denver at Dahlia Street and East 33rd Avenue.
A decision by a selection committee, which will include DURA members, city planning director Peter Park and City Councilwoman Elbra Wedgeworth, is expected by Sept. 15.
In a letter attached to the bid, Webb said he and Jim Sullivan of real estate group Sullivan Hayes formed the company to work on difficult projects, such as Dahlia Square, that will be “sustainable, neighborhood friendly and thriving.” Making money, he noted, was not the object.
“Every developer in town knows there is no money to be made on this project,” Webb wrote. “Dahlia has been a lifetime commitment for me, and with this proposal I will be able to see the realization of our collective hopes.”
A spokeswoman for Webb, Cindy Brovsky, said Monday night that Webb felt it would be inappropriate to comment beyond the letter at this point in the bidding. His involvement is not prohibited by any ethics policies. City rules prohibit a person from doing business with the city only within six months of leaving office.
If Webb, who was mayor from 1991 to 2003, gets the Dahlia Square project, it wouldn’t be the first time he may have benefitted in the private sector from his dealings in the public arena. In 2003, he was put on Forest City Enterprises’ payroll as a consultant for a project in New Mexico. While Webb was mayor, Forest City won a lucrative development contract and city tax breaks to transform Stapleton Airport into a $4 billion community.
Also on Webb’s team for the project is the Kappa Housing group, associated with Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, the Archdiocesan Housing division of Catholic Charities, and Steven Farber of the firm Brownstein Hyatt & Farber.
Centex Homes, based in Dallas, is a $10 billion Fortune 250 company that specializes in infill projects. In Colorado, the company has built single-family homes and condominiums in Aurora, Castle Rock, Thornton and Fort Collins.
Further bid details were not made available in order to maintain the integrity of the evaluation process, Huggins said.
Dahlia Square, once touted as the largest black-owned shopping center in the country, has been awaiting redevelopment since the early 1990s. Until recently, problems with financing, remediation and neighbors repeatedly sidetracked the project.
In his final months as mayor, Webb tried to move in an Albertsons store, but the deal fell apart four months after he left office when a landfill was discovered under the site.
The nonprofit Parkhill Community Inc. has purchased the property and is doing environmental remediation.
Denver has allocated $3.5 million for the cleanup, which is to be completed by October 2006. The total cleanup cost should be about $8.4 million.
Brownfield Partners, the parent company of Parkhill Community and specialist in “brownfield” development, is expected to pick up the difference through community block grants. The company will then pay off the loans after selling the property for development.
DURA’s goal is to have a development agreement by Nov. 1, with a closing by next summer.
Plans must include a mix of 150 units of single-family attached and detached housing, as well as housing for seniors, a health clinic and a commercial center serving the neighborhood.
Staff writer Karen Crummy can be reached at 303-820-1594 or kcrummy@denverpost.com.
