Owners of several other metro area shopping centers welcome the arrival of light rail.
Transit lines planned as part of RTD’s $4.7 billion FasTracks expansion will run close to major shopping centers in Longmont, Boulder, Broomfield, Westminster, Aurora and Denver. In some cases, they will stop close enough for riders to walk to the retail.
Transit improvements scheduled for the U.S. 36 corridor to Boulder and Longmont offer the most potential for connections between shopping centers and bus and train stations, largely because so many retail projects are concentrated along the route.
RTD plans to build an express bus lane on U.S. 36 as well as a nearby Northwest rail line.
Owners of newer retail centers in the corridor say they are eagerly anticipating connections to bus and rail stations, while owners of some older centers, including Westminster Mall and Twin Peaks Mall in Longmont, are taking a wait-and-see attitude.
At the recently opened Twenty Ninth Street retail center in Boulder, senior property manager Lain Adams said the company is working closely with RTD. It plans pedestrian connections with the 30th and Pearl Street stop that is expected to be about 200 yards from the edge of the center’s property.
“We would be looking to participate in some sort of signage program (that would) give guests directions to various city amenities, including Twenty Ninth Street,” Adams said.
At the planned FlatIron Crossing/96th Street station, shopping center owners intend to link the stop with the existing Zip shuttle line that ferries shoppers and workers between various retail developments and offices.
“We’re looking forward to the train coming, and we will be there to pick up customers and bring them to our front door,” said FlatIron Crossing general manager Hugh Crawford.
The future east corridor rail line from Union Station to Denver International Airport will not link directly with the Northfield Stapleton retail center north of Interstate 70 near Quebec Street. Instead, the train will stop south of I-70 along Smith Road, just behind a Wal-Mart in the Quebec Square big-box retail center.
RTD may extend bus service to Northfield this spring, but Forest City isn’t waiting for that service to launch. As early as this month, it will begin shuttling passengers from the existing Stapleton Park-n-Ride to Northfield, said Forest City spokesman Tom Gleason.
“It’s kind of a shared agreement with RTD and Forest City and some other entities,” he said. “Without a doubt it will make it easy for employees and shoppers to get to Northfield, and that will ensure success of a major retail development.”
RTD spokesman Scott Reed said they are still discussing a plan to share the cost of that shuttle.
Staff writer Kristi Arellano can be reached at 303-954-1902 or karellano@denverpost.com.
