About $17 million will be spent on the redevelopment of Denver’s historic Union Station, according to an agreement between the project’s developer and the ownership group.
The money will be spent on restoring the building’s core and shell, tenant improvement and related transit needs.
The developer and ownership group last week signed a letter of intent that hammers out details of the redevelopment project, which calls for a transit hub and development of surrounding land.
“This is the road map set in place to help us move ahead on more complicated negotiations,” said Cole Finegan, a partner at Hogan & Hartson who is representing RTD in its negotiations with the developer.
The $476 million Union Station project is the centerpiece for FasTracks, the region’s tax-funded, $4.7 billion transit plan.
Union Station and 19.5 acres surrounding it are owned by the Regional Transportation District, the city and county of Denver, the Denver Regional Council of Governments and the Colorado Department of Transportation. Union Station Neighborhood Co. was selected as master developer for the project in November 2006.
Union Station Neighborhood Co. will receive a development fee of $10.4 million. It will pay a total of $27 million for five development parcels surrounding the historic building. Construction starts next January.
It also will pay $11.4 million for the Market Street Station property bounded by Blake and Market streets and 16th and 17th streets. The site’s redevelopment must include 20,000 square feet of open space. Union Station Neighborhood Co. cannot buy the property until all other obligations have been met.
The project will be paid for with proceeds from the sale of the surrounding property, $208.8 million in FasTracks funding, tax-increment financing, and funding from the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration, as well as other federal, state and private funds.
Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com
Coming into focus
The owners and developers of Denver’s historic Union Station reached an agreement that hammers out the details of the project. The $476 million project is the centerpiece for FasTracks, the region’s tax-funded, $4.7 billion transportation expansion plan approved by voters in 2004. Transit-focused elements include:
• A 22-bay underground bus facility along 17th Street.
• Two light-rail tracks and storage track at the consolidated main line.
• Eight-track at-grade commuter rail with additional 200-foot service track for Amtrak.
• Sixteenth Street shuttle to at-grade light rail.
• Downtown circulator bus along 18th Street and into underground bus facility.
• Public street and utility improvements.
• About 150 public parking spaces in a private garage.
