About 60 protesters gathered Monday to push for affordable housing, community-based jobs and green construction in exchange for any public subsidies extended to redevelop Denver’s historic Union Station.
At the conclusion of the rally in front of city hall, key participants delivered about 1,800 signed postcards on the issue to the office of Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.
The event was organized by the Campaign for Responsible Development, a labor-backed organization that pushed similar initiatives for the Gates rubber-plant redevelopment.
“Remember, the land and resources that are going to be used there at Union Station are public land and public resources,” said Mateos Alvarez.
Among the initiatives being pushed was inclusion of housing for those at lower income levels.
They also pushed for a small-business incubator at Union Station and argued the redevelopment project should foster good-paying construction jobs and local business development.
The $476 million Union Station project is the centerpiece for FasTracks, a 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., the developer, 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.
It also will pay $11.4 million for the Market Street Station property, bounded by Blake and Market streets and 16th and 17th streets.
A final financing package that would detail all public aid likely won’t be reached until this fall, but already labor-backed groups are lobbying to have issues they support included in any final package.
“I think it’s very early in the process,” said Roger Sherman, the chief operating officer of CRL Associates Inc., which was hired as a consultant to an executive oversight committee that includes representatives from the city of Denver, RTD, DRCOG and CDOT.
“These additional public benefits that are being discussed all have financial implications,” Sherman added.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
