RTD is considering other locations for a commuter rail car maintenance facility, just months after selecting a site near downtown Denver in the River North redevelopment corridor.
That location, near the intersection of Brighton Boulevard and 31st Street, has been controversial because it requires the acquisition of a key portion of the Zeppelin family’s Taxi mixed-use development near 31st and Ringsby Court.
Denver real-estate entrepreneur Mickey Zeppelin helped pioneer redevelopment of the River North area when he converted the former Yellow Cab site into Taxi, a mixture of residential and office space that also includes a restaurant named Fuel.
For months, Zeppelin, his son Kyle, another principal in the Taxi development, and owners of condominiums and small businesses at Taxi have been urging the Regional Transportation District to work with them on making the rail maintenance facility architecturally and functionally compatible with the community.
In a recent e-mail to an attorney for the Zeppelins, Marla Lien, RTD’s top lawyer, said, “RTD is considering some alternatives” for the maintenance center.
“Based on the feedback we’ve gotten, other locations deserve another look,” said RTD spokeswoman Pauletta Tonilas, referring to the generally cool reception the maintenance-center plan has received from Taxi residents and business owners.
RTD said it expected to spend about $236 million on the rail maintenance operation, which would store and fix commuter rail cars used on FasTracks lines to Denver International Airport, Arvada/Wheat Ridge, north Adams County and Boulder/ Longmont.
RTD might need less land than originally thought for the maintenance facility, Tonilas said. Another site near the Taxi development might be sufficient.
Putting the rail maintenance center near 31st and Ringsby meant RTD would have to move a bus storage and maintenance operation that is already there.
RTD budgeted about $83 million for a new, relocated bus maintenance facility, but finding another spot for the rail-car storage and repair shop would likely allow the agency to leave the bus operation in place, Tonilas said.
Lien, in her communication to Taxi’s representative, said, “The alternatives we are considering, and they are just alternatives, would not completely obviate the need to take your client’s property, but could minimize the footprint.”
RTD still might need some of the Taxi property to thread the North Metro commuter rail line through the area.
In response to RTD’s acknowledgment that it is looking at alternatives, Kyle Zeppelin said, “We’re open to working with RTD on an integrated site, but to the extent that they refuse to work with the neighborhood on regeneration of the riverfront and development of the Taxi site and surrounding communities, it’s our preference that they go away.”
Jeffrey Leib: 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com
