The “airport city” planned to surround Denver International Airport will have six distinct districts for technology, logistics, aviation and military use, as well as a hub of office buildings and hotels closest to the terminal, according to a plan unveiled at a conference Thursday.
The plan was developed to ensure growth around the airport is handled in an organized way, DIA aviation manager Kim Day told attendees of the Airport Cities World Conference & Exhibition, which drew about 800 people from 30 countries.
“Unplanned development can strangle an airport’s ability to grow,” Day said. “We’ve seen it happen here in Denver as unplanned, chaotic development encroached on Stapleton International Airport. Growth will happen no matter what, but we’re choosing to plan for it and make sure it’s sustainable.”
Airport City Denver will be anchored by Airport City Center, a 1,257-acre site that likely will include hotels, an exhibition center, offices, a technical institute and an automated people-mover to the terminal.
The 1,210-acre Airport City Gateway could include long-term structured parking, golf and outdoor recreation, hotel and meeting space, a convenience retail street, office space, transit-oriented development at three commuter rail stations, an auto and RV mall, and auto and heavy-equipment auction site.
Airport City Tech will include aerospace manufacturing, aviation, renewable energy and biosciences on 1,738 acres, and the 2,992 acres designated for Airport City Agro will include food-processing and distribution space, cold storage, greenhouse agriculture, biofuel agriculture and warehouses.
An aeronautics institute and logistics and distribution space are planned for the 259-acre Airport City Logistics district, and Airport City Aero will include cargo, aerospace aviation and military uses on 1,966 acres.
Airport City Denver is the core of the region’s larger “aerotropolis,” a new urban design on land owned by private developers around the airport that Denver Mayor Michael Hancock says is critical to attracting new businesses to the region. Building out the aerotropolis could take 30 to 50 years.
And with the land surrounding DIA virtually a blank slate, the airport city and aerotropolis have the potential to spur commercial development far into the future, Hancock said.
Although Denver is leading the effort, the vision will not become reality without regional cooperation and collaboration from Adams County, Aurora and Commerce City, as well as the Colorado Department of Transportation, Regional Transportation District and Denver Regional Council of Governments.
“No city is better positioned to open up the next frontier than we are,” Hancock said. “We have the land, we have the economic magnet, and we have the energy and foresight to make it happen.”
Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com
