New development on land formerly part of Stapleton International Airport could bring up to 800 jobs to the area, officials say, but they remain mum on who’s bringing the jobs and when the deals will be finalized.
“We currently have three commercial transactions under contract that will not be able to close until the underlying property is released,” Forest City Stapleton senior vice president Jim Chrisman said in an e-mail. “Two of the transactions are expansions of existing businesses — i.e., they are opening an additional location. The third is a consolidation of locations around the metro area.”
Chrisman said all of the businesses currently have a presence in the metro area.
The city and county of Denver asking for the release of any restrictions on 753.79 acres of former airport grounds. The FAA on April 3 determined that the request meets all federal requirements and issued a .
The property is within three adjacent 1-square-mile parcels — designated 10, 15 and 22 — collectively bordered by Havana Street, East 64th Avenue, an area slightly west of Central Park Boulevard, and an area slightly south of Smith Road.
The southern part of the property spans land between the planned Central Park and Peoria stations for the Regional Transportation District’s new East Line, scheduled to open next year.
Greg Savage, Denver city project coordinator overseeing building permits for the Stapleton area, said a few businesses are coming into those areas, including a doggie day care, a car wash and an additional Echo Park auto dealership — none of which would probably provide the hundreds of jobs mentioned by Chrisman.
But developer United Properties confirmed it will expand its industrial footprint in the area with a new building where, according to vice president and regional manager Kevin Kelley, a new tenant has already signed a letter of intent to serve as an “anchor for the third phase of building.”
Kelley could not say who the tenant is, but he said the one deal will consolidate between 500 and 600 jobs from the business’ other metro-area locations.
United Properties started development in 2013 with a , which currently houses tenants such as Reddy Ice, Coca-Cola and FedEx.
The second phase of the development, east of the first building, is about 460,000 square feet, which Kelley expects to be 100 percent leased by the end of this year.
The third building will add 850,000 square feet of industrial space on a 45-acre parcel west of the other buildings, Kelley said. He expects it to open in late 2016 or early 2017.
“If all goes well, we’ll close on the ground this summer,” Kelley said. “We will have, at the end of the day, 2 million square feet of industrial space between Havana and Central Park Boulevard, south of 40th Avenue.”
This area — next to Interstate 70 and close to Interstate 225 — is prime for warehouse companies that rely on easy access to transport, Kelley said.
And, he pointed out, the need for industrial space in the metro area has been fueled by the thriving marijuana industry, which occupies many of the smaller warehouse spaces in the city.
“Coming out of the recession, the market was recovering and there really was no industrial product built since 2007,” he said. “We just filled a need.”
Over the past 20 years, Stapleton airport’s former footprint has been redeveloped into open space, residential neighborhoods, businesses and more. As this development has taken place, the feds have released parcels as property sales closed.
They sought this blanket release — prior to any sales — in order to streamline the process, Denver International Airport spokesman Heath Montgomery said.
The property in Section 10, about 534 acres, is primarily zoned as residential. The property in sections 15 and 22 — zoned for multiple uses, including industrial — measures about 69 acres and about151 acres, respectively.
The property will be sold based on a January 2000 appraisal, according to federal documents.
Once the land is sold, DIA will log 100 percent of the profits as nonairline revenue, according to FAA documents.
Laura Keeney: 303-954-1337, lkeeney@denverpost.com or twitter.com/LauraKeeney
