The old San Marcos building on East Colfax and many of the storefronts that surround it look shabby from the street. Most are vacant with foggy, dark windows and the largest unit inside the building has been gutted and giant holes have been carved out of the wooden floors.
But that building at 9995 E. Colfax Ave. is undergoing a restorative transformation that city officials hope will one day convert it into an entertainment hub, complete with a theater and a restaurant glowing across the street from the historic Aurora Fox Arts Center.
“Those properties right there along Colfax are great examples of the types of buildings in original Aurora that we are targeting for redevelopment,” said Tim Gonerka, Aurora’s retail specialist. “We’re looking to put restaurants and an art component in there, and we think that kind of development can seed the block.”
The city recently launched a new incentive program that provides financial breaks to land developers looking to remodel smaller storefronts and residential projects within a specific boundary area that’s roughly North Tower Road west to the Denver-Aurora border and from East Quincy Avenue north to the city’s boundaries before Stapleton and Interstate 70.
The program will provide 50 percent off infill development fees for a limited time (excluding water utility fees) until the initial $250,000 funding is gone or until Dec. 31, 2018.
That means infill development fees up to a maximum of $25,000 will be reduced on the spot for qualifying projects.
The incentive is available for smaller scale commercial — 5,000 square feet or less for single story or 10,000 square feet or less for multi-story — two to eight units of residential, and mixed-use infill projects that include new development, redevelopment and rehab projects.
“The idea is…How can we incentivize more business by reducing some of the costs that they would normally have to incur to normally start a project like this?” Gonerka said. “We’re trying to use the incentives to help developers move quicker and more into the areas that (the city) is interested in redeveloping.”
City officials estimate that this round of funding for the pilot project could be used on about 10 properties targeted for redevelopment.
“However, if this spurs some smaller projects that have associated development fees less than $50,000 total, then obviously we can allocate funds to more projects, which would be great,” said Vinessa Irvin, manager of Aurora’s Office of Development Assistance.
There are dozens of eligible properties within the boundaries of the infill program that could be snapped up and turned around, but the city is targeting Northwest Aurora through this introduction program.
“We’re focusing in areas of the city that have vacant or blighted properties that could be candidates for infill development,” she said. “There is certainly a focus in redeveloping Northwest Aurora and along the upcoming light rail line, so we’re hopeful that this program helps spur some projects in those locations. In addition, we have many vacant properties throughout the city that have not developed for various reasons. We’re hoping that this incentive program could help get some these properties developed as well. ”
Victor Diaz, co-owner of A&B Barbershop and Salon next to the San Marcos building said he hopes for the same thing.
“We just opened here about a month ago, and I was really glad to hear that the city is working to remodel this entire building because I really think it’s going to bring in more business and jobs and opportunity for different people in this area,” Diaz said. “We choose this location because we want to capitalize on the traffic. There’s a lot of potential here, and I think restaurants and things like that can bring that out.”