Denver Mayor Hancock seeks $70 million for new downtown development
“Denver Mayor Michael Hancock on Tuesday proposed extending urban renewal financing mechanisms to raise up to $70 million for downtown projects, including a school, a park and an upgrade of the 16th Street Mall.
In a letter to Tracy Huggins, executive director of the Denver Urban Renewal Authority, Hancock asked that the existing financing mechanisms be applied to new projects.
“It is imperative that we continue to execute on our vision and reinvest in our downtown to promote transformational, smart urban growth,” Hancock said in his letter.
“These are projects that are grounded in the city’s 20-year plan and that in some cases we’ve worked on for years,” said Tami Door, chief executive of the Downtown Denver Partnership, which promotes downtown business.
TIFs enable the renewal authority to capture the difference in property and sales taxes between what a property generates before and after it is developed.
For example, if an undeveloped parcel was paying $50,000 in property tax, and then used urban renewal aid to improve facilities and boost sales, it might then pay $250,000 in taxes.”
Jaffe, Mark. Denver Post 5 March 2013.