Hancock touts 6 Denver urban-renewal proposals
“Denver Mayor Michael Hancock on Tuesday outlined six projects he’d like the Denver Urban Renewal Authority to tackle in coming years with income from tax districts that were established in 1992 and are set to expire by 2017.
The projects Hancock specified are:
• A downtown public school.
• Rebuilding and enhancing the 16th Street Mall.
• Additional parking and grocery stores.
• A new downtown park.
• A large retail store.
• Addressing homeless needs downtown.
“These projects total over $60 million and can be funded in part with existing sales and property tax revenue generated through TIF in the Downtown Urban Renewal Area, federal funds and private investment,” Hancock said in a letter to DURA.
Hancock will press DURA’s board, and the Denver City Council, to extend the 15-block tax increment financing (TIF) district. The district was created downtown to help fund projects such as Larimer Square, redevelopment of the Denver Dry building, Denver Pavilions, the Denver Newspaper Agency building on Colfax Avenue, the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel and Mercantile Square.”
Huspeni, Dennis. Denver Business Journal 5 March 2013.