Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, the owner of Ball Arena, is seeking approval from the Denver City Council to redevelop the 55-acre parking lots surrounding the stadium into a mixed-use neighborhood. The project, which includes housing, shops, office space, and park space, aims to create a live-work-play environment in downtown Denver. The proposed development area sits between the University of Colorado Denver’s Auraria Campus, Elitch Gardens theme park, Lower Downtown, and the South Platte River.
The project will also include affordable housing, with 18% of all units designated as affordable, exceeding the city’s requirements. Additionally, the development will feature park space, with one park required to be at least 3.5 acres in size. While the rezoning would allow buildings up to five stories tall, there are proposed incentives to have no restrictions on building heights.
The amendment to the city’s view plane ordinance is also under discussion to allow for taller buildings in exchange for affordable housing. Despite concerns about the impact on views of the Rocky Mountains, the development agreement aims to preserve views by requiring skinnier towers.
With the redevelopment, Kroenke Sports aims to keep the Nuggets and Avalanche teams in Ball Arena until 2050. The first reading of the bill for the project rezoning will go before City Council in September, with a public hearing set for October. If approved, the project will bring significant changes to the downtown Denver area, transforming surface parking lots into a vibrant mixed-use neighborhood.
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