A group of elected officials and staff from cities, Adams County, Denver and the airport are ramping up their plans to turn undeveloped areas around DIA into a hub for commerce, a magnet for innovative businesses and an even more economic engine. most powerful for the Denver and Colorado metropolitan area. . (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
After years of discussions and planning, a metropolitan area association has declared efforts to officially build an aerotropolis (an airport city) around Denver International Airport.
The group of elected officials and staff from the cities, Adams County, Denver and the airport are ramping up their plans to turn the undeveloped areas around DIA into a hub for commerce, a magnet for innovative businesses and an even more economic engine. most powerful for the Denver and Colorado metropolitan area. .
A Colorado Aerotropolis website introduces the region to “manufacturers, fabricators, builders and developers.” At the center of the attraction is DIA, the third busiest airport in the United States and the sixth busiest in the world.
And another big selling point is that Denver Airport, which opened in February 1995 on land annexed to Adams County, is its location: surrounded by thousands of acres of undeveloped land, not in the middle or on the edges of a dense urban landscape.
“Airports are often built in areas that are already quite populated and that’s going to be somewhat limiting,” said Jenni Hall, Adams County Economic and Community Development Director.
“Denver International Airport is the second largest in terms of land area in the world,” said Ken Cope, DIA senior vice president of real estate development. “We have the luxury of having a very large canvas to paint on.”
The Aerotropolis Regional Committee is made up of representatives from Adams County; the cities of Aurora, Brighton, Commerce City, Federal Heights and Thornton; the city and county of Denver; and DAY. Members first signed a marketing agreement about eight years ago, Adams County Commissioner Emma Pinter said.
“The official launch is a formal way to announce to the world that the aerotropolis around DIA is open to the public. There are parcels in each of our jurisdictions that are for sale and ready for development,” Pinter said.
An aerotropolis is designed to locate cities around a central airport, taking advantage of the connectivity provided by air travel. Hall said there are about 16 such developments around the world. A public-private partnership is behind an aerotropolis in Atlanta, home to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest.
“The notion of an aerotropolis is much more acceptable in foreign markets,” Cope said.
The model of building around an airport is something the United States is just beginning to adopt, Cope added.
The concept encountered turbulence from the beginning in Colorado. Adams County said Denver’s initial visions for developing the area violated the 1988 agreement regarding Denver’s annexation of the land.
The intergovernmental agreement that paved the way for the construction of DIA, which replaced Stapleton International Airport in Denver, was modified in 2016.
“In that amendment there was a committee that was formed to promote regionalism and development in the area,” Cope said. “But land development takes time.”
Pinter, Hall and Cope said the regional committee has focused on collaboration between different entities.
“I now believe we are at a point where, jointly between Adams County, the airport and the surrounding municipalities, we are ready to accelerate development,” Cope said. “We are working together to make sure the development is cohesive and that the right infrastructure is in place.”
The regional committee’s current budget is $1.03 million, half coming from the airport and half from other regional committee members.
The types of businesses the committee believes are natural for the area include sectors such as agriculture, biomedicine, quantum computing, energy, advanced manufacturing and transportation. The committee’s talking points include the area’s renowned universities and research facilities, educated workforce and the 28 nonstop international destinations served by DIA.
A study published in 2023 said DIA’s total economic contribution to Colorado’s economy was approximately $36.4 billion. The airport can help spur more business opportunities and compatible development near the airport and also in the region, Phil Washington, the airport’s chief executive, said in a statement.
Pinter noted that the area generally encompassed by the aerotropolis contains all of the intersecting highways in the state, including Interstates 70, 25 and 76.
“We also have rail lines that serve all sides of the aerotropolis,” Pinter said. “Whether you transport goods by rail, road or air, this is a central location for businesses to locate.”
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman said in a statement that Colorado Aerotropolis will give businesses direct access to “current powerhouses” like the Gaylord Rockies convention and resort center, the Fitzsimons innovation community and the Anschutz medical campus.
The Aurora Highlands housing development, which celebrated its grand opening in 2023, is in the planning area.
Hall said the region is also part of a designated foreign trade zone, which provides specific tax and customs advantages for the global movement of goods.
When Cope thinks of the aerotropolis, he imagines an entire city taking shape. He said there is an opportunity to build something similar to the existing metropolitan area.
Denver annexed 53 square miles, or 34,000 acres, for DIA. The airport has six runways and has been approved for 12.
“Even after we build the 12 runways, there are about 16,000 acres left that the airport will own for commercial development,” Cope said.
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