Economic Vitality Committee Agenda and Packet 2021 11 18

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SUBJECT: STRATEGIC PLAN ITEM #14 (CONTINUED) DATE: NOVEMBER 18, 2021 PAGE 7 OF The primary interest of potential applicants for the property is to provide transit oriented residential development with a secondary component of retail/service uses. The barriers to providing retail as a majority of the use on site primarily include lack of direct access, market demand, diverse property ownership surrounding the site, and the RTD parking lease. There is a direct relationship to the continued success of McCaslin Station as a regional route to Denver and Boulder to Louisville's economic interest. The immediate adjacency of the property to the regional Flatiron Flyer BRT route along US 36 is a unique condition within Louisville that is only applicable to this site. RTD enhanced the existing regional bus service along the US36 corridor as part of FasTracks, including improvements at the McCaslin Station. This stop is different from others along the corridor because it is split between two jurisdictions (Superior and Louisville), and because a significant portion of parking is secured through a lease with the owner of the Cinebarre site. RTD owns property on the Superior side, but this property alone cannot meet the parking demand without acquisition of more property or construction of structured parking. Superior's elected officials have given their staff direction to pursue a zone change to allow residential development and to work with Boulder County Housing Authority to pursue affordable housing on the RTD property. To -date, the uncertainty of the policy for residential development on the property is concerning for those interested in investing. An additional limiting factor is that any redevelopment should include substantial amounts of parking to serve RTD patrons. The financial terms of the lease are not advantageous to redevelopment and RTD has not indicated willingness to construct parking elsewhere if parking on the Louisville side is reduced through renegotiation of the lease or eliminated through termination of the lease. The City is not a party to this agreement and can only influence discussions. Staff has continuously indicated to potential developers that ongoing success of the McCaslin Station is a high priority. Staff is also communicating with Superior staff on a regular basis on redevelopment status and opportunities for collaboration at this location. Additional options for incentivizing redevelopment on this property include public private partnerships or partial or complete ownership. Partnerships could facilitate construction of public amenities and infrastructure, including structured parking, affordable housing, public gathering space etc. Efforts could focus on construction of the right-in/right-out access from McCaslin, or provision of right-of-way into the site. Public investments in access and public amenities could bolster ridership on the Flatiron Flyer, allow local bus service into the site, and support redevelopment that includes more sales tax generating uses than are likely to be advanced under a pure private redevelopment scenario. Grant funding to support infrastructure and/or affordable housing could be explored, particularly if the City is a party in some capacity to the redevelopment and if redevelopment in Superior is also Agenda Packet P. 13