Renewal Wheat Ridge (RWR) provided council with an update on its projects at the July 21 study session.
RWR Board Member Jesse Hill presented RWR’s current projects to council, describing the progress of residential and commercial urban renewal projects such as the Town Center Apartments at 44th and Wadsworth, the renovation happening at 38th and Kipling and 38th and Wadsworth and the Perrin’s Row townhouse complex at 38th and Depew.
The Town Center Apartments at 44th and Wadsworth opened an 88-unit building in October 2011. The senior complex was well received and had 600 people on the waiting list at opening. There were plans between developer Wazee Partners and RWR to introduce a second building containing 92 units but plans fell through during the purchase of the property.
Perrin’s Row will introduce 26 townhouses ranging from 1166 to 1479 square feet. The project utilizes uses tax increment financing from property tax revenue instead of sales tax revenue.
Development company, MQ Partners is spearheading the project at 38th and Wadsworth. In 2013, they explored purchasing options for obtaining parcels for future development. RWR purchased a single parcel from the Bank of Denver last October. No application for Tax Increment Financing was submitted for this project last year.
Millenium Venture Group is behind the 38th and Kipling project that looks to bring a Sprouts Farmers Market to Wheat Ridge. RWR expects to complete financing for the first quarter of 2014 soon.
One of the more debated aspects of urban renewal is the concept of tax increment financing, which essentially takes the tax revenue that a business makes and gives a portion of it back to the developer or renewal authority as a form of repayment for the original investment into the project.
To that end, District One Councilman Jerry DiTullio expressed his pleasure with the half dozen projects that currently use tax increment financing but cautioned RWR to be more selective with future projects.
“I would encourage you to keep that open public process going, which has gone really well,” DiTullio said. “The main thing that I think Urban Renewal has to be careful of is that I think you’re getting to the position where you can be a little bit selective and you can say we’re not going to give a TIF (tax increment financing) because it’s not what the community or the urban renewal authority or the city needs right now.”
Councilman William Starker, who also represents district one, pointed out that Wheat Ridge Cyclery paid off its TIF last year, four years earlier than anticipated. However, some of the sales tax revenue will continue to go to RWR for the next 19 years to fund other renewal projects in the area.