Urban renewal of 80 acres located 1.5 miles along Colfax Avenue from Monaco Parkway to Yosemite Street.
The East Colfax Corridor Urban Redevelopment Plan (URP) seeks to eliminate the blighted conditions along the corridor and encourage equitable growth and development through the establishment of the East Colfax Corridor Urban Redevelopment Area (URA).
In 2018, the City and County of Denver and the Fax Partnership approached DURA requesting consideration of a potential URA along East Colfax Avenue from Monaco Parkway to Yosemite Street to help revitalize the area. Colfax Avenue is one of Denver’s major transportation and commercial thoroughfares and forms the spine of the metropolitan’s busiest bus lines, which serves over 24,000 riders each weekday. Colfax Avenue is a mixed-use corridor featuring retail, commercial, residential and some office uses. The eastern portion of Colfax Avenue is characterized by the prevalence of auto-oriented businesses such as motels and automotive dealerships.
Much of the commercial development along East Colfax Avenue dates back to the postwar years. Historically, Colfax Avenue served as the region’s primary link to the Rocky Mountains and accommodated tourists traveling west with numerous shopping, restaurant and hospitality opportunities. Unfortunately, after the completion of Interstate 70, the tourist and commercial activity along the corridor sharply declined. While the surrounding neighborhoods have experienced varying levels of investment and growth over the last fifty years, much of the property along the East Colfax corridor has not experienced new investment and fallen into disrepair.
A conditions study was conducted in October 2018 to identify if factors of blight existed within the potential URA. The factors identified in the study included deteriorated/ deteriorating structures, unsafe or unsanitary conditions, deterioration of site improvements, inadequate public improvements, and existence of factors requiring high levels of municipal services and substantial physical underutilization or vacancy of sites.
The objectives of the URP aim to assist the City in cultivating complete and inclusive neighborhoods along and around East Colfax Avenue. Any project that is supported by DURA assistance within the URA will require City Council approval to amend the URP and will be subject to DURA’s community commitments including project art, accessible to the general public; first source hiring, to provide employment opportunities to City residents and recruitment and training activities for permanent owners and tenants in the Area; and a small business enterprise utilization program to create a level playing field to fairly compete for and win construction contracts and subcontracts.