Aurora, Lend Lease agree on financing deal

By SARA CASTELLANOS
The Aurora Sentinel
March 22, 2010

http://aurorasentinel.com/articles/2010/03/22/news/doc4ba837e1239ad156972493.txt

AURORA | The Aurora City Council approved a $89.6 million financial agreement for the Horizon Uptown project Monday, bringing to close a long debate over the city’s use of a public financing method to entice private development on the eastern edge of the city.

Lend Lease, an Australian-based developer with offices in Denver, is proposing to build offices, homes, a school and a library on the 503-acre parcel. Lend Lease received from the city nearly $90 million for the project, called Horizon Uptown, by way of a Tax Increment Financing district.

The city council voted 6 to 4 to approve the project, with council members Ryan Frazier, Molly Markert, Renie Peterson and Melissa Miller voting to oppose it.

The empty field at the intersection of Interstate 70 and E-470 was declared blight in a narrow vote by city council members March 8 following a public discussion, which paved the way for a partially public-financed redevelopment process for Lend Lease.

Since that ruling earlier this month, efforts at the state Legislature have culminated in a bill passed by both the state House and state Senate that would prohibit cities from striking similar deals with developers in the future. That bill, House Bill 1107, is awaiting Gov. Bill Ritter’s signature.

Opponents of the measure long held that public money should not go toward private developers by way of the TIF method. State Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, who vocally opposed the deal earlier this year said Aurora’s relationship with Lend Lease would create a dangerous precedent that could potentially bankrupt the state if repeated statewide.

Lend Lease upheld that the public money would go toward community facilities, and that the relationship between the city and the developer would be “financially positive to the city every step of the way.”

The financing agreement states that the city will reimburse Lend Lease for several improvements, including an Aurora Public Schools K-8 pilot school and a community services facility that could include a fire station.

The agreement also states that some of the city’s funds will be withheld until the completion and occupancy of 300,000 square feet of Class A office space.

About 2.9 million square feet of office space will be built in the first phase of the project and according to Lend Lease, and the Horizon project could include up to 4 million square feet of commercial space by its completion.

Also included in the agreement is $33.5 million for a parking structure at Horizon to be built within 15 years, and $26.8 million toward the community facility.

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