Broomfield opening ?Gateway Area?

BROOMFIELD — Although the area across from FlatIron Crossing mall north of U.S. Highway 36 and east of Northwest Parkway is an empty field, plans are being set for development there.

These plans include a complex with 550 apartments as well as commercial, retail and office buildings.

Under the city of Broomfield’s Sub-Area Plan, which was approved in 1997, this area is zoned for mixed use with an open-space corridor along Rock Creek, a creek and hiking/biking trail that runs perpendicular to Northwest Parkway north of U.S. 36.

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Westbrook Development Inc. of Denver has plans for a development on 35 acres it owns north of Carbon Road and east of Northwest Parkway called The Overlook. The development would include three buildings with a total of 225,000 square feet of office space and five buildings with a total of 125,000 square feet of retail space, said Dan Strammiello, president of Westbrook. The proposed development also would include pedestrian walkways and a bikeway.

Westbrook is processing the application for the project and plans to submit it to the city of Broomfield soon. Construction on the office space is slated to begin late this year and be completed by the second quarter of 2002, Strammiello said. No plans are in place yet for construction of the retail space, and Westbrook has yet to start looking for tenants for the proposed buildings.

NJD Ltd., a Texas company that owns 60 acres south of Carbon Road, is planning a residential, office, commercial and retail development there called Parkway Circle. The property has as its boundaries Carbon Road to the north, the railroad tracks to the east and the future RTD terminal to the south, said Kim Scott, a NJD representative.

At an October Broomfield City Council meeting, zoning was approved for a mixed-use development at this site. The proposed development would include 550 apartments and office, commercial and retail space, Scott said.

The development would follow the regulations set forth in the 96th Street/Northwest Parkway Sub-District Master Plan adopted by the city of Broomfield in 1999. The sub-district plan is intended to guide development of what the city of Broomfield refers to as the “Gateway Area,” or the area around the Northwest Parkway and U.S. 36/96th Street interchange.

The PUD Plan submitted to the city for Parkway Circle proposes a medium to high-density, mixed-use urban center development. The plan proposes three blocks, or planning areas, two significant new roads and a 3.8-acre lot to be dedicated to the city as open space. “The Parkway Circle project is envisioned as an upscale mixed-use development (which may include large and small retail establishments, restaurants, offices, services and urban density residential uses) that will offer attractive properties to future businesses, patrons and residents,” the Parkway Circle proposal states. “The intent is to develop a project that complements nearby upscale developments such as the new FlatIron Crossing.”

The proposed new roads at the development are Via Varra, which is planned to be constructed from Tape Drive to the proposed Northwest Parkway and Midway Boulevard, which now is Industrial Lane and is planned to be extended for the length of the property and would intersect Via Varra. The PUD Plan also allows for future bus routes along major roadways and joint-access easements with the property to the north. Maximum allowed building height for the proposed development is 80 feet, or six stories, according to the PUD plan.

An RTD Park-N-Ride station is planned for the intersection of U.S. 36 and Northwest Parkway, said Broomfield Mayor Bill Berens. Construction of the Park-N-Ride is slated to begin in June or July.

Scott Reed, chief public affairs officer for RTD, said Phase I of the new station is to build a pedestrian underpass under U.S. 36. The underpass is structurally complete, he said, and crews are working on some final touches. Phase II will entail construction of bus plazas on both sides of the underpass.

The underpass and plazas are scheduled to be open to the public in July, Reed said. Commuters will be able to access RTD buses and the Zip shuttle, which provides transportation to Interlocken and FlatIron Crossing.

Phase III of the project is to build a 400-space Park-N-Ride site on 10 acres of property already owned by RTD northeast of the U.S. 36 and Northwest Parkway interchange, Reed said. The target completion date for the Park N’ Ride is by the end of 2002.

Also, the North Metro Fire Rescue Authority, which covers Northglenn, Broomfield and parts of unincorporated Jefferson County, is looking for a site for a new fire station and is considering land in the area northeast of U.S. 36 and the Northwest Parkway, Berens said.

North Metro Fire Rescue Authority is working jointly with Broomfield to find land for the station as well as a maintenance center for shuttle buses that the city of Broomfield would like to build on the same site, said Steve Pischke, division chief of North Metro Rescue Authority. “We are looking at several pieces of land in the FlatIron Crossing area,” he said. “We have not identified any particular area.”

The authority now has two fire stations in Northglenn, two in Broomfield and one near the Jefferson County airport. Part of its strategic plan is to decrease response times in areas that are growing, he said.

The authority is looking to add another station near FlatIron Crossing because of all the development and growth occurring in that area, Pischke said. “We are wanting to provide additional service in the northwest of our jurisdiction,” he said. “A station near FlatIron Crossing would give us direct response to the southern and eastern portions of Broomfield.”

The city of Broomfield is planning to purchase 40 or more acres of open space along Rock Creek to preserve the view corridor and bike/pedestrian trail in the area, Berens said. According to the U.S. 36 sub-area plan, the open space and trail is envisioned to make a connection between transit-oriented development south of U.S. 36 at 96th Street, Storage Technology Corp., Interlocken, Rock Creek Community, Industrial Lane/Midway Employment Centers and all points along the western edge of Broomfield. The trail also is planned to connect Rock Creek Farm Open Space with the future transit center underpass at U.S. 36.

Thirty-five acres of land north of the proposed Overlook development is owned by Dorothy Varra, a member of the Varra family. Varra is marketing the land through Fuller & Co. The family previously sold a portion of its ranch land to Westbrook and NJD Ltd. as well as to the developers of FlatIron Crossing mall and other developments in the area, Scott said.

An additional 80 acres north of Dorothy Varra’s land is owned by Frank and Jackie Varra and is being marketed by Grubb & Ellis Commercial Real Estate in Denver. That property currently is under contract, said Murray Platt of Grubb & Ellis, adding the buyer has not expressed any plans for the area.

The area east of FlatIron Crossing and south of U.S. 35 soon will have one million square feet of retail businesses and another million square feet of hotels, Berens said. This will add significantly to the 1.5 million square feet of retail space at FlatIron Crossing Mall, he said. Businesses going into this southeast quadrant include Best Buy, Great Indoors, Nordstrom Rack (Nordstrom’s outlet store), Linen & Things, Bahama Breeze and Red Lobster, Berens said.

South of FlatIron Crossing will be the Midcities project, he said, which will include a nine-story Marriott Residence full-service hotel, CB & Potts restaurant, DSW shoe shore and an existing Texaco, Bennigans restaurant and Wells Fargo Bank.