Windsor to issue bonds for I-25 interchange

WINDSOR – In an effort to get the inside track on Northern Colorado’s shopping center race, the town of Windsor has called for creation of a metropolitan district to fund road improvements at the intersection of Interstate 25 and Colorado Highway 392.

As planned, the district would issue approximately $20 million worth of revenue bonds to pay for widening at the intersection, a project that could be complete as early as fall of 2005.

The bonds would be double-tax exempt for investors. Taxes generated by the shopping center project would be used to pay back the investors over a 20-year term.

Metropolitan districts are an established funding mechanism in Colorado, which allows the property owners – with the blessing of a local government jurisdiction – to issue bonds for public improvements. In this case, the town of Windsor would not be financially at risk if the district failed.

Most metropolitan districts are used for residential improvements. However, the recently built Flatirons Crossing shopping center in Broomfield benefited from metropolitan district funding.

The proposed metropolitan district, which covers 88 acres, will be called the I-25-392 Interchange Metropolitan District.

The Windsor shopping center is one of four regional “lifestyle centers” on the drawing board in Northern Colorado. Developers are pursuing a similar project in Loveland and two in Fort Collins.

Developers have speculated that only one of the centers could be feasible in the regional market, and the first to secure commitments from major tenants will have the advantage.

Plans call for the new Windsor intersection to resemble the intersection at I-25 and Harmony Road, which was improved in the late 1990s.

Windsor officials and CBL and Associates, the Tennessee-based developer for the proposed shopping center at the northeast corner of I-25 and 392, announced plans for the so-called “lifestyle” center early this year. At the same time, both town and developer acknowledged that the shopping center couldn’t be built without major interchange improvements.

In its current state, the intersection functions poorly during peak traffic times, with vehicles backed up on 392 on both east and west sides of the interstate.

Based on the Colorado Department of Transportation’s own project calendar, the state isn’t scheduled to overhaul the intersection until 2022.

By creating a metropolitan district, Windsor and the developers are taking the matter into their own hands.

Windsor town officials will review the metropolitan district’s formative documents this month, with public hearings to be scheduled. Town Manager Rod Wensing hopes to complete the review process before August.

After public review, the town and developer have to gain approval from state and federal highway authorities to proceed with the project.

According Ron Fullam, an executive for CBL, the developers would like to build the shopping center concurrently with the highway improvements. The company’s goal is to start construction on both during the fall of 2004. The road project could be complete before the end of 2005, and the shopping center should be done by early 2006, he said.

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