Loveland council approves engineering spending for Draper garage

LOVELAND — The Loveland City Council, sitting Tuesday night as the board of directors of the Loveland Urban Renewal Authority, approved spending $195,917 to advance work on a proposed parking garage that would be part of the Draper Heartland redevelopment downtown.

The Draper is a major redevelopment of multiple buildings at Fourth Street and Lincoln Avenue. The corner most recently housed the Heartland Cafe. At one time, the Draper Drug Store was in that location. 

The project includes 98 apartments and 14,000 square of commercial space. At the rear on Jefferson Avenue would be a multi-story, 277-space parking garage that ultimately would become city-owned.

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The project has received some council review during an executive session in April but has not received final approval. Committing nearly $200,000 to the project before a council signoff seemed out of order to some council members, including Mayor Jacki Marsh who at first disagreed with the spending.

Facilities manager Michael Hogan explained that hiring an engineering firm, Ditesco LLC, a Fort Collins construction services firm, would enable the city to assure it correctly prepares the Disposition and Redevelopment Agreement. Ditesco would also serve as owner’s representative during the construction of the garage, should the council approve the Draper project later.

Hogan said the money would be spent only if the council ultimately approves the project. If the council decides against the Draper, any work that Ditesco performs would be paid from the city facilities budget.

“You guys haven’t approved the Draper parking garage yet, but this contract is meant to make sure we do this right,” Hogan said.

He said that Ditesco previously worked on the Foundry project parking garage and will be able to apply lessons learned to make sure the Draper garage is engineered correctly.

The money comes from the urban renewal authority, which collects tax increment money as improvements are made in the area. After this expenditure, $1.3 million would remain in the LURA fund.

The council voted 9-0 to approve the spending. Marsh changed her mind after hearing that the city’s outlay would be relatively small between Tuesday and when the council would decide on the overall project.