San Diego firm selected to conduct BURA study

BOULDER – The Boulder Urban Renewal Authority (BURA) has selected Economic Research Associates (ERA) in San Diego to perform a market-demand analysis of the Boulder Valley Regional Center (BVRC) commercial area.

Brad Power, BURA executive director, said his office is negotiating the contract and scope of work with ERA to begin the analysis the week of June 19. Bill Anderson, a partner who has been with ERA for 17 years, will be the principal for the contract.

ERA, founded in 1958, is an international development, urban planning and recreational economic consulting firm with headquarters in Los Angeles and offices in Chicago, Washington, D.C. and London. Five or six years ago, ERA did the study defining an overall economic base for the city of Boulder.

“We actually anticipated the Broomfield shopping mall in our report,” Anderson said. The company is also working in Vail on the Hub site, a conference and performing arts center. Other Colorado studies the firm has completed or contributed to include the Telluride growth management plan and the Lowry Air Force Base redevelopment plan.

Anderson, who has a master’s in planning from Harvard, is also vice chairman of San Diego’s planning committee. He said about two-thirds of ERA consultants have MBAs or graduate degrees in urban planning with emphases on economic issues.

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