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But despite optimism, the same barriers that have scared off investors and retail site selectors remain a thorn in Boulder planners’ and developers’ sides.
Past development-incentivization efforts at the site include the creation of an Opportunity Zone within a 2.5-square-mile tract stretching from 28th to 55th streets and Arapahoe Avenue to the Diagonal Highway.
The OZ program, which has been controversial in Boulder, is aimed at updating the nation’s tax code to unlock the reinvestment potential of capital gains and direct that capital to the communities that need it most. So far, no one has attempted to use the program at Diagonal Plaza.
BOULDER Boulder’s Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.’s Commerce Street campus and the Diagonal Plaza shopping center have been added to the city’s map of areas where height or density modifications may be considered for development projects.
Boulder City Council approved 7-2 a measure that allows developers in those areas to request the ability to build projects that reach up to 55 feet in height or include more floor area than is typically allowed.
It also extends restrictions in non-exempt areas from May 31 to Aug. 31 to allow staff more time to craft Boulder’s new “community benefit” ordinance, which will codify ways developers can side-step height restrictions in exchange for certain other concessions.
moved smoothly through steps in Boulder’s city approval process Tuesday evening when the Boulder City Council declined to call up any of the proposals for additional scrutiny.
As a result, the Waterview apartment project is poised to begin the final construction permitting process, while elements of the hotel and Ball projects, both in earlier phases of the approval pipeline, will come back before city officials prior to groundbreaking.
Waterview, a mixed-use proposal with more than 300 residential units and 15,000 square feet of commercial space at 5801 and 5847 Arapahoe Ave. in east Boulder, received unanimous support from Boulder’s Planning Board earlier this year.