A massive “aerotropolis” is planned for a patch of the plains near DIA that could end up bigger than the Denver Tech Center
An 80 million-square-foot site for future retail, housing and industry near DIA now has a plan to pay for roads and could break ground in weeks
An Aurora development that in size could rival the Denver Tech Center and downtown Denver’s central business district — with up to 80 million square feet of commercial, office and retail space — is expected to break ground as soon as this spring on a quiet stretch of prairie just south of Denver International Airport.
The bulk of the 21,000-acre site, which includes the planned 23,000-home Aurora Highlands project and developer estimates of tens of thousands of jobs, sits at the northeast corner of Interstate 70 and E-470. While completion is decades away, the enormousness of the project is sure to gradually tilt the metro area’s economic might eastward, said Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan.
“This is the start of some things we’ve had planned for some time,” Hogan said. “It’s a pretty … big project.”
