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The Town of Erie inched a little closer this week to launching its prized Erie Town Center, a key 20-acre commercial and residential property in the heart of town that has skirted development for years. The Town Council Tuesday voted unanimously to approve entering into a tax-sharing agreement with their private partner developer, Evergreen Devco Inc., on the site off Erie Parkway and County Line Road.
The site has been described as a key destination for the town for the past several years, but already has one failed attempt at development with a different property owner years ago. The town purchased the property in 2022 and put out a request for proposals for a new developer, a bid that Evergreen won. Together with Evergreen, the town came up with a plan to bring a mid-size grocery center, a hotel, a parking garage, restaurant and other small-business space.
But the cost to develop the property, sitting atop some historic coal mines, has ballooned to a point that the project may not ever happen without some public help. “I can also attest that this project will not occur without a very significant public-private partnership on the financial side,” Evergreen CEO Tyler Carlson told the council Tuesday. “My biggest concern is it might not be enough because of the extraordinary cost to develop this real estate.
“We’re trying to figure out how to mitigate the costs and remain consistent with the vision put out there by the public and the town, and still make the thing pencil. The good news is we’ve got a great municipal partner and an anchor tenant who very much wants to be here. They’re just waiting for us to tell them there is a financial path for them to be here.
” Carlson and Erie economic-development director Julian Jacquin brought a plan to the town board to approve the public financing piece, though the exact details will be hammered out by May, after a state-imposed 120-day negotiation period, during which those wishing to create the public financing must negotiate with taxing districts. Of the seven taxing districts in this area, Jacquin said he has secured agreements with three. The town of Erie is No.
4 on the list in their so-called “road show.” A key to the development is a grocery-store tenant that is expected to become an anchor tenant. The town already has a verbal commitment by a grocer but is waiting on Evergreen to finish its due diligence before signing off on a written agreement.
To keep its RFP with the town, Evergreen must have a signed letter of intent from the grocer by mid-May. Jacquin brought forth a recommendation for the city to give up half the sales tax the development generates, and some of the property taxes generated to funnel back into funding the development. “That could generate over 25 years, $11 million that we could capture by the authority to support the development,” Jacquin said.
The property taxes mill levy dedication could generate up to $1.5 million, he added. The driver of the extraordinary costs is the amount of work the developer will have to do to stabilize the ground beneath the area, which was mined for years.
“Especially because of the undermining, the current numbers are $4 (million) to $5 million of grout being pumped into ground that will take a year to do,” Carlson said. “There’s literally a bottomless pit of challenges to fill to get a retail center..
.. The first blush of surveys is mind-blowing.
Everything can be solved, but how do we do it most cost effective way? We are all very cognizant that taxpayer dollars bought this property.” Jacquin still must take the proposal for tax-increment financing to Boulder County and Mountain View Fire, to make the plan work. If all taxing districts sign off on sharing some of the revenue generated from the development, Jacquin said revenue sharing could generate up to $24.
5 million over the next 25 years, or about $944,000 a year for the life of the TIF agreement. Some council members seemed skeptical of giving up future tax dollars to fund the development, but Mayor Andrew Moore said the town has to strike a balance. “Having a grocer would be very positive.
If we want the amenities for our community, if we want the energy that would come from this development, there may not be a whole lot taxwise for our residents to pay for other services,” Moore said. “This thing has a lot of issues, and we’re proposing to pump a lot of money into a hole underground that for the time being is not generating anything.”.
