Back in the 60's The abbreviation D.U.R.A. put fear in the hearts of all people that owned property in Downtown Denver.  The Denver Urban Renewal Authority acquired, most people called it stole, some of the finest buildings and properties in Downtown.  Most were immediately demolished and turned into parking lots.  The properties were later re-sold for profit instead of being redeveloped.

I can remember when my Father owned and operated the first of his parking garages at 18th and Lawrence Street.  It was a multi-level structure, with a magnificent masonry exterior and beautiful architecture.  Inside were hardwood and concrete floors, heavy wood ramps connecting the floors that the cars would drive over.  I can remember the tunnels from the basement that you could walk into that would connect buildings from underground.  I was always chicken to go to far into the tunnels as they were dark and damp.

I believe that my Father picked up this 40,000 square foot building on a prime corner for about $100,000.  The building needed a lot of work and clean up.  My cousin and I would sweep that entire three level structure every weekend.  I would be covered in dirt and all smelly, but for some reason I didn't mind.  To this day because of all that sweeping I love to use a push broom.  I like it so much it is actually therapeutic!

Anyway D.U.R.A. came along and made us an offer we couldn't refuse.  The offer was D.U.R.A. will give you your money back or we will just take it and give you whatever we feel its worth!  Well D.U.R.A. had just pushed around the biggest and the best including the Dikeous, the Bleckers and others.  So Dad made the deal after negotiating it up to a whopping $125,000 and we were out of there.

Oh by the way, this was The Denver Tramway Building more commonly known as The Spaghetti Factory Building.  What would it be worth today if we could have hung on to it?  Well D.U.R.A. never did squat with it and re-sold it for a profit.

So that is a prime example of why boots shake when D.U.R.A. gets excited about a neighborhood.

As most of you know D.U.R.A. is on the hunt again in the Arapahoe Square.  We all received notice last week of the soon to be performed "Blight Study".  The Blight Study is the first step in the process for D.U.R.A. to be able to put in place tools to re-vitalize an area.  If the area is determined to be Blighted, which is basically automatic if they want it to be, the area qualifies for Tax Increment Financing opportunities that are a big help to get projects out of the ground. 

Tax Increment Financing (TIF's) works by using the increase in sales and property taxes that occurs with a new building to pay the principal and interest cost of development bonds that are sold to pay for the construction of the building (s).  Without going into boring details, this is a fabulous tool to spur new development.  The developer combines the bond financing with equity and usually subordinate other financing to build new projects.

So this all sounds great!  What are the concerns?  What does this have to do with taking property from some parking lot guy in the 60's?  With the results of a successful Blight Study come immense powers of Eminent Domain aka, condemnation rights.  In the 60's the condemning authority had unlimited power to take what they wanted and on their terms.

Last week, David Zucker set up a very informative meeting with Tracy Huggins who is the Director of D.U.R.A.  David invited me and a slew of property owners over to Downtown's best meeting place, The Snooze A.M. Eatery, to find out  exactly what Tracy had up her sleeve for the area. Tracy is super classy and answered everyone's questions of which the most important one was with regard to condemnation.  Tracy explained that there has not been a condemnation in a long time and the laws have changed to protect property owners from an unfair taking.

Tracy went on to explain the purpose of the Blight Study and it was, as mentioned above, all about revitalizing an underutilized commercial neighborhood by putting in place financing tools to assist the process.  Considering today's financing environment where development money is harder to find than Bin Laden I believe this is a good thing.  A very good thing for sure.

For those of you that are doubters of D.U.R.A.'s good intentions, I know who you are (Dad), D.U.R.A. is picking a bad time to be buying cheap if that was their intention.  I've sold vacant land at over $100/ft and buildings at over $160/ft in The Square.  As I've told the doubters, be happy if D.U.R.A. would have to purchase your property!  When the condemnations were happening in the 60's, property was cheap and only a few came out ahead.  Today, we have some huge high price comparable sales out there that are recent.  Many of us wish we could be so lucky to find a deep pocket purchaser at those values.

The new D.U.R.A. with Tracy at the helm is a big positive for the Arapahoe Square and those surrounding neighborhoods as well.  Just one or two more developments on the scale of  Zucker's Solara and 2020 Lawrence projects and land prices will skyrocket, businesses will flock to the area and all of us will be better off!