Page 64 - Michigan City, IN US Highway 421 Corridor Plan

3.4 Redevelopment Case Studies: Belmar Redevelopment Project, Lakewood, Colorado

Overview: Mall in Decline

The Villa Italia mall in Lakewood started to decline in the 1990s, Old Mall — Villa Italia Redeveloped Mall — Belmar
and in 1997 city voters authorized the use of urban renewal
powers. The new center was named Belmar after the former Location — Lakewood, Colorado Mall Redevelopment — Mixed-Use Town Center or Urban District Transit — Three local and two express bus lines across the

estate on which it sits and was designed to give Lakewood Model street

a downtown. The entire site was rezoned to launch a phase City Population — 144,000 — Within five miles of the new Alameda light rail

development process in which the purposed of the blocks could 5-mile Catchment Area Year opened — 2003 station and two miles from the Wadsworth

be determined over time. The project is the product of a public/ Pop. Scale — 103 acres station on the West Corridor light rail line
private partnership between the city of Lakewood and the Year Built — 1966 Retail — 880,000 sf Access — One mile from US Route 6 and four miles from

developer Continuum Partners. The developers designed Belmar Size — 1.4 million sf — Mix of national chains and local I-25

to be a walkable place, it is based on a grid street system of businesses

22 streets (owned by the city) that feature wide sidewalks and Occupancy Rate at time — 30% — Movie Theater Parking — Three 1,000 space public garages
narrow roads. 1 of Redevelopment — Bowling Alley — 2,000 street and surface parking spaces

Proximity to City Center — Lakewood is an inner suburb 15 Neighbors — North (Alameda Avenue) and West (Wadsworth

The Belmar project was roughly $850 million financed with a minutes from Downtown Denver Office — 250,000 sf Boulevard) are commercial corridors with

combination of government bonds, federal grants, and equity Residential — 800 rental and for-sale units Lakewood Commons shopping center across the

from Continuum. To date, $160 million has been spent on Civic Space — Two education institutions street (west) from Belmar
infrastructure improvements, $40 million of which was financed — Central plaza and parks, total nine acres South and east of Belmar are single family
by developer equity. (The garages alone cost $35 million, or Events — Farmers market, — residential neighborhoods.

about $14,000 per space.) The bonds for the project are backed — Holiday happenings
primarily by a property tax increment pledge and the imposition — Annual Italian Festival
of a 2.5 percent public improvement fee by the developer on
retail sales. To offset the public improvement fee, the city has
waived two percent of the three percent sales tax on the site.
Using revenues from the public improvement fee and property
tax increment, Continuum will be reimbursed for the public
infrastructure by 2028, reported Larry Dorr, director of finance
for the city of Lakewood. 2
The Urban Land Institute (ULI) used Belmar as a case study
for redeveloping suburbs and drew the following ‘lessons
learned,’ First, the urban-scale street grid is a classic choice.
Second, innovative financing arrangements can enable a private
landowner to build infrastructure, with public reimbursements
to follow. And finally, the competitive advantage that compact,
mixed-use development can have is demonstrated by Belmar. 3

1 February 19, 2013. “Belmar in Lakewood, Colorado, Provides Year-Round
Activities”. Urban Land Institute (http://uli.org/infrastructure-initiative/bel-
mar-in-lakewood-colorado-provides-year-round-activities/)
2 2012. “Shifting Suburbs Reinventing Infrastructure for Compact Develop-
ment”. Urban Land Institute (http://uli.org/wp-content/uploads/ULI-Docu-
ments/Shifting-Suburbs.pdf)
3 2012. “Shifting Suburbs Reinventing Infrastructure for Compact Develop-
ment”. Urban Land Institute (http://uli.org/wp-content/uploads/ULI-Docu-
ments/Shifting-Suburbs.pdf)
Source: “Belmar”. Better Cities & Towns, http://bettercities.net/places/placesnewur- Source: “Plan: Belmar”. Van Meter Williams Pollack LLP. Source: “The Death and Life of American Shopping Malls”. Closed Loop closedloop.us
bandevelopment/belmar
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3.0 Envision 421 Gateway District Adopted: August 16, 2016