By Beth Potter
Staff Writer
Colorado Hometown Weekly

A developer may receive financial incentives from Erie to build shops and homes at “Nine-Mile Corner,” the new shopping center planned on the southeast corner of U.S. 287 and Arapahoe Road.

If everything goes as planned, Evergreen Devco development company wants to start break ground this fall after lining up tenants this spring, said Tyler Carlson, a company representative. The shopping center would open about a year later, he said.

A grocery store might provide the “anchor” or main tenant for the center, Carlson said.

“The market ultimately will dictate who wants to go where,” he said. “We’re planning on a nice restaurant component, and restaurants like the grocers.”

Erie town officials approved a partnership agreement with Evergreen Devco at a meeting on Jan. 12 that paves the way for the developer to buy the 45-acre parcel for about $5 million. The town currently owns the site.

Evergreen Devco may receive tax increment financing incentives through Erie’s urban renewal authority to build the project, according to Fred Diehl, a town spokesman. In general, tax increment financing comes from the projected increase in property tax and sales tax revenue that come from developed land. The projected increase in revenue often is used to pay for infrastructure in urban renewal authority projects.

While no specific decisions have been made about financing, the site is expected to be an expensive one to develop, Carlson said.

“It, being eligible for urban renewal financing, is another tool in the toolbox to solve some of those problems,” Carlson said.

Separately, Evergreen Devco representatives have asked state transportation officials to consider building a new stoplight on U.S. 287 at the planned west entrance to the shopping center, Carlson said.

In an October meeting, neighbors complained that a new shopping center could block their prairie and mountain views, among other things. Carlson said recently that he plans to meet with neighbors again after he has more information about potential tenants.

Evergreen Devco representatives also have said they want to use Old Town Erie buildings as design inspiration for the new shopping center.

Beth Potter: 303-473-1422, [email protected]