Regatta Plaza Fiasco

Near the intersection of Parker Rd & I-225, two of the busiest highways in Colorado, and very close to a busy light-rail station, sits an abandoned shopping center called Regatta Plaza.  It started going downhill in 2001.  It was formally declared blighted in 2013.  But still the slumlords, a local man named John Buckley and another guy named Romesh Sharma, didn't do anything.  They also refused to sell the property.

So the city of Aurora decided to take the property via eminent domain.  Problem solved?  Hahaha.  The incompetent bureaucrats at Aurora City Hall keep changing their minds as to what to do.  First they created an urban renewal district and use tax-increment financing (TIF) to fund it.  Then they hire a master plan developer, Mile High Koelbel (MHK) to draw up some pretty plans.  Then they fire MHK and hire a new architect, RNL.  Then they decide, no they want FOUR separate urban renewal districts. But then  Arapahoe County objects because they will lose out on the tax dollars, and they wonder why can't the project be financed privately.

Meanwhile, there is a big chain link fence around the whole area, and most of the units are either boarded up or have broken glass.  There it sits, until it will be demolished.

An Aurora city council member is so frustrated that he posts hilarious weekly updates:
"Week of May 9-13, 2016 UPDATE
You may have noticed that we moved the fence to the rear of the haunted house. We will begin asbestos abatement on the exterior of the building next week.” --http://charlierichardsonward4.com/regatta-plaza-update-may-11th-2016/

Luckily there are lots of pretty futuristic drawing to assure us that something is being done.  But they are all completely different, proving that the design has not been selected yet.  I'm not going to post them all right now, but here is one:

Source:  https://www.auroragov.org/cs/groups/public/documents/document/024727.pdf

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Update:  I have been way too harsh on developer John Buckley.  It appears that it is the city's fault for being unreasonable.

"In April [2014], the city adopted its urban renewal plan for Nine Mile Station and Regatta Plaza. The purpose of the plan is to create public finance options to help fund the transformation of the outdated, largely vacant shopping center into an "urban village" — characterized in the plan by more than 500 units of high-end apartments and townhomes serviced with elevators and attached parking structures.

"The city's plans for high-density apartments are not grounded in financial reality," Buckley said. "Higher density means a different level of construction and construction costs, and the lease rates in that area do not support that plan."

In 2011, Buckley presented a redevelopment plan to the city that included about 430 units of three-story, walkup garden apartments and parking lots as well as about 30,000 square feet of retail space. The city rejected those plans on the grounds that they did not create the desired gateway to Aurora."
--http://www.denverpost.com/aurora/ci_25753945/regatta-plaza-redevelopment-spurred-after-aurora-urban-renewal