Lowry takes flight: neighbourhood's roots grow at former air base.

• Author: Titus, Stephen
• Position: Lowry Redevelopment Authority

THOMAS MARKHAM, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE LOWRY REDEVELOPMENT Authority, paints this picture of the former Air Force base turned trendy neighborhood.

"It was 1,886 acres surrounded by barbed wire and filled with hundreds of abandoned buildings -- infrastructure that was either outdated or in the wrong place, and three abandoned runways," he says. "Most communities don't start this way."

Markham admits that transforming the 57-year-old military relic into a modern community of homes, businesses and public facilities was a learn-as-you-go proposition. One of the biggest lessons was what to pay for the shuttered Air Force training facility. The government's appraisal estimated that half of the existing infrastructure was still usable and put the value at $38 million -- which the Redevelopment Authority reluctantly agreed to.

But the military does not always pay attention to local building codes when it puts up a base facility, Markham says, and 1940s construction practices were significantly different from what contractors deal with today "We found out after we signed the contract that there was a lot more expense to redeveloping the property" he laments. "Start-up costs are astronomical."

Those costs included demolition of the runways, most buildings and replacement of all infrastructure, which the Redevelopment Authority discovered was totally unusable in its plan for a mixed-use development. Despite the various problems, financiers quickly realized the value of the massive parcel. Backed by rent from about 800 houses left on the base, Markham floated revenue bonds to underwrite development of the 3.3 square-mile base and allow construction of 4,000 new home sites and more than 1 million square feet of commercial space.

Despite the 1994 closing date and rapidly improving real estate market, it would be almost three years before the Redevelopment Authority would see the first deed from the military, allowing the redevelopment to get underway. Since then, the project has enjoyed steady growth, and despite the now-weakened economy and abysmally slow commercial real-estate market, developers with projects in Lowry say it is their strongest market segment.

"Of the $300 million in project we've done in the Denver area, this is our most successful, not just because of Denver, but because of the success of Lowry," says Timothy McEntee, president and managing partner of JPI Partners. "It's the in-fill nature of Lowry; it can access downtown and the...