Aurora Approves Fitzsimons Residential Expansion

The Fitzsimons Innovation Community in Aurora is about to get a lot bigger.

On Monday, the Aurora City Council approved an amendment to the Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority’s general development plan that would increase the residential unit cap from 850 to 7,266 new units, the Denver Business Journal reported. If completed fully, housing on site would increase more than eight times.

Approximately 4,000 units are proposed in mixed-use areas of the research campus that will also allow for commercial development. Another 3,047 are proposed in residential-only planning areas. In an effort to increase density, buildings have a four-story height minimum with no maximum height limit.

The creation of additional residential planning areas means that a majority of the vacant land, about 48 acres in total, has been retained for office and commercial research space for medical office, lab and research facilities.

The community is bounded by North Peoria Street to the west, East Montview Boulevard to the south and North Fitzsimons Parkway to the north and east. The hope is to transform the office campus into a walkable, livable and workable community for thousands of residents.

“We look at it as an obligation to both honor the history of this place, but also to envision a future that engages residents throughout Aurora in the new campus that has more green space than we have had, that has more housing and that has a relationship with Aurora Public Schools so that we’re truly bringing future generations onto the campus,” Kelly Brough, CEO of the Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority, said of the plans.

In addition to the proposed housing units, the approved amendment includes improvements to street, utility, drainage, parks and open space on site. Before the site plan is recorded and any building permits are issued, however, the Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority must resolve some outstanding technical issues, according to the Business Journal.

“I’m really excited that this is coming to fruition,” Aurora City Council member Françoise Bergan said. “We’re going to see more expansion of our bioscience campus, bringing more employment, and then also having the housing available for those people that work on campus.”

— Chris Malone Méndez