The Denver City Council has signed on to the deals to buy downtown’s Denver Pavilions mall and two parking lots behind it.
The council voted unanimously on Monday to have the Downtown Development Authority pay $37 million for the struggling 350,000-square-foot mall at 500 16th St. and an additional $23 million for the lots at 1505 and 1518 Glenarm Place.
The deals also include an extra $8 million set aside to spend on renovations to the mall and lease incentives, bringing the total anticipated spend to $68 million.
The items were on the meeting’s consent agenda, meaning they were approved without discussion.
The DDA is a city affiliate previously involved in last decade’s renovation of Union Station that now has $570 million in bond money to spend on revitalizing downtown, where vacant retail units and unused office floors are commonplace.
The DDA is buying the mall from Denver-based Gart Properties, which defaulted on the property’s loan. It is buying the parking lots from Brookfield, the New York-based real estate giant.
Bill Mosher, the city’s chief projects officer, has said he wants to see the Pavilions become “the Union Station of Upper Downtown.”
The mall and parking lots have never been under the same ownership. Mosher previously said the city will issue a request for proposals for firms interested in creating a sort of master plan for the properties, as well as for a new leasing team.
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