The transformation continues.
Since the late 1970s, Aurora City Center has been planned as the city’s downtown. This regional center is undergoing major changes.
At 772 acres, City Center has its own zoning district that promotes master planned development. Newer development includes the Aurora Municipal Center, the Arapahoe County Administrative Offices, the Aurora City Place retail center, the refurbishment of the Town Center at Aurora (formerly the Aurora Mall), and the construction 450 higher density residential units.
Alameda Avenue streetscape improvements were installed following the development of consultant-prepared guidelines to create an overall City Center urban design theme. The master plan for the Centerpoint parcel (now branded as Metro Center) was approved in 2008 and development plans for the site are proceeding. The R Line stops at the new Metro Center Station and new RTD bus transfer station.
In 2009, recognizing the progress already made toward the City Center vision, City Council terminated the City Center Urban Renewal Area and created the smaller City Center II Urban Renewal Area (137 acres) to address redevelopment on the remaining vacant land in City Center related to the approved Metro Center project, and future redevelopment needs of three adjacent existing retail centers. The original Aurora City Center II Urban Renewal Plan created a single Tax Increment Financing Area (TIF Area 1) for about 24.6 acres at the southeast corner of South Chambers Road and East Alameda Parkway.
In 2015, the city council approved an amended Aurora City Center II Urban Renewal Plan, which created three additional Tax Increment Financing areas (TIF Areas 2, 3, and 4) to assist in financing public improvements for development at the southeast corner of South Sable Boulevard and East Alameda Avenue.