After years of discussions and planning, a metro-area partnership has declared efforts to build out an aerotropolis — an airport city — around Denver International Airport officially off the ground.
The group of elected officials and staffers from cities, Adams County, Denver and the airport are elevating their plans to turn undeveloped areas around DIA into a hub for commerce, a magnet for innovative enterprises and an even more powerful economic engine for metro Denver and Colorado.
A website for Colorado Aerotropolis pitches the region to “makers and manufacturers, builders and developers.” At the heart of the appeal is DIA, the third-busiest airport in the U.S. and the sixth-busiest in the world.
And another big selling point is that the Denver airport, which opened in February 1995 on land annexed from Adams County, is its location: surrounded by thousands of acres of undeveloped land, not in the middle or on the edges of a dense cityscape.
“Frequently airports are built in areas that are already quite populated and that’s going to be somewhat limiting,” said Jenni Hall, director of Adams County’s Community and Economic Development.
“Denver International Airport is the second largest in terms of land mass in the world,” said Ken Cope, senior vice president of real estate development at DIA. “We have that luxury of having a very large canvas to paint on.”
The Aerotropolis Regional Committee is made up of representatives from Adams County; the cities of Aurora, Brighton, Commerce City, Federal Heights and Thornton; the City and County of Denver; and DIA. Members first signed a marketing agreement about eight years ago, said Adams County Commissioner Emma Pinter.
“The official launch is a formal way of announcing to the globe that the aerotropolis around DIA is open for business. There are parcels in every one of our jurisdictions that are for sale and ready for development,” Pinter said.
An aerotropolis is designed to place cities around a central airport, leveraging the connectivity that air travel provides. Hall said there are about 16 such developments around the world. A public-private partnership is behind an aerotropolis in Atlanta, home to the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest.
“The notion of an aerotropolis is one that is much more acceptable in foreign markets,” Cope said.
The model of building around an airport is something the U.S. is just starting to embrace, Cope added.
The concept encountered turbulence early on in Colorado. Adams County said Denver’s initial visions for developing the area violated the 1988 agreement on Denver’s annexation of the land.
The intergovernmental agreement that cleared the way for construction of DIA, which replaced Stapleton International Airport in Denver, was amended in 2016.
“In that amendment there was a committee that was formed to promote regionalism and development in the area,” Cope said. “But land development takes time.”
Pinter, Hall and Cope all said the regional committee has focused on collaboration among the different entities.
“I now think we’re at a point where jointly between Adams County, the airport and surrounding municipalities, we’re ready to accelerate development,” Cope said. “We’re working jointly to make sure that development is cohesive, that you’ve got the right infrastructure in place.”
The regional committee’s current budget is $1.03 million, with half coming from the airport and half from the other members of the regional committee.
The kinds of businesses the committee believes are naturals for the area include ones in such sectors as agriculture, biomedical, quantum computing, energy, advanced manufacturing and transportation. The committee’s talking points include the area’s renowned colleges and research facilities, educated workforce and the 28 international nonstop destinations served by DIA.
A study released in 2023 said that DIA’s total economic contribution to Colorado’s economy was about $36.4 billion. The airport can help drive further business opportunities and compatible development near the airport and also in the region, Phil Washington, the airport’s CEO, said in a statement.
Pinter noted that the area generally encompassing the aerotropolis contains all the state’s intersecting highways, including Interstates 70, 25 and 76.
“We also have rail lines that serve all sides of the aerotropolis,” Pinter said. “Whether you’re moving goods by rail, highway or air, this is a central location for businesses to locate.”
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman said in a statement that Colorado Aerotropolis will provide companies direct access to such “current powerhouses” as like the Gaylord Rockies resort and convention center, the Fitzsimons Innovation Community and the Anschutz Medical Campus.
The Aurora Highlands housing development, which held its grand opening in 2023, is in the planning area.
Hall said the region also is part of a designated foreign trade zone, which provides specific tax and customs advantages for the global movement of goods.
When Cope thinks about the aerotropolis, he envisions an entire city taking shape. He said there’s an opportunity to build something similar to the existing metro area.
Denver annexed 53 square miles, or 34,000 acres for DIA. The airport has six runways and has been approved for 12.
“Even after we build all 12 of those runways, there are about 16,000 acres left that the airport will own for commercial development,” Cope said.
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