United Airlines’ development plan for 113.7 acres it bought near the Denver airport has raised questions about what the carrier plans to do with all that space.
The airline has said it will build a new flight center to supplement its main training facility in northeast Denver, but has remained mum on the entirety of its plans. An aviation website said Jan. 31 that it “doesn’t take more than 100 acres for pilot training.”
And the Chicago Tribune last year editorialized that the Windy City headquarters could be at risk.
United, the dominant carrier at Denver International Airport, submitted an initial plan to the city in November for the land it bought for $33 million. The infrastructure master plan prepared by the architecture firm ZGF said the airline will build a new flight training center, which it wants to have running by fall 2027.
Ample space would remain once a flight center is built. The master plan includes five office buildings to the west of the training facility. The plan plots 1.6 million square feet for 6,171 employees, but doesn’t specify what the buildings would house.
Gary Leff, a financial executive and founder of the frequent-flier website View from the Wing, wrote in a Jan. 31 blog that United officials have said there were no imminent plans to move the airline’s headquarters.
“Saying that no move is ‘imminent’ was not a denial,” Leff wrote, adding that United has scaled back its presence in Chicago’s Willis Tower, where its lease runs to 2032. “And United lacks a corporate campus like Delta and American now have.”
“We do not have anything additional to share on our plans for the land we’ve purchased in Denver. The land provides United with future options, of which there are no set plans beyond using the land to expand our Flight Training Center capabilities,” United spokesman Russell Carlton said Monday in an email.
United has said Denver is its fastest-growing hub and has roughly 10,000 employees in the state. Denver is also home to the training center where all United pilots go. The current 23-acre center is in northeast Denver and has reached its maximum capacity.
The proposal is the first step in rezoning the land from agricultural use. Ryan Huff, spokesman for Denver’s community planning and development, said the staff anticipates completing the review by the fourth quarter this year. Other steps, including review of a site development plan, will follow.
The infrastructure master plan shows four buildings for the additional flight training center totaling 865,000 square feet on the site at the corner of 64th Avenue and Yampa Street. The first phase of development would include the training center and an energy plant.
The larger northwest portion is referred to as a “Future Site” in the plan, which said the land is reserved for “flexible development” with premium views of the mountains and access to open space facing Peña Boulevard, the main route to the airport, and light rail.
Is there a new United corporate headquarters in the future of the site? United CEO Scott Kirby, who attended last year’s grand opening of the expansion of the current flight training center, said there were no other specific plans for the rest of the 113-acre parcel.
“There’s nothing that’s ‘Yes.’ There’s nothing that’s ‘No.’ It’s optionality,” Kirby told The Denver Post.
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