Lend Lease Corporation’s Retail & Communities division has acquired a 203-hectare development parcel in the United States for $30 million.
The site, known as Horizon City, has an existing planning approval and is in a major growth corridor of Denver, Colorado, and will be developed into a $250 million development.
Lend Lease plans to develop a mixed-use community, including 2,950 units of housing, 158,000 sqm of retail and 260,000 sqm of commercial space on the site.
According to LLC, Located in the City of Aurora in eastern metropolitan Denver, the Horizon City Centre site is convenient to Denver’s Central Business District (CBD) and is only 15 minutes from Denver International Airport. It sits at the intersection of two major interstate roads and will be supported by planning for the extension of Denver’s light rail system.
Lend Lease purchased the parcel from RealtiCorp, a South Carolina-based real estate investment company.
Global chief executive of Lend Lease Retail & Communities, Ross Taylor said the announcement marks the exciting next step in the growth strategy for our Retail & Communities business in the United States.
“Lend Lease is building capacity in the US from an established Communities business base in Australia and the UK,” he added.
“Our strategy has been to identify leading growth corridors to which we bring our skill and experience to create sustainable places where people live, shop and work; this is the first project to be delivered within that strategic outlook for our US Retail & Communities business.”
The Horizon City Centre will become a major town centre and commercial hub for the City of Aurora servicing a current employee population of almost 75,000 in the area. The Denver International Airport has a base of 30,000 employees to the north and the Denver Tech Centre (to the south) employs 35,000 people. Buckley Air Force Base is also located just five minutes away and employs close to 9,000 people.
Lend Lease Retail & Communities, US, chief executive Michael Bellaman said the development of the Horizon City Centre is expected to commence by July 2007, with first settlement by January 2008 and project completion by December 2018.
By Ted McDonnell
