Fitzsimons campus poised to include thousands of new housing units
A change to the Fitzsimons Innovation Community’s master plan in Aurora will allow eight times more residential units to be built on the medical campus.
Just under 4,000 units are proposed in mixed-use areas of the campus that will also allow for commercial development, Aja Tibbs, the planning supervisor for Aurora's planning and business development department, told the council. The remaining 3,047 units are proposed in residential-only planning areas.
There’s a four-story minimum height limit for the buildings with no maximum limit to building height to encourage density, council information states.
“With the introduction of additional residential planning areas, a majority of the vacant land, which is about 48 acres, has been retained for office, commercial research space to fully accommodate medical office, lab and research facilities,” Tibbs said.
Kelly Brough, the CEO of the Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority, which was the applicant for the amendment, said the change will bring together the grander vision of a more interconnected campus.
“We look at it as an obligation to both honor the history of this place, but also to envision a future that engages residents throughout Aurora in the new campus that has more green space than we have had, that has more housing and that has a relationship with Aurora Public Schools so that we’re truly bringing future generations onto the campus,” Brough said.
The change allows the campus to build a community around the residential units and amenities to create “a real neighborhood,” Kathleen Fogler, principal with Tryba Architects, told the council.
The motion passed with one condition: The applicant must first resolve some outstanding technical issues before the site plan is recorded and any building permits issued.
The general location of the property is bounded by North Peoria Street, East Montview Boulevard and North Fitzsimons Parkway.
“I’m really excited that this is coming to fruition,” Council member Françoise Bergan said. “We’re going to see more expansion of our bioscience campus, bringing more employment, and then also having the housing available for those people that work on campus.”
Late last year, Fitzsimons community’s outgoing CEO, Steve VanNurden, said the updated master plan takes into consideration more sustainability initiatives, transit opportunities and lifestyle factors that could help attract an internationally based company to the campus.