The developer chosen by the Fan Fare redevelopment steering committee, The D/K Team, has been working with the Aurora Urban Renewal Authority on doing their due diligence and getting the pieces in place before any agreements for a project can be signed. You probably saw traffic counter cables strung across four locations on Havana Street adjacent to the Fan Fare site and at two locations along Geneva Street on the west side of the Fan Fare site. A traffic study is in progress and is required to gather traffic counts adjacent to the Fan Fare Site.
Core soil samples are also being taken. Pictured above is the big rig that has been digging the holes on the Fan Fare site for the soil samples.
Melissa Rogers from the Aurora Urban Renewal Authority told us that the city will be starting the rezoning of the Fan Fare property in the next couple of weeks from the current PD (planned development) zoning to a mixed use zoning to give flexibility for possible future retail, residential, office and recreational uses on the site. The old PD zoning was put in place in the early 2000’s to allow the previously proposed 20+ story “twin towers” residential project. Don’t worry–The plans for the “twin towers” have expired and are no longer active and the twin towers will NOT be built. However, the old PD zoning still applies to the Fan Fare site and was written specifically for the former 20 story twin tower project only, so the zoning needs to be changed to allow more flexibility for future development on the site. The rezoning process is expected to take 3-4 months.
There are no new site plans to review at this time as none have been submitted as yet.
In the meantime, the Geneva Apartments to the west of the Fan Fare Site are making major improvements to their landscape design. The old, overgrown junipers have been removed and new landscaped beds are being installed. Looking Good! It is great to see reinvestment in the Havana North area.