Summer Issue 2021 - 59

airport
communities
To that end, the airport has worked out an
arrangement with local governments to speed up and
streamline the permitting process for development. In
one instance, Keehn was able to get a major project
through the process in just 42 days, from negotiations
to breaking ground, including entitlements.
" That doesn't mean we do shortcuts, " he notes.
" Instead, we do a lot of the work in advance. "
The airport's strategy has been phenomenally
successful so far. Prior to the pandemic, it contributed
C$3.2 billion in annual economic output to the
region and supported 26,000 jobs, according to
the airport's 2020 annual report. Between 2013 and
lived near their workplaces and
shopped and entertained in those
same neighborhoods.
To create a similar ambience
in an industrial park, a location
surrounded by a variety of other
land uses is important, according
to Hyde. The HighPoint site, for
instance, lies close to the Gaylord
Rockies Resort & Convention Center
and a retail corridor, as well as
Denver International Airport.
" That's important to creating not
just a place where people will come
from nine to five, but they can have
their lunch, meet for coffee, and
stay after work to have their exercise
class, " Hyde said.
In addition, it is important to
build amenities and create a variety
of different design offerings, and
" not just stamp out the same building
10 times. "
When it comes to creating amenities,
Hyde said that the developers
are borrowing ideas from office
developers. Scaling those concepts
across a 400-acre (162 ha) park,
however, required thoughtful planning.
To get it right, the company
uses surveys to figure out which
2019, the airport attracted more than C$1 billion in
private investment.
It is a template for airport-centric development
that airports in the United States and elsewhere
eventually could adopt as well. " You even can
do this in places that don't have a lot of land to
develop, " Keehn says. " It's more about the mind-set
that the airport is using to drive development. " UL
PATRICK J . KIGER is a journalist and author based in the
Washington, D.C., area.
particular amenities users are most
eager to have, and then spreads
those amenities throughout the site
for accessibility.
To capitalize on a fast-growing
trend, the developers also have
plans for a cold-storage building.
Hyde noted that we have seen
COVID-19 accelerate people's
expectations and practice of getting
not only their groceries but
also their meals delivered to their
homes on very short notice. " The
existing cold warehouse infrastructure
isn't capable of supporting
that, " he said. " You're seeing new
cold buildings being developed.
We've designed ours to accommodate
either all freezer, or combination
freezer, cooler, and ambient. "
Flexibility is crucial to meeting
the rapidly evolving market for cold
storage, Hyde said.
" We've spent a long time understanding
the design, and what
makes those buildings flexible, " he
said. " The proper clear height-we're
showing 50 foot [15 m], but it could
go higher. " Refrigerated dock areas
and an adequate number of spots to
park trailers are critical as well.
Mezzanine space for offices and
outside balconies also can add value
to industrial buildings, explained Dan
Green, CEO and co-managing partner
of JA Green Development, which
has been developing warehouses
near major airports across the United
States for decades.
Adam Knoff, associate director
and cofounder of Unico Solar Investors,
said that his company has
outfitted industrial buildings in Massachusetts
and Northern California
so that they get 80 percent of their
electricity from solar panels.
Knoff explained that getting
solar to work in a particular local or
regional real estate market requires
at least two of three critical factors.
" The first obviously is sunshine, " he
noted. " California works better than
western Washington, for example. "
Second is having the right regulatory
environment to support solar
energy, with the ability to create
a third-party ownership structure
being crucial as well, Knoff said.
Third, he said, is that " we need a
relatively high-rate environment, "
so that solar will be economically
competitive.-P.J.K.
SUMMER 2021
URBAN LAND
59
Summer Issue 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Summer Issue 2021
