Today, it’s weed-choked, decrepit and surrounded by fencing topped with barbed wire. By next year, however, the old Stanley Aviation building in northwest Aurora will help launch a renaissance in the blighted neighborhood.
The vacant, 60-year-old manufacturing plant is set to be transformed into the Stanley Marketplace, a $25 million retail and events center that takes inspiration from New York’s Chelsea Market and San Francisco’s Ferry Building.
The 22-acre property, at 2501 Dallas St., lies just across Westerly Creek from Denver’s booming Stapleton neighborhood. But the Aurora side of the municipal boundary is characterized by an auto tow yard and boarded-up shops.
“There’s a real need to have a project that brings activity into this community,” said Megan Von Wald, a partner in developer Flightline Ventures. Von Wald and partners Mark Shaker and Lorin Ting are Stapleton residents.
The project’s first announced tenant is a beer hall and restaurant to be managed by Denver chef and restaurateur Kevin Taylor.
Beer, in fact, was the catalyst for the idea.
“We were sitting around having a beer and thinking about what Stapleton needed,” Von Wald said. “We decided it needed a beer garden.”
The developers looked for locations in Stapleton and had discussions with Forest City Stapleton, the neighborhood’s master developer. But no deal was struck.
In the meantime, Aurora officials heard about the beer-garden concept and took the Flightline partners on a tour of the Stanley Aviation property. The building, formerly used to manufacture aircraft ejector seats, has been vacant since 2009.
“We knew right away it was a hidden gem,” Shaker said.
The partners soon had a vision for redeveloping the entire 140,000-square-foot structure instead of using just a corner of it for the beer hall.
Flightline now has letters of intent from more than 30 tenants, including restaurants, small shops and a fitness center. A group of Stapleton residents, frustrated with the neighborhood’s lack of a natural grocery store, has held talks with the developer about opening a food cooperative.
Flightline partners last month launched a private-placement investment offering to raise up to $4.5 million in startup capital. They also are negotiating for subsidies from the Aurora Urban Renewal Authority.
“The Stanley building just made all the sense in the world for them, and we love what they’re doing so far,” said Tim Gonerka, a retail specialist with the urban-renewal authority. “We’re really seeing this project as the linchpin to help this neighborhood become the next Highland.”
Steve Raabe: 303-954-1948, sraabe@denverpost.com or twitter.com/steveraabedp
This story has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to a reporting error, Megan Von Wald’s name was misspelled.
