With the recent hire of White Construction Group, Castle Rock, Colo., as  CM/GC, the Stanley Marketplace project team is in place. The adaptive reuse of an abandoned manufacturing building in Aurora, Colo., into a mixed-use development could also fuel other rehab projects in the area, Aurora officials say.

Rendering by gkkworks
The new marketplace that will house several restaurants, a beer garden, local retailers, offices and community programs.

The retail project, located in Aurora’s “Opportunity Triangle” between Stapleton, Lowry and the Fitzsimons Medical Campus—is the brainchild of developer Flightline Ventures.

For years, the 133,000-sq-ft manufacturing facility and the 22 acres surrounding it were the home of Stanley Aviation, an avionics manufacturer that revolutionized aircraft safety and ejection-seat technology. The facility closed in 2009 and for the past five years, the cavernous building and the brownfield site have sat empty.

Current plans call for a mixed-use redevelopment of the site into a destination marketplace that will house several restaurants, a beer garden, local retailers, offices and community programs.

The city has targeted Stanley Marketplace as a catalyst project for the entire Westerly Creek Urban Renewal District. The site could become a community resource, city officials say, that includes active and passive play areas, waterfront improvements to Westerly Creek and future pad development sites for additional mixed-use ventures.

The Stanley Marketplace design team includes gkkworks (formerly klipp), ME Group, Studio NYL, Jansen Strawn and Consilium Design.