The owner of the land at Interstate 25 and Broadway, Cherokee Denver LLC has hired the contractor to complete $126 million in infrastructure work for the $1-billion-plus transit-oriented development--contingent upon city council's approval of the TIF package. Cherokee is still cleaning up the Brownfield site, which eventually will have several million sf of commercial properties, including buildings as tall as 14 stories, retail, hotels and high-density residential.

At last week's first reading, councilwoman Kathleen MacKenzie cast the only dissenting vote to the plan. In an interesting twist, the blighted site is in her district. Other council members appeared somewhat perplexed by her lone dissent. The plan and subsidy even received support from a grassroots and labor-connected group, the Campaign for Responsible Development, which in the past had been somewhat antagonistic and skeptical about the development.

One thing that the group points out is Kiewit Building Group is a union contractor. In its words, it says Kiewit has a "strong record of good wages, healthcare and retirement benefits, local hiring and high-quality skills and safety training." Kiewit received support from group members from the Sheetmetal Workers Local 9, Construction Trades Council and Rocky Mountain Regional Council of Carpenters.