The federal funds came from the Brownfields Economic Development Initiative of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Denver project was one of 11 selected nationwide to receive the competitive grant. The Environmental Protection Agency performed an environmental assessment of the property and loaned staff to the city to assist with Brownfields redevelopment and the grant application. Denver administers the grant.

The 15-acre Taxi site, adjacent to the South Platte River at 3455 Ringsby Ct., is the former Yellow Cab headquarters and dispatch center. With the redevelopment, it is being transformed into a new work-live community. The project is designed by architects Will Bruder, David Baker and Harry Teague.

Since 2001, Taxi has brought 100 jobs and seven businesses to a former industrial area. Last month Zeppelin broke ground on the second phase of Taxi, which includes a four-story building with 60,000 sf of commercial space on the first two floors and 44 moderately-priced loft condominium units on the third floor. At a total cost of $16.8 million, Phase II of the project is expected to create more than 200 new permanent jobs in River North, with more jobs in future phases.