Report: Lowry AF Base Provides City With $3B-Plus Boost

DENVER-The Lowry Air Force Base redevelopment created a $5.7-billion gross economic impact between 1994 and 2005, with commercial real estate development being one of the driving forces, according to new research by Development Research Partners, a local real estate analysis and economic development research company. Approximately $3.3 billion directly benefited the City and County of Denver, including $128.1 million in taxes and fees. The remaining $2.4 billion benefited the City of Aurora, the State of Colorado and surrounding states. The research was commissioned to update an economic impact report completed in 2004.

“Lowry is a maturing community, and the economic impact compounds every year,” says Tom Markham, executive director of the Lowry Redevelopment Authority. “As we approach completion, we feel it’s important to quantify the public benefit of redeveloping Lowry Air Force Base.”

The data is also useful to the 25 communities with military bases announced for closure in 2005, he adds. “We want to demonstrate that there can be life after base closure,” says Markham, who is also president of the National Association of Defense Communities, a group that represents interests of all military bases, whether active, closed or in the process of being closed.