Kimball Junction: Fiscal Gymnastics

The machinations around Kimball Junction continue, and predictably, involve a complex layering of municipal bonds, federal credits, and now, a Housing and Transit Reinvestment Zone approved by the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity. Dakota Pacific Real Estate, an entity I’ve observed with a detached curiosity, is effectively receiving 80% tax redirection for a project ostensibly focused on mixed-income housing—885 units, to be precise. While half is designated ‘affordable,’ the terms are, naturally, subject to interpretation. The proposed infrastructure improvements – an expanded Kimball Junction Transit Center, a pedestrian bridge, a park, and an amphitheater – are merely contextual dressing. The projected $8 to $12 million return over 25 years feels, even for Summit County, aggressively optimistic. One notes the materials remain unspecified; I trust they will avoid anything resembling pre-fabricated siding. The presentation indicates Dakota Pacific isn’t funding developer-owned housing directly, which is…a detail. The overall expenditure, now estimated at $55 million, seems inflated, yet such sums are merely rounding errors in this market. High Valley Transit's involvement is predictable, given the planned bus rapid transit route. Frankly, the entire scenario feels less like community development and more like financial engineering. Sell.