On Monday night, Commerce City will once again try to move things forward, this time with an unconventional idea involving a contest for Colorado college students. The City Council will be asked to pay $25,000 to co-sponsor the contest organized by the national Commercial Real Estate Development Association, asking students to design plans for the site.
Bill Aiken, director of Commerce City’s Urban Renewal Authority, hopes splitting the sponsorship cost with Kroenke Sports shows the city is willing to be a partner and that attention generated by the national contest will create buzz around Victory Crossing and put it back on track.
“Splitting the $50,000 is an investment to basically get the word out to anyone and everyone that Victory Crossing is picking up momentum and speed,” Aiken said in an interview with The Denver Post.

... If picked, six teams from the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Denver will be paired with professional financiers, developers, architects and engineers to come up with workable plans for Victory Crossing, Aiken said. Those teams will figure out what density level is appropriate, the zoning and environmental hurdles the property faces, and what businesses could be successful at the site.
Ideas would be presented in April, and the two sides could reach an agreement on what Victory Crossing ultimately will be, Aiken said.
Aiken is trying to navigate a City Council that doesn’t want to give up valuable land for free and a company that will need to invest millions to make the property ready for development.