By Deborah Grigsby | Denver Gazette
Members of the Denver City Council approved an intergovernmental agreement between the city and the Broadway Station Metropolitan District, which moves the city closer to having a National Women’s Soccer League stadium at Santa Fe Yards at a potential price tag of $70 million.
That price tag still needs the council’s final approval in a vote expected several months away.
The City Council chambers erupted in applause on Monday after the 11-1 vote, which followed an extended discussion of the agreements and what exactly the city is “on the hook for.”
Although approval of the IGA does not obligate the city to the funding, according to City Attorney Brad Neiman, it provides the framework for the public-private partnership discussion to move forward.
With the IGA in place, the $70 million funding request — most of which will come from the city’s capital improvement funds and be used for land acquisition and improvements — would still need to return to the City Council for official appropriation, possibly in November.
The four-month window provides additional time to clarify financial and contractual details.
“This project has been very complex and very complicated,” Council President Amanda Sandoval said of the IGA and its history moving forward to the council. “This is a handshake agreement to signal to the National Women’s Soccer League that we are committed to taking this to the next step.”