A former popular greyhound racing track on the northeast side of Commerce City is going to see new life as a mixed-use community with more than 800 housing units.
What to do with the Mile High Greyhound Park has challenged city leaders ever since the facility was closed in the summer of 2008.
One of the most famous dog racing tracks in the West, the facility, which held its inaugural race in 1949, ceased operations due to declining revenues.
For years since that closing, the sprawling 65-acre site property been a lonely place, as city officials have contemplated how to repurpose it.
The former racing track is owned by Denver’s Urban Renewal Authority, which purchased it a decade ago and then spent more than $6 million, partly to fund the demolition of existing, aging structures at the site.
In 2018 Commerce City approved financing for the redevelopment of the property, entering into an agreement with the Denver-based Delwest Development Corporation for the building of new residential units.
What is now being called the Greyhound Park, will see the $300 million construction of apartments, town homes, and even single-family houses.
When exactly the rest of the site, which could even see the construction of retail space and possibly even a school, will be built remains a question mark.
City officials say the next step forward may not be known until most of the residential units are completed.
By Garry Boulard
