Broomfield Lights Its Tree Next to the Downtown It Hasn't Built Yet
November 5, 2026
November 5, 2026
November 5, 2026
Broomfield City Council member Castriotta has backed the Town Square project since she joined Council about nine years ago. This summer she described what it had been like to keep announcing it. "I go out and tell people, 'Yay, it's gonna happen!' and then it doesn't," she said, as reported by the Broomfield Enterprise.
The 39-acre site in question sits north of West 120th Avenue and east of Main Street, right next to city hall. The plan calls for shops, restaurants, lakeside amenities and hundreds of homes, all designed to give Broomfield what Denver7 called "an actual downtown." For now the city's gathering places this season are the buildings around the empty land. The Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony is at the George Di Ciero City and County Building on Friday, Dec. 4. Four days later, City Council meets in the same building to decide whether to revoke the Town Square site plan.
The projected start has moved again and again. City Attorney Nancy Rodgers laid out the history at a July 16 Council meeting, as reported by the Broomfield Enterprise:
| When the estimate was given | What the developer team projected |
|---|---|
| 2021 | First construction begins by early 2023 |
| 2023 update | First phase built and opened in 2025, including the vacant Safeway building |
| Early 2025 | Groundbreaking by fall 2026 |
| 2026 | Groundbreaking in 2027 |
City staff say the project has been in the works for more than a decade. The latest slip ran into a deadline set by city code, and that deadline is why the project is now in court.
Council approved the Town Square site development plan in mid-September 2023. Under Broomfield's municipal code, an owner has three years from approval to apply for and receive building permits for construction. If that deadline passes, Council may revoke the plan. At a Land Use Review Commission meeting on Oct. 26, city staff said the deadline exists to make sure an approved plan still fits community needs years later.
The two sides disagree about which permits count. The developer team, Broomfield Town Square Alliance, says that in March it applied for permits covering $30 million in improvements: the swim beach, plaza, streets, sidewalks and trails, plus building permits for a boathouse and restrooms. The city's position is that the deadline calls for permits for "the major structures," such as the Safeway redevelopment and the mixed-use buildings. The Alliance asked for an 18-month extension to meet that reading of the code. The city refused.
City leaders have also raised concerns that the developers never answered an engineering question about changes to the lake's depth. The lake and the swim beach both belong to the planned first phase. Neither one exists yet.
The dispute moved through three steps in two weeks.
On Oct. 13, Council unanimously passed a resolution that formally started revocation proceedings and gave the developer a notice to show cause. That sets up two hearings, as reported by the Broomfield Enterprise.
On Friday, Oct. 23, Broomfield Town Square Alliance LLC filed a complaint in Broomfield's district court. It says the city breached the redevelopment and reimbursement agreement by refusing the extension. "It is unclear why the City has turned code compliance into a moving target, but its decision to do so has jeopardized continuance of the Project," the complaint reads, as quoted by the Broomfield Enterprise. The developers also say the uncertainty stalled their financing. The city's Town Square project page says Broomfield "remains fully compliant with the development agreement and continues to operate strictly in accordance with the Broomfield Municipal Code."
On Monday, Oct. 26, the Land Use Review Commission voted to recommend revocation. The vote is a recommendation only. Council makes the final decision.
Before all this, the two sides had talked about ending the partnership. In a September letter to the city, the Alliance's counsel put the developer's price for terminating the redevelopment agreement at $6 million. The city had offered $2 million. The letter is posted on the city's website. Council member Castriotta said this summer that the development team had provided no documentation supporting the $6 million figure and that the city did not plan to negotiate further.
The city's own holiday calendar runs right through the hearing date. Here is the sequence from now through Dec. 18, with the Council meeting where it falls. All of these events are on the City and County of Broomfield calendar.
Most of these take place on Spader Way and DesCombes Drive, along with the Broomfield Library & Auditorium at 3 Community Park Road. That cluster is the Town Square's next-door neighbor. The craft fair, the tree lighting and the holiday lunch fill the role Town Square was meant to play. They just happen in public buildings because the shops and plaza across the way were never built.
The Dec. 8 meeting is a regular Council session in Council Chambers, the same building where the tree is lit four days earlier. Anyone following the project can attend in person.
A revocation on Dec. 8 would cancel the site plan and leave the city's contract with the developers in place. City staff said in September that revoking the plan does not alter that underlying agreement, according to the Broomfield Enterprise. Under that agreement, the developer team keeps exclusive rights to develop the land north of 120th Avenue and east of Main Street until 2044. If Council revokes the plan, the developer team would decide what comes next. City Attorney Nancy Rodgers said in a September meeting that the options include resubmitting the plan or filing a new one.
Both sides have described the risk in nearly the same terms. Developer Joe Vostrejs said at an April meeting that "the city can't sell the land, it can't bring in another developer, it can't build something else," and warned of "a vacant 40-acre site next to city hall tied up in legal agreement while we wait potentially for another 18 years." That was reported by the Broomfield Enterprise. If the agreement stays in place and the developer chooses not to pursue the project, the land could stay vacant for roughly two decades or longer, according to the Broomfield Enterprise's October report.
Castriotta has said Council's support for the idea has not changed. "We all embrace the idea of having that town center, that gathering place," she said this summer. "So what's changed is not our commitment to the project, but it's really in our confidence in this developer to deliver it." One resident who lives within walking distance of the site told Denver7 he still wants a place to "go get coffee, ice cream, a beer after work." He asked the city for "a little grace, and you know, an extension if the developer is still interested in working with the city."
The lawsuit is still pending in district court. The vacant Safeway building is still standing, and the planned lake and swim beach exist only in permit filings. Council's final revocation hearing is on Tuesday, Dec. 8, at 6 p.m. in Council Chambers at the George Di Ciero City and County Building.
For three decades, Anne Dresser Kocur has followed how projects like Town Square shape daily life across the Denver metro. If you live near 120th and Main and want to talk through what the Dec. 8 outcome might mean for your own plans, Book an Appointment and we'll go through it together.
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