The River North, the artsy neighborhood north of downtown Denver, has changed a lot over the last decade: transforming from an industrial zone into a hotspot for trendy office and residential developments.
Some of RiNo’s growth can be credited to several districts who mobilized to support the arts, advocate for transportation upgrades, set up community events and establish a distinct neighborhood identity.
But one of these districts is up for renewal – and not everyone is happy.
The RiNo Business Improvement District (BID) was founded in 2015 and taxes commercial properties in the area to fund local economic initiatives such as neighborhood marketing and maintenance of public areas. The BID is at the end of its first 10-year term and is currently undergoing a renewal process.
One of the BID’s founding members, Tai Beldock, has spoken out against the renewal and is calling for the district to dissolve, citing frustrations over how its growing budget is managed and alleges it prioritizes the arts community over the businesses it was created for.
She set up a petition to dissolve the BID, which has gotten nearly 30 signatures as of Friday afternoon.
She said in a community meeting Wednesday that her frustrations boil down to how the BID has increasingly been used to fund the River North Arts District (RAD), the nonprofit registered neighborhood organization representing RiNo.
“The only way I’d support the renewal of the BID is if the BID breaks completely from the RAD,” Beldock said, “meaning a separate staff control of our own tax dollars and reeling back the focus to the original intent: business improvement.”
Other property and business owners at a public hearing voiced similar concerns, saying it’s a case of “the tail wagging the dog”, adding they wanted relief from paying extra taxes or pushing the cost onto their tenants and frustrations over closing the 2900 block of Larimer Street to cars.
How RiNo’s districts and neighborhood nonprofits work
The BID is one of the funding arms of the RiNo Arts District, which was created in 2005 to support the neighborhood’s arts community.
The Arts District also manages the General Improvement District, which taxes both commercial and residential properties with the purpose to help spur better developments along Brighton Blvd., and another nonprofit “Keep RiNo Wild” that was originally created to fund the development of ArtPark.
The two tax districts and two nonprofits have their own separate boards, said Sarah Cawrse, the Art District’s executive director of urban strategy and design, in an interview. They all share resources and operate under one name: the RiNo Arts District.
The structure is similar to how downtown’s BID operates under the Downtown Denver Partnership.
“They work together, partly because when they were created, it was to support this community as a whole and to contribute towards supporting artists, making sure that the unique and urban and industrial character were remaining,” Cawrse said.
Under the BID’s proposed 2025 budget, the largest expense is for the management and administrative fee to the Arts District totaling more than $580,000, or 16% of its expenses. There’s also a nearly $300,000 fee going to the Keep RiNo Wild nonprofit.
Cawrse explained this fee is to help reduce costs for every organization under the Arts District’s umbrella.
The Arts District serves to help each funding arm carry out its goals, she explained, and said there may be a rising “misconception” that its mission is different from the BID.
“If these agreements did not exist, then each organization would have to manage their own personnel, their own staffing and their own business expenses. They might have to have separate offices,” Cawrse said. “And with that, that could also result in higher costs.”
RiNo leaders said they took feedback from many business owners who felt like they’ve been neglected in favor of the arts community.
“What we’ve been hearing is ensure adequate balance, because one of the unique characteristics of this district is its incredible arts culture,” said Andy Mountain of GDSM, who the BID hired to facilitate community engagement for its renewal, during the public meeting.
But RiNo is also a growing entertainment, dining and workplace destination, he added.
“Making sure that the BID and the BID board are thinking about the businesses in the district,” Mountain said, “That came through loud and clear.”
Mike Deuel helps paint his girlfriend, Jahna Rae Church’s, mural titled “Third Love” in the second annual Denver Walls festival held in Denver’s RiNo neighborhood on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. The BID is the title sponsor of the street art festival.
Putting the business back into the “Business Improvement District”
Cawrse said in an interview that the RiNo Arts District is currently restructuring its board to better represent all the other organizations.
She herself was promoted to be the co-director of the Arts District alongside Alye Sharpe late last year, a new leadership structure to have a better footing in the organization’s two main priorities: arts and economic development.
Sharpe manages the nonprofit and arts arm of the district and Cawrse manages the BID, GID and other business initiatives.
Bernard Hurley, the CEO of Menalto Development, LLC, said during the public meeting he’s become “disenfranchised” by the BID’s organization and drew concerns RiNo’s recognition may be falling off the map.
He called for reducing the tax to relieve property owners and refocus the BID’s efforts toward businesses and property owners.
“The people that in the very beginning, the people that were on these boards, were property owners, because we were the ones that were financing everything and are still financing everything today,” Hurley said.
It’s a challenge to navigate both the arts and business world, said Adam Larkey, treasurer of the RiNo BID and chief operating officer of Zeppelin Development. And Larkey said he agrees with feedback from owners who want the BID to put the business back into business improvement.
“There needs to be a more conscious effort to engage the businesses, to highlight them,” Larkey told The Denver Gazette. “I mean, that is the economic driver of the neighborhood.”
The RiNo ArtPark is a community gathering place with a Denver Public Library branch, art studios and a restaurant/beverage incubator. The BID helped advocate for its development.
Renewal comes at a time of transformation and economic stress
Most Denver BIDs raise money with a mill levy on assessed property values.
RiNo has the lowest rate in the city at 4 mills, according to the district’s leaders. Cherry Creek’s BID has the highest at 18 mills, and the Colfax and Five Points BID is at 10 mills.
As RiNo attracted developments, the BID’s revenues blossomed.
In 2016, the BID and the GID generated a total of $885,000 from the mill levy. In 2024, data from the Arts District show its revenue was over $4.3 million.
Some property and business owners voiced concerns over a growing budget due to RiNo’s development boom and said they aren’t seeing enough results.
“The original goals have been achieved and it’s therefore no longer necessary to continue to fund the BID,” the online petition against the BID’s renewal said.
District leaders meanwhile argue the increased development also has increased the demand for services and costs to maintain the neighborhood. Reducing the levy or ridding it altogether would translate to less services, they said.
“The BID plays an important role, but I also think this is a great opportunity to refocus,” said RiNo property owner Sean Campbell at Wednesday’s meeting in support of the BID. “Growth is messy.”
Conscience Bay Company recently completed the purchase of the RiNo office building, Industry Denver, as seen on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. It was one of the neighborhood’s first major office developments about 10 years ago.
The economy has also put pressure on business owners and developers due to inflation and high interest rates stalling development.
It can be seen in RiNo’s office market, which has scored some flashy deals including Xcel’s new headquarters but also has the highest vacancy rate in the metro Denver area, with nearly half of its office real estate sitting empty.
Larkey said the BID should improve on showing “return on investment” from paying the extra tax. In the ways RiNo has grown in the last decade, he said the BID typically had its “fingerprints on it.”
The BID helped push for the 38th and Blake Station design overlay to create more density around the transit site with taller buildings and more affordable housing. It lobbied to adaptively reuse three city-owned buildings and create ArtPark. The BID also steers the branding and marketing RiNo, such as installing signage and directional signs greeting people entering the neighborhood.
“If there’s any faults, it’s probably us not being the best communicators of our successes and how much progress we’re actually making,” Larkey explained.
Larkey added opponents of renewing the BID are still looking at RiNo through the lens of 2015, but a lot has changed and argues the district should continue to facilitate what the neighborhood’s future looks like.
“You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube,” Larkey said. “We now are at a point where development is happening in the arts district, and the BID and the GID need to continue to have a seat at the table.”
The BID board is set to vote on whether to recommend renewing the district on Nov. 20. It will then go to Denver City Council, who will decide whether to approve it or not.
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