A proposed development near the RiNo Art District in Denver is looking for the city to approve a metropolitan district to help pay for the almost $58 million in infrastructure and construction of parking for the project.

The Midtown Metropolitan District would serve about 17 acres on Brighton Boulevard between 41st and 43rd Streets just south of the National Western Stock Show Complex if approved by City Council. The development, by Westfield Company along with other partners, would be a mixed-use project that included 500,000 square feet of office space, 125,000 square feet of retail, hotel and 600 total units of rental or for-sale apartments with about 100 being discounted “artists rental housing.”

The district would place 31 mills on the property for serving the $72.6 million worth of bonds that are planned to be issued, while an additional 2 mills would cover operations and upkeep for the development.

“The infrastructure required for us to redevelop on this site really couldn’t occur given the scope and scale of services needed without this district,” said Kevin McClintock, developer/partner with Westfield Company, during a City Council Finance and Services Committee meeting Tuesday.

Westfield estimated the cost of creating the necessary roads and access to the sight, currently more than 400,000 square feet of 1950s warehouse space, would cost more than $17 million and the cost of creating the 1,200 parking structure needed for the project at more than $40 million.

While the committee gave its approval to the district and sent it on to City Council, Councilman Jolan Clark, District 7, said he was worried about how the development was estimating the amount of open space provided. The project counts the project’s pedestrian plazas, which would still allow for automotive traffic and be closed during special events, as part of the project’s more than 3 acres of open space.

For Clark, the idea that a road could be considered open space just because it would be closed occasionally doesn’t make sense.

“A road that can be closed is not open space coming from my background in parks,” Clark said during the meeting. “We need to make sure as our city continues to grow and becomes dense, we’re being thoughtful and intentional about true open space.”

If the metropolitan district is eventually approved along with the rezoning requests, the project could break ground in 2017.