Aurora is looking to formalize its relationship with an organization it helped form to support the city’s downtown.
The Aurora Downtown District, as the new organization is called, is essentially a reformation of the former Aurora Downtown. That now-dissolved group joined with others at the start of last year to form the Aurora Regional Economic Alliance, which was planned to absorb the organization’s work in downtown along with its related tax funding.
But after Aurora Mayor John Laesch was elected, the city changed course, citing input from downtown property and business owners. It helped to form the Aurora Downtown District and is now set to hand this new organization the tax dollars needed to operate like the previous group.
The new organization is expected to support Aurora’s downtown through marketing, events, business support and public space improvements using funds generated by a special tax applied to property within the downtown area, or more specifically within Special Service Area Number One.
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Two proposed agreements between the city and the new Aurora Downtown District are set to go before the Aurora City Council at its meeting on Tuesday. If the agreements are approved, the city will distribute Special Service Area One tax funds to the organization and provide it with office space in the city’s Development Services Center at 77 S. Broadway.
“Forming this partnership ensures coordinated investment in initiatives that enhance the quality of life, supports economic development and strengthens Aurora’s identity as a unique regional center,” Aurora Downtown Economic Development Manager Danielle Tufano said at a meeting of the City Council’s Committee of the Whole last week.
The office space offered by the city will be at a minimal cost to the organization, she said, which will reduce overhead for the group so that more resources can be directed towards “programming, marketing, beautification and economic development.”
The organization has reached “significant organizational, legal and operational milestones,” according to Tufano.
A formal vote was conducted by mail and email, and Special Service Area One property owners approved the organization’s bylaws and its first board of directors, her presentation showed. The board is chaired by Harish Ananthapadmanabhan, who owns several pieces of property in downtown including the historic Hobbs Building.
Transparency is important to the board of directors, said Tufano. Its bylaws include requirements for open public meetings, meeting minutes available to the public, an annual financial review and more, according to a document included with a staff report attached online to the upcoming City Council meeting’s agenda.
The Aurora Downtown District now has “upgraded” branding, Tufano said, as well as a “new and improved” website. Her presentation showed that the group’s website is now capable of event ticket sales, merchandise sales and sponsorship opportunities.
The website showcases videos spotlighting certain businesses, and each business also has its own profile listing what it does along with links to its social media pages and personal websites, according to Tufano.
An executive director has also been hired for the group, she said, who will be responsible for day-to-day operations and organizational leadership. Yahayra Argueta, a bilingual Aurora resident, will be bringing a “strong background” in marketing, sales, event management, community engagement and business support to the role, Tufano’s presentation showed.
The group’s budget for the rest of 2026 is $300,000 — with $100,000 going to marketing, $45,000 to events, $35,000 to programs, $10,000 to legal and the remaining $110,000 to operations, according to the presentation.
Through the proposed agreements, the Aurora Downtown District would be required to submit a budget and various plans to the city each year.
Last October, the Aurora City Council approved the use of $50,000 from Special Service Area One funds, as well as city staff time, to help the new organization get started.
Months before, the city sent a letter to downtown stakeholders proposing the new nonprofit, citing feedback received during downtown-specific town halls held last June. Laesch previously said that, while different opinions were shared at those town halls, broadly people wanted a more democratic process over how downtown tax dollars are spent, more transparent, inclusive leadership and stronger cooperation with the city.
Although the city has made recommendations about how the organization will work, city staff have said, ultimately those decisions were to be made by downtown stakeholders. Many of those recommendations were outlined in the letter the city sent out last year.
For example, it proposed responsibilities that the organization would have, that the city would have and some they would share.
The city, the letter suggested, would be responsible for overseeing the budget, managing databases, board logistics and the legal setup of the organization. The organization would be responsible for day-to-day operations and stakeholder communications as well as marketing and events.
Shared responsibilities would include financial transparency, reporting to stakeholders, strategic planning and support for the board, the letter proposed.
Although the city of Aurora is now supporting this new nonprofit, it previously financially supported Aurora Downtown’s merger with the Aurora Regional Chamber of Commerce, Invest Aurora and the Quad County African American Chamber of Commerce, which collectively became the Aurora Regional Economic Alliance.
The idea, for which the Aurora City Council approved $3 million, was to bring these separate economic organizations under one umbrella to combine their efforts and cut out repeat functions.
But that was before Laesch was elected and sworn in as the city’s new mayor. When he previously sat on the City Council as an alderman at-large, he voted against giving the $3 million to the Alliance.
When the proposal came before the Aurora City Council in October to support the creation of the new downtown organization, it sparked questions about the Alliance. A vote was delayed amid those questions and others about process, but the proposal was later unanimously approved.
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That approval came after a letter from the Alliance to Aurora aldermen saying that, after meetings with Laesch, there was a path forward for a partnership with the city. An earlier letter from the Alliance had outlined several instances of the city not communicating with the organization, despite its efforts.