RTD's deal with a developer to build a parking garage and roadways for the FasTracks West Corridor station at the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood has fallen through, a victim of costs rising as talks dragged on.

Talks between Aardex LLC, a Golden-based developer of environmentally friendly projects, and the transit agency went on for most of 2008 before both sides determined higher construction costs along with additional work required for roads serving the new park-n-Ride had made the plan financially unfeasible.

"We essentially came to an agreement that we couldn't come to an agreement," said Bill Sirois, RTD's manager of transit-oriented development.

Under the proposal, the transit agency would have sold to the developer most of the 15 acres it acquired on the west side of the Federal Center and contributed the estimated $11.4 million in the West Corridor budget for the park-n-Ride there.

In exchange, the developer would have built a 1,000-space parking garage, then used the remaining land for commercial development.

"We were in negotiations for quite a long time," Sirois said. "The state of the economy changed over that time."

The talks broke off in September but hadn't been publicly acknowledged, although RTD board members were informed about it in a closed meeting.

RTD later approached the second of four developers that had submitted proposals in November 2007, Cherokee Denver LLC, but has since dropped the idea of a transit-oriented development at the Federal Center station during the light-rail construction phase.

Instead, it will go with its original plan to build the surface lot for opening day in 2012.

"At some point in the future when the market changes, we might solicit somebody to build on that surface lot," Sirois said.

An Aardex spokesman wasn't available for comment.

Lakewood, which wasn't involved in the deal but which had planned for transit-oriented development at the site, believes the decision is the right move in today's economy, City Manager Mike Rock said.

"The economics just didn't make sense at this time," Rock said. "Look at how the retail and financial markets can change in 90 days, let alone the next three years."

Rock said developers may want to gauge the market once light-rail trains are close to operating in three years. "No one wants to get too far out on the ice," he said.

Sirois said the situation might not impact RTD's plans to solicit developers to build parking garages and commercial spaces at the Sheridan and Wadsworth stations, although RTD's use of eminent domain to acquire land at those sites could inhibit the process. There are legal restrictions on how government can use land acquired by condemnation.

flynnk@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5247