Daniel R. Guimond, a senior member of the Denver Planning Board,is heading the operation for Economic & Planning Systems. "Mostreal estate economic firms will tell whether your idea is feasiblein the marketplace," says Guimond. "We help shape the moreambitious ideas, such as redeveloping dead malls and creatingaffordable housing."The firm has expertise in public finance, realestate economics and land use policy. EPS, founded in 1983 in theBay area, has offices in Berkeley and Sacramento.

The consultants are working with Continuum Partners to redevelopthe failing Villa Italia Mall in Lakewood and the Denver RegionalCouncil of Governments to create an urban Centers Pilot Project todetermine the type of development best suited for light rail hubs.In Roaring Fork Valley, Economic & Planning Systems iscoordinating the Aspen-to-Glenwood Springs rail project, workingwith seven jurisdictions on funding venues.

The firm also is acting in an advisory capacity on theconversion of the former Fitzsimons Army Medical Center into a newcampus for the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center andthe affiliated Colorado Bioscience Research Park. The teampreviously had worked with Acadia Development to determine landprices for a 27-acre Holiday Drive-In project in Boulder. A priorStapleton project had involved developing the "Green Book," aplanning guide for the largest infill project in the US.