Development around Denver International Airport could include a golf course, a wildlife viewing area, an aerospace campus, hotels and a business park, according to an early version of a land-use map prepared for the property.

City leaders have long considered the prospects for developing the vast acreage surrounding DIA, and now it appears a plan is finally taking shape, based on the map obtained by The Denver Post.

Known as “airport city,” the 9,419 acres owned by DIA would be part of the larger “aerotropolis,” a new urban design around the airport that Denver Mayor Michael Hancock says is critical for attracting new businesses to the region.

Hancock plans to unveil the complete airport-city plan in late April at the Airport Cities World Conference, an event that is expected to draw more than 700 people from around the globe to Denver. The city last year approved a nearly $1 million contract with a consulting team to come up with a comprehensive land-use plan aimed at increasing commercial development around the airport.

The team, led by MXD Development Strategists Ltd. of Vancouver, British Columbia, identified the airport’s land inventory and the capacity of its utilities. It also is talking with adjacent landowners and local governments, as well as the Colorado Department of Transportation and the Denver Regional Council of Governments.

Other potential uses identified in the preliminary map include an auction site for heavy equipment, automobiles and RVs; an aerospace technical institute; and a free-trade zone.

How long it takes to build it out will be driven by market conditions, and there is no estimate on how many years that will be.

But without a concrete plan and infrastructure in place, the region will have a hard time luring companies to the aerotropolis, Hancock said.

“If a major corporation came to us today, all we could do is show them the area,” Hancock said. “There is a lot of interest in Denver and the region, and we always believe it’s best to be prepared for those opportunities.”

The current land-use map is by no means the finished product, said Kim Day, DIA’s aviation manager.

“It’s just a concept,” Day said. “We’re a long way from having a zoning plan or designation of land uses.”

Hancock said he’ll start talking this spring with DIA’s neighboring communities and landowners about guiding principals and general concepts for the aerotropolis.

He also wants to lead a group of business and media people to Las Colinas, Texas, just east of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, to see a shining example of an aerotropolis. The community is the global headquarters of four Fortune 500 companies and 2,000 other companies, as well as upscale residential, shopping, hotel and recreational complexes.

But one of the biggest challenges will be to keep the stakeholders in the aerotropolis focused on a common plan, according to a report last month by Denver Auditor Dennis Gallagher.

“Cities tend to prioritize their own economic development needs even when those needs are in opposition to the needs of a neighboring city,” according to the report.

There also are significant financial challenges, such as those experienced by Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, which wanted a 15-year, $350 million tax-incentive package to spur construction of warehouses and other freight-related facilities around the airport. Missouri lawmakers stripped about $300 million from the plan, according to Gallagher’s report.

Denver’s aerotropolis area has a population of about 350,000, about the density of suburban New Jersey, according to John Kasarda’s book “Aerotropolis: The Way We’ll Live Next.” It is expected to add jobs at twice the rate of metro Denver and attract another 200,000 residents by 2030.

In addition to DIA’s airport city, the aerotropolis will include the 450-acre Denver International Business Center owned by L.C. Fulenwider Inc. and High Point, an 1,800-acre site owned by LNR Property LLC, where the 1,500-room Gaylord hotel and conference center is proposed.

Both developers want a commuter- rail station near their sites.

While Gaylord would jump-start development in the area, LNR and Fulenwider agree that residential will drive the commercial activity at the aero-tropolis.

To that end, Fulenwider partnered with Shea to develop Reunion, a 3,000-acre master-planned community in Commerce City that is home to about 1,500 families. And there are already 67 homes completed at High Point, and another 10 are under construction.

“Corporate America doesn’t come until they’ve got a place for their workforce to live and be happy,” said Cal Fulenwider, president of the company.

Hancock said noise will not be an issue for residents in the area because the closest homes to the airport will be 3.5 miles away.

LNR has reworked its master plan for High Point to include a retail-and- entertainment district around the proposed commuter-rail station, said Ed Zebrowski, senior vice president at LNR.

“We want to take advantage of this station being the first stop out of DIA,” Zebrowski said. “We’re trying to do more of a destination development within a half-mile of the station that would be more Colorado-centric.”

It’s hard to project how long building out the entire 1,500 acres will take, but Zebrowski said the initial phase of development should be about 500,000 square feet, not including the Gaylord project, and would more than double in the five years after Gaylord is complete.

Fulenwider’s Denver International Business Center designates a hotel park and conference center in the northern section of the park. The area is zoned to accommodate more than 4,000 hotel rooms, as well as office and retail development. There is no timeline for full build-out of the land, which has been in the Fulenwider family for more than 100 years and at one point included 40,000 acres.

The park already has six hotels and two office buildings, including Frontier Airlines’ regional headquarters.

“DIBC is literally the front door of the airport,” Fulenwider said. “We know development is going to happen because we’ve studied other airports.”

Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com