To the delight of some major employers who worry about the lack of workforce housing, the Boulder Planning Board on Thursday night approved a $50 million mixed-use development in the heart of Gunbarrel.

The board voted to allow The Wolff Co. — an Arizona-based investment firm — to move ahead with longtime plans for “Gunbarrel Center.”

The project, which could still be called up by the City Council before the deal is final, is planned to sit on more than 9 acres of land just east of King Soopers at Lookout Road and Gunpark Drive. It would include 251 residential units and 50,000 square feet of commercial space.

Developer Peter Wolff and The O’Connor Group, a Boulder-based real estate development firm, have been working to develop the site for more than a year, but other companies have tried to develop the site since the early 2000s.

An early concept plan for the site was withdrawn in 2003 after neighbors raised concerns about increased traffic and proposed four-story buildings blocking views of the Flatirons.

Wolff brought a revised concept plan to the Planning Board in March that reduced to three stories the height of the buildings and included retail space on the first level with market-rate apartments above.

“We think we’ve done a great job of addressing those important issues,” Wolff said.

But the board didn’t like the bland nature of the three-story design and approved a variance allowing the developer to add up to 3 more feet of height to the buildings to vary the level of the roofs. The board included several other conditions that the developer will have to meet.

“We want the best project possible,” board member Andrew Shoemaker said.

The plan calls for 22,000 square feet of new retail space. An existing 28,000-square-foot office building would remain on the north side of the property. The developer plans to provide Eco Passes for tenants for three years and move an existing wetland from the center of the property.

Board member Mary Young said the project is, overall, a “huge improvement over what we saw last year.”

The city of Boulder stands to take in about $4 million in fees from the development, according to Wolff.

The developer said the project could actually end up improving traffic in Gunbarrel — which sees 93 percent of its daily traffic from non-residents — by providing housing for workers who now commute to the area.

“Our Gunbarrel Center directly targets those employees,” Wolff said.

Several major employers in the Gunbarrel area support the development for exactly that reason.

Adam Avery, president of Avery Brewing, wrote in a recent letter to city officials that the project “creates high quality housing options for our employees who will be working at our new Gunbarrel brewing operations.”

“Gunbarrel is a diamond in the rough that has the potential to be a showpiece for Boulder,” Avery wrote.

Jennifer and Aaron Kennedy, founders of Noodles & Co., voiced their support in another letter.

“While Gunbarrel has always been an exciting place professionally, it has lacked a central retail, dining and residential nucleus around which a true sense of community can be formed,” they wrote.

Officials from Spectra, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, American Recreation Products, Vinelife Church and other organizations also sent letters of support. A common theme in the letters was the need for additional housing in the Gunbarrel area.

Residents in support of the project also set up a website, gunbarrelcenter.org, which contains a petition and information about the development.

“We are at long last pleased with the current proposal,” Mary Althauser, who lives in Gunbarrel Estates, told the board Thursday.

Paul Caldara, a 20-year Gunbarrel resident, said the development would be a boon for “a community that’s in the process of defining itself.”

But some residents continue to oppose the project.

Nigel Zeid was among several residents who wrote the city letters opposing the development. He said he doesn’t want to see any more development in the area.

“I do not want to be a ‘town center’ and I am going to fight this development tooth and nail,” he wrote.

Contact Camera Staff Writer Heath Urie at 303-473-1328 or urieh@dailycamera.com.