Florentine Renaissance In Aurora, Colorado

Next month, the first tenants will move into Florence Square, a $33 million mixed-use development on Colfax Avenue, Aurora's original main street. Postwar expansion of the city and new shopping malls left the area languishing, and "Colfax" became synonymous with crime and decay. "Decades of doldrums" are now being reversed with an "artistic revival", demonstrating how inner suburbs can be revitalized by the arts - just as Florence was during the Italian Renaissance.