Frisco officials are hopeful that reaching back out to the development community could finally provide an answer for the long-vacant Sabatini lot on Granite Street.

Town officials discussed different options for the lot during a virtual Frisco Town Council meeting last week and ultimately decided to push out a request for proposals in search of a new housing development on the parcel.

The Sabatini lot is a half-block plot between Second and Third avenues at 275 Granite St., which has remained vacant since the town purchased the land in 1997. Last year, local developer Nathan Glassman pitched the town on a potential public-private partnership that would combine the town-owned Sabatini lot with the adjacent property to create a larger-scale housing project at the site.

The concept of a joint development on the Sabatini-Glassman lot was pursued at length, including a pair of open house meetings earlier this year to gather community input on the project. But after more than a year of planning and negotiations with no deal in place, town officials said it’s time to look elsewhere.

“I feel like we’re at the point where hearing other ideas and seeing other options is probably the best next step,” Mayor Hunter Mortensen said. “Whatever we decide and wherever we go with this, it will have a lasting effect. We have to make sure it’s done really well and right. I think I said that years and years ago when it seems like these conversations first started, but it’s an extremely important piece of property that we’re entrusted to make decisions about.”

Glassman couldn’t be reached for comment.

Frisco’s Community Development Director Don Reimer led officials through their options with the lot, which included selling it outright or continuing to use it for parking and snow storage among other alternatives, but council members voiced a strong desire to pursue another housing project on the site.

It remains to be seen what a potential development could look like, but council members did reach a consensus around prioritizing rentals.

“If we just let the market do its thing, we’ll get more for-sale units, and we’re going to be in the same dang problem as we are today,” council member Jessica Burley said. “Frankly, I think we need rentals. It’s tough, but 60% (area median income) is where we desperately need it.”

Frisco’s Communications Director Vanessa Agee said the town is expecting to issue the request for proposals for design and development work on the lot by mid-January.

On Friday, Dec. 18, Frisco is set to unveil responses to a request for proposals on another housing project proposed at 619 Granite St. in partnership with the Colorado Department of Transportation. As conversations regarding housing and full-time residency in town continue, council members have expressed a desire to dive into deeper discussions about other town-owned properties on Granite Street that could be redeveloped for housing, including plots adjacent to the Frisco Historic Park & Museum and Old Community Center.