The 13th Annual Cherry Creek Rotary Open Golf Tournament will be at the Golf Club at Bear Dance this year on Thursday, July 23rd.  The Denver Cherry Creek Rotary Club is one of the most productive in the region and the golf tournament is always a great time. If you haven't played Bear Dance give it a try and support a good cause.  More at http://www.cherrycreekrotary.org/GolfTournament2009.htm

 

The Denver Housing Authority has announced that it will redevelop the South Lincoln Park residential complex at West 10th Avenue and Osage Street beginning next year. To be constructed  under the direction of architecture and planning firm Mithun of Seattle, the redevelopment plans include demolishing the current 270-unit complex and replacing it with 1,200 new units.

 

The Colorado State Land Board recently purchased the 25,000 SF office building at 1127 Sherman Street for $4.68 million ($187/SF). The building was located on a 9,700 SF site that was owned by the Land Board.
 

Zocalo Community Development Inc. announced it will begin construction on the Solera apartment tower near the Ballpark Neighborhood of downtown Denver at 1956 Lawrence Street.  The building will be the second condo development in the Rocky Mountain West to be designated with a LEED rating by the U.S. Green Building Council. The 120-unit, 11-story building will include 5,200 SF of retail space on the ground floor and structured parking.
J.P. Morgan Asset Management sold the 666,653 SF 17th Street Plaza office building at 1225 17th Street in downtown Denver to HRPT Properties Trust.  The buyer paid $134.25 million or $201/SF.

 

The inability to secure financing for a residential development in a former Safeway building at East Colfax Avenue/Josephine Street has prompted developer Charlie Woolley of the St. Charles Town Co. and partner Allied Realty to abandon those plans in favor of placing a retail development on the site. Currently in talks with both Sunflower Farmers Market of Sprouts Farmers Market to serve as the primary anchor, both stores have responded positively to the idea of locating at the site, noting that its location near East High School benefits from proper demographics, traffic and population density.  Separately, St. Charles Town Company also recently acquired the former Colorado Free University Building at the NEC East Colfax/York Street.  CFU has consolidated its operations in the former firehouse building at the Lowry Redevelopment.

 

A study conducted by the Genesis Group of the residential market in the Lowry Redevelopment neighborhood of Denver found the area to have a higher appreciation rate than comparable neighborhoods and of Denver County as a whole. According to the study, the Lowry market recorded an annual appreciation rate of 7.2% for single-family homes and 5.4% for condos in the period of 2000 to 2008, while the similar neighborhoods of Cherry Creek, Congress Park, Hilltop, Montclair, Stapleton and Washington Park recorded rates in the same period of 6.0% for homes and 3.5% for condos.  The average rates for the City and County of Denver were found to be 1.8% for homes and 2.4% for condos.
 

 

The Cherry Creek Steering Committee's interest in making East 1st Avenue between Steele Street and Colorado Boulevard more pedestrian friendly was expanded when a couple of pedestrian fatalities took place there a couple of years ago.  Now the City of Denver has allocated $75,000 for a study of the potential redesign of the streetscape in conjunction with the Living Streets Initiative of Denver Community Planning and Development.  The study could result in some changes to the Cherry Creek Neighborhood Plan and a pilot project of the Living Streets Initiative.

 

Tony's Market has opened its first location in central Denver in the 15,000 SF former Planned Parenthood building at 950 Broadway.

 

The Cherry Cricket at 2641 East 2nd Avenue in Cherry Creek North is expanding.  The restaurant and bar will add 39 seats indoors and 61 seats outdoors in the space formerly occupied by FastFrame next door.  FastFrame has moved north to a space in the new retail/office/residential building recently built by architect Jonathan Saiber at 255 Clayton.  According to the Denver Business Journal, the Cricket opened originally in 1945 in the then owner's house on the site of what is now Clayton Lane.  In the 1960s the restaurant was bought by Bernard Duffy who also owned Duffy's Shamrock on Court Place downtown. Later the restaurant was purchased by its current owner, a partnership in which Denver Mayor Hickenlooper had an interest until he sold it in 2007.

 

The Denver City Council declined to designate two buildings on the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center as historic landmarks that would have inhibited redevelopment of the campus. The John F. Kennedy Development Center at 4399 East 8th Avenue was built in 1968, and the Children's Psychiatric Day Care Center at 4301 East 8th Avenue was built in 1962.  Shea Properties, the redeveloper of the campus and interested neighbors asked the council not to designate the buildings and prevent demolition.  Preservationists said the buildings designed by Edward White and Victor Hornbein are noteworthy examples of the Usonian architectural style of Frank Lloyd Wright. The developer had previously agreed to preserve the Nurse's Dormitory building and an outdoor quadrangle on the campus. Shea Properties plans to redevelop the campus as a multifamily residential complex with retail, hotel and entertainment uses as well.

 

The planned redevelopment of Union Station into a hub for the FasTracks transportation system is now the focus of a lawsuit by the Colorado Passenger Rail Association. The association contends that the redevelopment design proposed for the station will create more distance for passengers to access the bays for the 16th Street Mall shuttle and local and regional buses.  And they contend that the planned depth of the bus bays will create difficulty if they are to be expanded in the future and increase their cost of operation.
 

 

Denver Public Schools is considering selling three of its facilities including two in the Cherry Creek area - Gove Middle School at 14th/Colorado Boulevard and Byers Middle School at 150 South Pearl Street. DPS is responding to an oversupply of facilities and a study conducted by the Urban Land Institute. Gove was closed in 2005 and Byers in 1999.  Residents near Byers hope for conversion of the building to condominiums or commercial use. Nearby National Jewish Health has expressed interest in the Gove property and local residents hope it may become a much needed recreation center.

 

Houston's Restaurant has opened at the NWC East 3rd Avenue/Josephine Street.  The site was purchased a couple of years ago by the Hillstone Restaurant Group and the 3-story dental building was removed and replaced by the recently completed restaurant.  Hillstone also operates the Cherry Creek Grille at East 2nd Avenue/Steele Street.