September 2012  

The first rental community to be located next to the historic Union Station transit hub has begun construction. To be built by Zocalo Community Development, the 220-unit Cadence Union Station complex will be LEED Gold certified, allowing tenants to spend 50% less than non-LEED certified properties on utility bills, and have amenities such as a pool, lounge area and fitness center on the rooftop, a secure parking garage, and a variety of gathering areas that include a piano and bar in a lobby-level lounge. Rental units will be as small as studios and as large as 2-bedroom apartments, with the average size and monthly rent for the units being 808 SF and $1,600, respectively.

Denver Infill reports that Holland Partner Group is set to begin construction late 2012/early 2013 on their next Denver project: 1650 Wewatta - a 21-story apartment building to be constructed at the corner of 17th and Wewatta, immediately adjacent to the Commuter Rail Train Hall currently under construction behind Union Station. The project represents about one-third of what's called the "A" Block development site at Union Station, an L-shaped parcel located between Wewatta and the historic station from 16th to 17th streets. 1650 Wewatta will anchor the part of the "L" closest to the 17th Street spine of the DUS transit district. Two additional components of the "A" Block, office and hotel projects will eventually complete the parcel. More at:

http://denverinfill.com/blog/2012/10/new-union-station-project-1650-wewatta.html

A recent revision of plans for the Union Station historic building redevelopment by Union Station Alliance has resulted in the hotel receiving preliminary approval from the National Park Service. Reducing the number of hotel rooms at the station by 20 to 110, the approval qualifies the project for eligibility for a federal 20% investment tax credit for historic preservation. More at:

http://unionstationalliance.com/

The Denver Metropolitan Major League Stadium District has announced construction of a new 4-story $13.7 million parking structure to serve Coors Field from 27th and Blake Street. The structure will replace 628 spaces of surface parking which was acquired by RTD for construction of a portion of the East Rail Line of the FasTracks project.

A plan to restore a 19th-century horse barn at the intersection of 33rd and Arapahoe Streets in the Five Points neighborhood is anticipated to be a catalyst for development. Having served the Denver City Railway Co. in its heyday, the renovation will allow it to aid nearby urban farms by linking them to the 30 international-development nonprofits based there, thereby becoming a community center for the burgeoning food-security movement. The Denver Urban Gardens is also to contribute to the development by providing a large commercial kitchen for healthy-cooking demonstrations and nutrition classes; a seasonal farmers market; and a demonstration garden on the empty lot across the street that will provide horticultural training. Owned by the Denver Housing Authority since 1992, the site is also anticipated to benefit from the planned opening of the 23-mile East Corridor commuter line, which is expected to open in 2013 and will have the first stop out of Union Station placed five blocks away from it.

A planned expansion by Ravenbrick is to benefit the Denver-area economy by 80 new jobs. Currently located in an 8,000 SF facility at the intersection of 22nd and Lawrence Streets in downtown Denver, the company will be making the hires by the end of next year upon its expansion to a 40,000 SF facility in order to mass produce its windowpane film product, RavenWindow.

An apartment conversion for the 4-story former office building at 1899 Gaylord is currently underway by The Nichols Partnership LLC. Purchased by the company in 2009 for $2.15 million, the Cruise Apartments are to offer 61 market-rate Class A studio apartments with a bicycle motif. The building was formerly the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute Laboratory which was donated to the University of Denver and later sold to the developer.

The future redevelopment of the former University of Colorado campus at East 9th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard took another turn when Wal-Mart announced that it would not participate in the project. Originally planned to be the major anchor for the project, their participation in the redevelopment was not welcomed by neighbors of the site, and it became clear that tax-increment financing would not be made available by the City if it was included in the project. Developer Jeff Fuqua is now seeking suitable alternatives for the site.

In the Denver Business Journal, Dennis Huspeni reports, "Construction on Denver's first Trader Joe's at East Eighth Avenue and Colorado Boulevard hasn't even started yet and the new store is already having an impact on the area - namely, raising the price of real estate. How else would you explain the sale of a nearby 35-year-old, 4,150-square-foot building for $330 a square foot? The Diag Partnership sold the building at 745 Colorado Boulevard. which currently houses a Chipotle restaurant, and the land to an entity called 745 Colorado Blvd LLC for $1.37 million, according to Kevin Matthews of Sperry Van Ness, who brokered the off-market deal." According to Matthews, "It was an all-cash deal, a 30-day close with good terms and I was able to convince them to sell to my guy rather than going through the pain of going to market. The news of Trader Joe's moving in across the street drove up the asking price."

Huspeni also reports that the Coors Foundation plans to break ground in early 2013 on a 27,000-square-foot office/retail building that will house its headquarters at Second Avenue and St. Paul Street, said David Wells, development manager with Wells Springs Inc. of Denver.

BMC Investments this month bought a site at East First Avenue and Steele Street, with plans to erect a 12-story luxury apartment complex on the southeast corner. Since the site already is zoned for that use, the company plans to break ground in 2013. "Obviously, we're very very bullish on Cherry Creek," said Matt Joblon, managing partner at BMC. "It's got incredible potential."

Zocalo Community Development Inc. has a site on the northeast corner of East First Avenue and Steele Street under contract and has proposed a mixed-use apartment building project, said David Zucker, development manager.

Western Development Group this year unveiled plans for an eight-story, office/luxury condominium project called 250 Columbine. Plans cleared the City of Denver's Planning Board recently.

The Pauls Corp. is close to announcing pre-leased tenants for its 100 St. Paul Street project, an eight-story building with retail and office space, said Pauls' Andrew Sturno, director of leasing. It will be the new home of a FirstBank branch.

The much-anticipated third Colorado H&M store opened recently at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center. The center also announced that the following businesses would be open there by the end of the year: clothing stores True Religion Brand Jeans, Buckle, Madewell; Omega, a watch store; and Fresh and Healthy Café. That's coupled with a retail vacancy rate in Cherry Creek North that dropped from 14 percent in 2009 to just below 7 percent in Q3 of 2012, according to the BID. "So far this year, we've had twice as many businesses that have opened than closed or moved," said Julie Underdahl (formerly Julie Bender), president and CEO of the BID.

Newmark Knight Frank Frederick Ross' Susan Karsh, managing director, said she's signed 15 deals in the area in the last year. "The majority of those are new tenants which have come to the area for the first time," Karsh said. There's 1,053,174 square feet of retail space in the Cherry Creek North district, according to Newmark. There's been no increase in that square footage since 2008, said Mike Blake, the BID marketing director. Karsh and Underdahl agreed there are very few "premium" street-level retail spaces available, especially near the Fillmore Plaza. The BID's $18.5 million upgrades to the streetscape there were completed in 2011, which helped draw tenants such as Lululemon Athletica at 158 Fillmore St., Underdahl said.

The burst of proposed development there is a natural outgrowth of that success, Underdahl said. "There's a strong demand for multifamily residential projects in an urban location. Much like the concentration around Denver Union Station, you're seeing that interest now in the Cherry Creek area." "This is the most high-end submarket in Colorado," Joblon said. "It all fundamentally comes back to supply and demand. There's now significant demand for high-end office, apartments and retailers here."

Western Development partner David Steel said pent-up development demand for the area is starting to break loose. "This area has some of the best demographics in the whole metroplex. Things have picked up. We're very pleased with what's been going on the retail side, which is helping these developments along." And the recently approved area plan should provide a framework for the area's rezoning. It wasn't included when the City of Denver implemented form-based zoning changes in 2010. "That lays the groundwork for redevelopment and reinvestment in the district," Underdahl said. "There's been no significant redevelopment for a number of years. It's almost trying to catch up with the market now."

Brian Klipp, architect presented to the Cherry Creek Steering Committee a development proposed to replace the former US Post Office building at 245 Columbine Street. Developer's Brent Farber and Jim Sullivan propose a 7-story building with retail on the ground floor, offices above and residences on the top level. The team will also present to the Cherry Creek North Neighborhood Association on November 13th. A zone map amendment has been submitted to the City of Denver apparently consistent with the Cherry Creek Area Plan approved recently.

ReyLenn Properties is to build an upscale apartment complex adjacent to prominent condo complex Kentucky Ridge on the Cherry Creek Corporate Center site between Birch and Cherry Streets south of Cherry Creek Drive South in Glendale. To total nearly 400 units when it is completed in two years, the project is to offer units ranging from studio to 3-bedroom with unit sizes ranging from 572 to 1,335 SF. Major amenities slated for the project include a resort-style pool, clubhouse with indoor/outdoor kitchen, cyber lounge, and a professional fitness center.

The Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle reports that the City of Glendale is acquiring the 2.7-acre site of Spanish Gate Apartments that was the location of a deadly fire in December 2003. Spanish Gate had two five-story apartment buildings on the site. The burned building was demolished shortly after the fire, but the companion building has stood empty and abandoned since the fire. Glendale Deputy City Manager Chuck Line said. "As part of a complex redevelopment deal with DPC Development Company (DPC) the abandoned building will be taken down and the site made into parking for nearby Infinity Park."

DPC owns approximately 27 acres between Cherry Creek Drive South and Kentucky Avenue called the Cherry Creek Corporate Center (Corporate Center) which includes the old MCI corporate campus, the State Health Department office building and the former Stearns-Roger building. DPC sold five acres of what was surface parking for the existing office buildings to ReyLenn Properties LLC who intends to build the 400-unit high-end apartment complex on the site. To make up for the lost parking DPC will build a parking garage on a portion of the remaining land. As part of city approval for the transaction and related tax breaks, DPC bought the Spanish Gate site, agreed to demolish the abandoned building and build a paved parking lot which will be conveyed to the City of Glendale.

Denver Public Works, in coordination with the City of Aurora, is partnering with the Regional Transportation District (RTD) and the Denver Regional County of Governments (DRCOG) to conduct the 18-month, $3 million Colfax Corridor Connections Study. The study, mostly funded by a grant from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), will identify the best long-term transit and multimodal solutions to improve overall mobility in the East Colfax corridor. The project will incorporate FTA livability principles throughout the study. More information is available at:

www.ColfaxCorridorConnections.com

The is a project that will study mobility needs and identify transit and other multimodal improvements, including bicycle, pedestrian and vehicular, within the East Colfax travel corridor. The corridor is roughly bounded by I-25 and I-225 to the west and east, respectively, and by 12th Avenue and 20th Avenue on the south and north. The goal of the project is to improve transit and overall mobility within the corridor now and over the next 25 years.

The findings of recent City and County of Denver transportation planning efforts determined that additional capacity is needed in the East Colfax corridor now and in the future. As a result, this study, Colfax Corridor Connections was initiated in June 2012 and is expected to be completed in November 2013. Throughout the project, the City and its partners will seek public input to help identify the solutions that will meet the transit and mobility needs of communities that live, work and travel in the corridor.

The City and County of Denver (CCD) and the Regional Transportation District (RTD) have received a Senate Bill 1 grant for a capital project to reduce travel time and increase security and ridership for RTD's Routes 15/15Ltd also along East Colfax Avenue. The project area covers a one-block buffer of East Colfax Avenue from Broadway to Yosemite. The Colfax Avenue/RTD Route 15Ltd Transit Priority Corridor project is intended to be a pilot program using innovative technologies and other capital improvements to enhance ridership and performance of the routes and to enhance the security, safety and amenities attendant to this service and streetscape. Objectives for this project are:

* Reduce bus travel time, thereby reducing transit passengers' travel time.
* Reduce the variability of bus travel time, thereby improving schedule reliability.
* Use transit cost savings to offset costs to improve bus services.
* Facilitate improved security, amenities and efficient boarding for passengers.
* Integrate transit stop facilities into the adjacent urban form.
* Maintain or enhance general and cross-street traffic flow to reduce travel time, congestion, air pollution and fuel use.

Phase 1 will determine what improvements to make, Phase 2 will be engineering and design followed by implementation. The SB-1 Strategic Transit Program Grant funding totals $3,975,000 with a local share of 5% each from CCD and RTD.

Denver City Council Member Jeanne Robb reports that several bills and rezonings will be of interest to District 10 neighborhoods. If you cannot attend a meeting but are interested in streaming a presentation and discussion, you can go to:

www.denvergov.org/citycouncil

and click on "Meetings, Agendas, and Minutes" where you can find the meeting by date. Council Members Albus Brooks and Robb worked with Kelly Leid and Community Planning and Development to revamp and strengthen Denver's ordinance for dealing with neglected and derelict buildings. Many Denver neighborhoods suffer the ill effects of ongoing vacant, neglected and/or derelict buildings.

Robb says, "District 10 currently has 7 such properties (fewer than most other council districts), but those we have dealt with informed me that our ordinance was unclear and hard to enforce. Constituents who have called my office about a couple of properties in Cherry Creek and a property in the Seventh Avenue Historic District taught me how frustrating the problem can be. Owners ignored fines and are hard to find, a formal list of properties was not being kept and owners were not being charged for being on the list as specified in the ordinance. The new ordinance clears up the procedure and helps us get properties on the list sooner. Previously, if a property were in violation of a state or city law on 3 separate occasions within a one year period, it was supposed to be on the list. However, given the Neighborhood Inspections process and warnings, few neglected buildings with un-mowed lawns or un-shoveled sidewalks rarely had 3 violations in a year. Now a property will be on the list if it's gets 3 violations within 2 years.

On Oct. 9, more than 200 people gathered in Skyline Park to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 16th Street Mall. Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, U.S. Senator Mark Udall joined RTD Director Bill James, the Downtown Denver Partnership (DDP), the Downtown Denver Business Improvement District (BID) and the public for a ceremony including a flash dance mob. A little history of the 16th Street Mall:

16th Street was previously open to all vehicular traffic and was very congested, often taking thirty minutes to drive one mile. In 1971, Downtown Denver Inc. - an extension of the DDP - partnered with the City of Denver's Planning Office on a study that delved into a 1963 proposal from the American Institute of Architects, which suggested turning 13 blocks between Broadway and Market Street into a pedestrian and transit mall. In 1976, a master plan was developed to reduce congestion along 16th and 17th streets. RTD led the funding efforts, initiated the urban design and traffic engineering studies, secured a $76 million dollar federal grant and provided the local match.

The Mall opened from Market Street to Broadway on Oct. 4, 1982 with a celebratory parade and more than 200,000 visitors. In 1992, it was extended from Blake Street across the Amtrak railroad tracks to the Shuttle bus turnaround between Wynkoop and Wewatta streets. In 2011, it was extended four blocks through the redeveloping former rail yards of the Central Platte Valley to connect with the new RTD light rail station.

Today, Denver, RTD, DDP and BID continue to explore funding sources at the local, state and federal levels to rehabilitate and restore the Mall. The 16th Street Mall Reconstruction Project is a $65 million initiative. RTD, the City and the DDP were recently granted $8 million from the Federal Transit Administration which together with local match will fund reconstruction of some 3 blocks of the 16th Street Mall. $55 million in funds must still be raised to complete the work.

The 16th Street FreeMallRide carries almost 50,000 weekday boardings and keeps almost 900 bus trips from having to cross through downtown. When the mall opened in 1982, RTD needed a fleet of 19 mall shuttle buses for passenger service on the mall. Today, the fleet is double in size: 38 mall shuttle buses now service the mall. The current mall buses are the first hybrid electric buses that have been in continuous passenger service since 2000. The mall shuttles open their passenger doors while in service almost half a million times a year. The mall buses are restricted in speed to a mere 15 MPH maximum on the mall.

In other parts of the metro area, with the RTD Board's approval of the I-225 Rail Line contract award to Kiewit and an additional $15 million for the US 36 Bus Rapid Transit project to complete the express lanes to Table Mesa, RTD now has 81 miles of rail and bus rapid transit under construction or soon to begin construction. SEMA Construction is building the I-225 Rail Line segment from Nine Mile Station to East Iliff Avenue. Kiewit Infrastructure Co. will build the segment from Iliff through Fitzsimons to Peoria/Smith Station by November 2015. The I-225 Rail Line will open in mid-2016 after six months of testing. The East Line of FasTracks from Union Station to DIA will open in early 2016.

RTD has also outlined a projects list and schedule for the whole FasTracks program as part of the Denver Regional Council of Governments' Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). RTD, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and all the cities and counties in the region must identify the transportation projects that can be complete within the 2035 plan to keep the region on track to receive federal funding. RTD's current snapshot of FasTracks reflects projects that can be complete by 2035 based on their ability to leverage public-private funds or federal grants.

If you have been to Denver International Airport (DIA) recently you have seen some of the construction of the East Rail Line including eight bridges. Denver city staff has announced that they have chosen the Fulenwider site for an additional station on the East Rail Line on Pena Boulevard and East 61st Avenue, between I-70 and DIA. If Denver and the developer secure the funding necessary to add the station, the site will provide additional access to DIA from the north area on Tower Road. Mixed-use development (retail, restaurants, residential) is planned for the site. Denver chose this site over 72nd Avenue east of Tower Road, where a convention center and hotel had been proposed by Gaylord but is currently on hold.

RTD has an agreement with DIA allowing the airport to select and fund up to two new stations with third parties paying for the building of new stations while RTD covers the added operating and maintenance costs. Denver Transit Partners (DTP), long-term concessionaire for the East Rail Line, has estimated that the additional station will add two minutes to the original 35-minute travel time between downtown and DIA.

RTD and DTP have been working closely with DIA for about nine months to incorporate the additional work necessary for the addition of this station, including financing from Denver. The work includes adding 5,600 feet of a second track to the planned single-track section on the line. Although the new station comes late in project development, RTD and DTP have been able to allow DIA and Denver to work through their process. The additional station should not delay plans to open the line on time in 2016. For virtual tour of the East Rail Line go to:

http://www.rtd-fastracks.com/ec_1


For an animation that tours the new DIA South Terminal hotel and train station go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s05iuR5viZk&feature=youtu.be

RTD has been awarded a Transportation Innovators Champion of Change award for its Eagle P3 project and Workforce Initiative Now (WIN) program. RTD General Manager Phil Washington accepted the award on behalf of the agency during a ceremony with White House and US Department of Transportation officials this past Tuesday in Washington, D.C. This award is presented to organizations that have provided exemplary leadership in the growth and expansion of the transportation industry and have developed innovative ways to help their community.

RTD's Eagle P3 project and WIN program have resulted in the largest transit public-private partnership in the country that includes a unique workforce development program embedded in the project. "This award demonstrates again how FasTracks and our WIN Program are creating jobs for all levels of experienced and inexperienced workers through our comprehensive partnership that provides meaningful training opportunities," said Phil Washington. WIN is a collaborative partnership led by RTD, in coordination with the Community College of Denver, Denver Transit Partners and the Urban League of Metro Denver. WIN seeks to meet hiring and training needs of local employers and create opportunities for residents to attain and retain living wage careers in the transit and construction industries.

RTD General Manager Phil Washington is also the 2012 Power Book winner for construction and engineering. The Denver Business Journal's (DBJ) Power Book recognizes the top leaders in Colorado by category. "It's pretty impressive from where we started or even three years ago. We're moving along. I think people are going to wake up one day and see that it's all done," said General Manager Washington. The "Power Book is an exclusive look at business leaders in 14 industry categories who made news in the last year or who, in the DBJ's editorial department's judgment, otherwise deserve recognition for their most recent business accomplishments.