James Real Estate Services - Cherry Creek Perspective

 

 

Kenney Architechts

 

 

 

 

Newmark, Knight and Frank - Frederick Ross

 

 

Fidelity National Title Company
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Black Lable Real Estate 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October-November 2013   

 

RTD's FasTracks team has recommended approval of a proposal to build out the North Metro Rail Line to 124th Avenue in Thornton, the RTD Board of Directors will open the process to public comment before making its final decision Nov. 26. FasTracks staff recommended that RTD move forward with a proposal from Graham, Balfour Beatty, Hamon Constructors (GBBH) to design and build the North Metro Rail Line. GBBH's proposal called for building out the line to 162nd Avenue, but RTD staff recommend that the company complete the first phase of the project to 124th Avenue by 2018 with funding that is currently available.   More at:

 

http://www.rtd-fastracks.com/nm_2

 

RTD's newest bus service, the Free MetroRide, will debut in downtown Denver next spring. This free bus service will complement the Free MallRide, and will provide passenger service between Union Station and Civic Center Station along 18th and 19th streets during rush hours. The 60-foot articulated buses will feature low floors and three doors for quick passenger loading and unloading. A bright, modern design will enable passengers to easily identify the buses and bus stops, and set them apart from other RTD bus routes.  The free MetroRide buses will start operating May 9, 2014, MetroRide buses will stop every two or three blocks along the route instead of every block like the MallRide. 

 

The Regional Transportation District (RTD) took top honors at the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) annual meeting where RTD General Manager Phil Washington was named Outstanding Public Transportation Manager. RTD also won the Grand Prize Award for the Social Media category. The awards were presented at the APTA Annual Meeting in Chicago. 

 

Denver City Council member Robin Kniech provides the following update of the former CU Health Sciences Center at 9th/Colorado Boulvard.  The 33 acre site has been vacant since CU moved to the new Fitzsimmons campus in Aurora, with an additional 4 acres likely to be added.  Three different development teams have come and gone, but the first phase is finally underway with a 6.75 acre sale to the Lionstone Group for the construction of 325 market-rate apartments in the southeast section of the site.  In July, City Council approved an Urban Renewal Area and an initial $2.4 million property tax increment finance reimbursement for demolition, abatement and infrastructure costs associated with Phase I.

Public meetings are held approximately once each month by the Colorado Boulevard Health Care District, which brings together the institutions and neighborhoods that surround the site.

 

Tax Increment Financing (TIF) was only approved for Phase I of the project, additional Council approval would be required for the use of TIF on any future phases of the project.

 

1) At the time the Phase I TIF was approved, Council comments included a strong desire to see a comprehensive redevelopment of the remaining portion of the site, rather than a piece-by-piece approach, in order to achieve a unified vision for the site.

 

2) Several Council Members also pointed to mixed-income housing in the vision and planning documents for the site, and asked that mixed income housing be incorporated in future phases since the first phase would build only market-rate housing.

 

3) One of the biggest challenges the site has faced is finding anchor retail tenants who are willing to build to the urban design standards adopted for the site and can generate the sales tax necessary to fund the remaining infrastructure needed on the site such as reintroducing much of the street grid.  Balancing the need for retail with the desire for a mixed-use neighborhood with new residential housing will continue to be a significant discussion as the University, Denver, and DURA discuss the next phase of the project.  

 

Denver City Council Member Jeanne Robb reports that the University hopes to be able to announce the new buyer by before Thanksgiving and is working with the Romani Group and an evaluation committee which will recommend which firm should be selected as the buyer for the former campus.  The evaluation committee includes Tracy Huggins of the Denver Urban Renewal Authority, (DURA), Diane Barrett from the Denver Mayor's Office, Lilly Marks, University of Colorado Vice President and Executive Vice Chancellor for the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Steve Zweck-Bronner, legal counsel for the University of Colorado Denver and Ray Baker, president of Gold Crown Management.  The committee's goal is to seek a developer who is best able to ultimately close on the sale and whose proposal can best meet the needs of the University and the City of Denver.

 

http://www.ucdenver.edu/about/newsroom/newsreleases/topics/9thandColorado/Pages/default.aspx

 

Denver City Council Member Mary Beth Susman  reports that the Lowry Redevelopment Authority is working on the zoning application for Boulevard One, grading has begun and demolition of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service Center continues.   Approximately 130,000 cubic yards of soil is being graded, stockpiled, and used to fill the hole left by the former DFASC building. Five new streets will connect to 1st Avenue; and the 1st Avenue berm will be removed to make way for the new streets. Many of the existing trees will be preserved or transplanted within the Boulevard One site.  The trees that were recently removed were diseased and not viable to be preserved or transplanted.

  

Council Member Robb also reports that over 75 people attended recently attended a Cherry Creek Land Use and Transportation Forum in Cherry Creek.   Public Works Manager Jose Cornejos and Community Planning and Development Manager Rocky Piro attended.  The meeting was part of an ongoing discussion for the future of Cherry Creek's North's business district and an effort to connect transportation questions and concerns to the discussions of the Cherry Creek Zoning Task Force. The event presented the 1st and Steele Intersection Study, proposed storm water improvements, concrete repaving of University from 1st Ave to 6th Ave, the city's parking and traffic conditions inventory completed earlier this year, the CCNNA Cumulative Traffic Study, the RTD corridor transit study for Union Station, Cherry Creek & Glendale and Bike Denver and Cherry Creek Plan bike route proposals.  The City has received funding from DRCOG for a mobility study of the Leetsdale/Alameda/Steele/First Ave/Speer Corridor.  This study, which will begin in 2014, will lay the groundwork for priority transit along the corridor.

 

Roundtable discussions focused on reducing cut-through traffic in the neighborhoods, the need for more information and way-finding on parking in the business district, a strategy for transit, better pedestrian crossings particularly along East First Ave east of Steele, the need for adequate parking in new developments, and the desire for a BIG idea for Cherry Creek.  In a clicker straw poll, participants voted for their top three transportation improvements in Cherry Creek.

 

24% - Improvements to East 1st Avenue between Steele and Colorado

22% - Study of transit opportunities to connect Cherry Creek to regional hubs

14% - Residential neighborhood traffic calming received

11% - More information on parking in the business district

10% - Improving bike and pedestrian improvements

10% - Improvements to existing bus service -10%. 

 

Transportation Solutions offered an opportunity this summer for people living or working along the 1st Avenue/Speer/Leetsdale Corridor to try transit as part of its SmartMoves Along Leetsdale-Parker campaign. The outreach program signed up over 1,000 people during August and September who took a survey about their commuting behavior and received a ten ticket book of RTD passes in exchange, particularly to try the 83L bus that serves the corridor.  The corridor campaign was funded with a competitive federal air quality grant, and aimed to reduce car traffic along this congested corridor, specifically during Denver's summer ozone season.

 

RTD's feasibility study of the demand for future transit service along the southeast corridor from Denver Union Station to Cherry Creek and Glendale is nearly complete including meetings with more than a dozen the study's stakeholders, including representatives from Glendale, Visit Denver, the Cherry Creek Shopping Center, Cherry Creek North, the Downtown Denver Partnership, hotel interests and Golden Triangle neighborhood and business leaders.  Transportation Solutions worked with the study staff to gather information on projected travel demand in the corridor and potential alternatives options for meeting the demand. A draft of the study will be available shortly and it is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2013. The lead study consultant is Transportation Management & Design (TMD) of Carlsbad, California (www.tmdinc.net), which serves as RTD's ongoing General Planning and Operations Consultant. As part of the study, Transportation Solutions has prepared a background white paper on the potential demand for increased connectivity in the corridor available at:

 

http://www.transolutions.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Denver-Union-Station_Cherry-Creek_Glendale_Corridor_White-Paper-1.pdf

 

Denver Community Planning and Development reports that the Technical Task Force working to recommend new zoning for Cherry Creek continues to make great progress. The all-volunteer group of residents, business owners, design professionals and other stakeholders has devoted many hours to the project and has achieved consensus on about two dozen specific zoning topics.  There is much more yet to do. At its next meeting, the Technical Task Force will review working drafts of the zoning code and zoning map, and will discuss new topics. The project has stayed on schedule, and a complete draft is expected to be available for public review in late Spring 2014.  Task force meetings are open to the public.  More at:

 

http://DenverGov.org/CherryCreek

 

Next Technical Task Force meeting

December 17, 2013

5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

299 Milwaukee St., basement conference room

 

The Cherry Creek North Neighborhood Association reports that on the CCNNA website is a link to the Business Improvement District Cumulative Traffic Study which forecasts BID building growth and its associated traffic and parking over the next 10 and 20+ years.  Eight intersections were evaluated as to their future traffic impact from development. According to CCNNA, "The study is a simple forecasting model or planning tool that uses actual data and some growth assumptions that can be easily modified to reflect changing zoning and market conditions.  Traffic and parking estimations are based upon development growth projections and use existing codes and national standards. As with all forecasting, the tool cannot predict what will actually happen in the future but should help provide some guidance by using meaningful data for planning purposes.  The study's true value is in being a catalyst for productive discussions on traffic and parking, which should be helpful in the present and upcoming CCCN zoning and transit deliberations."  

 

http://www.ccnneighbors.com/

 

The Cherry Creek Area Business Alliance released a report on the economic conditions in the east Denver commercial district. According to research contained in the State of Cherry Creek report the area in 2013 has recorded strong growth in retail sales, assessed valuation of real property, salaries and employment. The vacancy rate for retail space in the area was, at 2.4%, half that for the overall Denver market. Retail rental rates were also well above the city average. The Cherry Creek Area Business Alliance defines the area as generally bounded by East 6th Avenue, Cherry Creek South Drive, University Boulevard and Colorado Boulevard.   

 

The hotel that will be part of the redeveloped Denver Union Station has been named the Crawford Hotel in honor of Dana Crawford, a longtime downtown developer and advocate for historic preservation. Sage Hospitality selected the name for the 112-room hotel which will open when work on the historic station at 17th and Wynkoop Streets is completed in 2014.

 

Inland American Real Estate Trust bought the Hotel Monaco, a 189-room boutique hotel at 1717 Champa Street in downtown Denver. The Denver hotel was part of a $189 million portfolio that included hotels in Chicago and Salt Lake City. The seller was Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants, which will continue to manage the hotels.

 

Strata Capital acquired the historic Ghost Building at 800 18th Street in downtown Denver. The 124-year old building contains about 15,516 square feet of space. The purchase price was $3.9 million, or about $251 per square foot. The private seller was represented by Nick Koncilja of the St. Charles Town Company while Jeff LaForte and Robert Pipkin of Fuller Western Real Estate were agents for the buyer.

 

LaSalle Investment Management bought the Millenium Financial Center in downtown Denver for an undisclosed price. The 133,500 square foot building at 1550 17th Street was built in 2000. CBRE brokers Geoff Baukol, Kevin Shannon and Tim Swan handled the transaction on behalf of the seller, Dividend Capital Diversified Property Fund.

 

Ruth's Chris Steak House will return to Denver, leasing 10,000 square foot for a restaurant in the Denver Dry Building at 15th and California streets in downtown Denver. The restaurant chain previously operated a store at 1445 Market Street that closed in 2009.

 

The tightening office market in downtown Denver convinced a Toronto firm to change its plans and develop a 21-story office building instead of a high rise condominium tower. 1401 Lawrence Street will contain about 290,000 square feet with ground floor retail space and a 347-space parking garage. First Gulf Corporation did not announced a schedule for construction to begin. 

 

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank announced the construction of The Lab, a 73,000 square foot, four-story office building in Lower Highland. The building will be located near the intersection of 17th and Platte Streets, with an entrance and retail space fronting 17th Street behind the Denver Beer Company building on Platte Street.

 

Denver's historic Brown Palace Hotel is for sale. The ownership group, Brown Palace Joint Venture, acquired the 121-year old hotel over thirty years ago. Eastdil Secured is marketing the 230-room hotel for the owners..

 

The Stonebridge Companies plans a December opening for the Renaissance Denver Downtown City Center Hotel. The 230-room hotel is being built in the former Colorado National Bank building at 17th and Champa streets, The 98-year old building sat vacant for years after the bank was acquired by US Bancorp. Stonebridge bought the historic building, added two floors and renovated interior spaces, including several Allen Tupper True murals.

 

Unico Properties bought an office and retail building in downtown Denver's Writer Square. The eleven-story building is located at 1512 Larimer Street and contains about 179,271 square feet. Unico acquired the 33-year old building for an undisclosed amount in partnership with LaSalle Investment Management. The seller was GDA Real Estate. Unico is a Seattle-based investment company with several Denver holdings.  

 

Vitamin Cottage will open a 20,000 square foot natural foods store in Capitol Hill. The store will occupy a former Office Deport on East Colfax Avenue between Pearl and Washington streets and is scheduled to open in January. The renovation work on the building includes a new 80-space parking lot.

 

The Pauls Corporation filed plans with Denver planners for a 200-unit apartment building in the Golden Triangle neighborhood south of downtown. The seven-story building will occupy a site on East 8th Avenue between Broadway and Lincoln Street. Pending approvals from the City and County of Denver construction may begin by year end. 

 

Trader Joe's announced the location of their fourth Denver area store. The supermarket chain will occupy a site at the southwest corner of East 7th Avenue and Logan Street across from Governor's Park in Capitol Hill. The store is expected to open by the end of 2014. 

 

Denver Health cut 170 jobs due to a budget deficit caused by a growing number of uninsured lower income patients seeking medical care and reductions in federal payments. Until earlier this year the publicly-owned hospital at West 8th Avenue and Speer Boulevard had been operating at a profit. The City and County of Denver created an independent authority to operate the hospital in 1997. 

 

Construction started on an office and hotel project at Broadway and West 12th Avenue near the Denver Art Museum in the Golden Triangle neighborhood on the southern edge of downtown. Kentucky developer Corporex has partnered with Denver developer George Thorn to building the 50,000 square foot Museum Center office building and the 165-room hotel known as The Art. 

 

Construction is scheduled to begin in November on a Hyatt Hotel at 14th Street and Glenarm Place in downtown Denver. The 21-story building is being developed by White Lodging. The 361 room hotel combine facilities for two types of Hyatt hotels, a Hyatt House and a Hyatt Place. Completion is scheduled for the spring of 2015.  

 

Treehouse Brokerage and Development began construction on Framework at Sloan's Lake, a 28-unit townhouse project in west Denver. The project will occupy a site on West 17th Avenue at King Street. According to the developer, 13 of the 14 first phase units are already under contract to sell, Work on the second phase is scheduled to begin in 2014.

 

The owners of Guiry's Paint and Supply bought an industrial building at 2627 West 6th Avenue in west Denver. The company paid RW Properties $2,680,000, or $29.49 per square foot, for the 90,870 square foot building. The seller was represented by CBRE brokers Jim Bolt and Mike Camp while Nick Shill of Pinnacle Real Estate Advisors was agent for the buyer.

 

Cleveland-based Snavely Development plans to begin construction by year end on EnV Denver, a 224-unit apartment tower at 1000 Speer Boulevard in the Golden Triangle neighborhood south of downtown. The 16-story building will occupy a triangular piece of land at Speer Boulevard, West 10th Avenue and South Cherokee Street.

 

Google selected Denver-based Galvanize as part of its seven-city network of entrepreneurial tech hubs. Galvanize operates a co-working center for small tech companies at 1062 Delaware Street and recently announced plans for an expansion to a new building planned for Platte Street in Lower Highlands. The other centers selected by Google are in Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, Nashville, Raleigh-Durham and Waterloo, Ontario. Google will sponsor events, technical support and training programs at the hubs. 

 

Trammell Crow Company filed site plans with City and County of Denver planners for Alexan at Sloan's Lake, a 378 unit apartment community on the site of the former St. Anthony's Central Hospital at West 16th Avenue and Raleigh Street in west Denver. The Denver City Council recently approved concept plans for redeveloping the six-block site occupied by the now-vacant hospital into a high-density urban infill community.

 

Construction started on Mile High Vista, a mixed-use project at West Colfax Avenue and Irving Street in west Denver. The project includes the 25,000 square foot Rodolfo Gonzales branch of the Denver Public Library and a 72-unit affordable apartment building that is being developed by Del Norte Neighborhood Development Corporation. A future phase will include a small retail building fronting on West Colfax Avenue.  

 

An investment partnership associated with principals of Hyder Construction plans to acquire 414 14th Street, a 90-year old office building in downtown Denver that at one time housed the administrative offices of the Denver Public Schools. The project will ultimately contain about 49,138 square feet once renovation is completed and 6,000 square feet added. Upon completion the building will be known as the Ambassador.

 

United Way started construction on its new Denver headquarters. The 63,000 square foot office building is located at 711 Park Avenue West. The charitable organization will move to the new building from its current headquarters at 2505 18th Street in Lower Highland. That building was sold to a developer who is expected to demolish the site and build apartments once United Way relocates. 

 

Ogilvie Properties acquired the Key Bank Building at 3300 East 1st Avenue in the Cherry Creek East neighborhood. The 93,611 square foot building was built in 1980. Ogilvie bought the building from Colorado Heritage Investment LLC, which was represented by Jeff LaForte and Bob Pipkin of Fuller Western. The buyer was represented by Tim Finhom and Sam Leger of Unique Properties. The sale price was $14 million, or approximately $150 per square foot. 

 

Solera National Bank leased 12,500 square feet at 101 University, a recently remodeled four-story office building at East 1st Avenue and University Boulevard in Cherry Creek North. The 48,000 square foot office building was acquired by Western Development two years ago and has been extensively renovated, bringing it back to Class A status.

 

Smith/Jones Partners plans to begin construction later this year on the Residences at Cherry Creek, a 297-unit apartment building at 360 South Monroe Street in the Cherry Creek East neighborhood. The developers have already demolished an office building that occupied part of the site. The apartment building will be eight stories and occupy about two-thirds of the block bounded by Monroe and Garfield streets and East Alameda and East Dakota avenues.

 

Discount Forklift Brokers purchased 4625 Colorado Boulevard in north Denver. The company bought the 23,000 square foot industrial building for $1.6 million, or about $70 per square foot. The seller was represented by Timothy Finholm and Sam Leger or Unique Properties. Eric Carson of Real Living Colorado Properties was agent for the buyer.

 

Construction began on Industry, a 120,000 square foot office building at 3001 Brighton Boulevard in the River North neighborhood. The business incubator will be oriented to technology and creative businesses. A partnership of Koelbel and Company and Jason and Ellen Winkler will own the project, which is similar to their smaller Battery 621 building at West 6th Avenue and Santa Fe Drive. About 20,000 square feet will be dedicated to retail and service uses. A $1 million loan from the City and County of Denver will help fund the project.  

 

Zeppelin Development plans another building at its Taxi mixed-use campus on Ringsby Court in the River North (RiNo) neighborhood. Drive 2 will contain about 60,000 square feet and will be the seventh building constructed in the park along the South Platte River near downtown Denver. Taxi now contains about 200,000 square feet of office, flex and retail space occupied by sixty tenants with nearly 400 employees. 

 

Chair Five Equities plans to spend $2,250,000 to renovate the Mayfair Center, an older 11,700 square foot retail center at East 14th Avenue and Krameria Street in east Denver. Plans call for exterior renovations including a new parking lot, pedestrian patio and new signage.

 

Lincoln Property Company revealed the specifics for its planned expansion of the Colorado Center office complex at South Colorado Boulevard and I-25. The complex, which is adjacent to an RTD light rail station, will be expanded to include another 200,000 square feet of office space, a 189-unit apartment tower and 42,000 square feet of retail space in a main street design. Construction is expected to begin in early 2014. A later phase may include a hotel. 

 

Contractors for the Gates Corporation began demolition of the company's historic manufacturing plant at 999 South Broadway. The plant, which used to manufacture rubber products, has been closed and derelict since 1991. Demolition will allow Gates to address environmental pollution at the site and ultimately sell it to developers. The property is seen as a logical location for a large transit-oriented mixed-use development because of its proximity to RTD's nearby light rail station at I-25 and South Broadway where the southeast and south lines converge.  

 

A local investment group bought the Stark Lumber Company complex of industrial buildings at 924 West 1st Avenue, near Santa Fe Drive. The 2.5 acre site, which has been occupied by Stark Lumber for 130 years, contains about 48,000 square feet, which the new owners will convert to multi-tenant space while retaining Stark as a tenant. The purchase price was $1.8 million, or about $37.50 per square foot. The buyer was represented by Hal Naiman of the Sherman Agency while the seller's agent was John Segelke of Segelke Real Estate.

 

Sagacorp bought the Jefferson Pilot office building at 1095 South Monaco Boulevard in southeast Denver. Alimorra LLP sold the thirty-year old, 20,439 square foot building for just under $2 million, or about $96 per square foot. Scott Peterson of Counsel Realty Group represented the seller.

 

East First Avenue LLC purchased the Promenade at Lowry, a 25,606 square foot office building at 8190 East 1st Avenue in east Denver. The building was acquired for $5.3 million, or about $207 per square foot, from Lowry Promenade LLC. The five year old building is fully occupied, mainly by medical tenants. The seller was represented by Newmark Grubb Knight Frank brokers Dan Grooters and Riki Hashimoto.

 

YPSI-Ann Realty Company bought the Lowry Professional Plaza, a 14,278 square foot medical building in the Lowry neighborhood of east Denver. Hampton Partners sold the six year old building for $5.6 million, or about $393 per square foot. The seller was represented by Riki Hashimoto of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank and the buyer by Unique Properties brokers Marc Lippitt, John Sheflin and Scott Shwayder.

 

Granite Partners acquired the Ambassador at Cherry Creek, an 85-unit apartment property at 4805 East Kentucky Avenue. The seller was RLE Properties for a price of $6.4 million, or about $75,000 per unit. Tim Shunta of Unique Properties LLC-TCN Worldwide was broker on the sale.

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

Sponsorship of Real Estate Perspective and Cherry Creek Perspective by the Colorado Chapter of the Appraisal Institute does not constitute endorsement of James Real Estate Services, Inc. by the Chapter.

 

Forward email

James Real Estate Services, Inc. | 90 Madison St. Suite 300 | Denver | CO | 80206