DENVER | Main Development Thread #7

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by Sam Hill

Here's my theory as to Austin outpacing Denver in terms of new skyscrapers:

Whatever part of Austin's downtown that is zoned for skyscrapers is a red-hot real estate market. Denver's CBD OTOH, is lukewarm. Denver's downtown neighborhoods that have been red hot lately are zoned for low/mid-rise. If say Union Station or Golden Triangle were zoned for high-rise, we'd be looking at a different skyline.

Perfectly spot-on.

Again, every place has its own story. In Denver the hot action was initially in LoDo. Then FasTracks seeded the Union Station Neighborhood. Next, it was RiNo along Brighton Blvd that became the new chic neighborhood. With land readily available all the larger apartment builders found it too easy and too tempting.

The CBD did okay with three nice office buildings and more hotels but it wasn't the hot part of the market.

Originally Posted by Sam Hill

Also, as explosive as Denver's growth has been, it pales in comparison to Austin. No city in the country has been growing like Austin. It's simply a hotter real estate market.

Exactly; west of the Mississippi growth was the trend. Even Salt Lake City and Minneapolis would like a word. Ofc all the Texas cities.

Looking at the MSA growth from 2010 a lot of places had solid growth of about 15% or a bit more. Austin's growth was just shy of 30% which is just amazing.

Originally Posted by jbssfelix

You rang?

Austin and Denver are both geographical sprawlvilles with little geographical restrictions (I-25 = I-35...more and more will build along that line ad infinitum). However, as was quoted, Austin's downtown CBD has a relatively small footprint (really about 12 blocks squared). After that, it drops off precipitously. Granted, denser development is starting to leak over I-35 to the east, but that's still 8 stories max with the new Plaza Saltillo development.

Note Austin's explosion of downtown growth from near-nothing (pre-SXSW boom) to now.

Nice post; as they say a picture is worth a thousand words. Thanks for finding and posting those.

I've read about the new Plaza Saltillo development. It only makes sense that with Austin's robust growth that infill-redevelopment would be a part of the story.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by The Dirt

Thank, wong. This guys gets it!

Good grief; Stapleton is so far east it's nearly in Aurora. In fact some of Stapleton is in Aurora.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stapleton,_Denver

While Denver International Airport was being constructed, planners considered how the Stapleton site would be redeveloped. A private group of Denver civic leaders, the Stapleton Development Foundation, convened in 1990 and produced a master plan for the site in 1995, emphasizing a pedestrian-oriented design rather than the automobile-oriented designs found in many other planned developments. Nearly a third of the airport site was planned to be redeveloped as public park space.

Their intentions were good.

But think back to what Denver was like in the 1990's. It was a very different place from today. Given the sketchy economy many wondered if Stapleton would ever be successful as 'imagined' by Forest City Enterprises. Construction officially kicked of in 2001.

Call it "different strokes"; it could have been much worse; it does appeal to many people obviously.

[BG918]

Land speculation definitely has not slowed down in Stapleton. There is a 309 unit apartment project proposed for the long-vacant SE corner of CPB and MLK.

https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/n...stapleton.html

Now just need to figure out what to do with Punch Bowl Social across the street..

[TakeFive]

How 'bout that

Originally Posted by BG918

Land speculation definitely has not slowed down in Stapleton. There is a 309 unit apartment project proposed for the long-vacant SE corner of CPB and MLK.

https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/n...stapleton.html

Now just need to figure out what to do with Punch Bowl Social across the street..

This is what Price Development Group currently has under construction at the PDG Design District on South Broadway. This one was designed by Kephart while it says the Stapleton project will be designed by KTGY Architecture + Planning.

[COtoOC]

Originally Posted by BG918

Land speculation definitely has not slowed down in Stapleton. There is a 309 unit apartment project proposed for the long-vacant SE corner of CPB and MLK.

https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/n...stapleton.html

Now just need to figure out what to do with Punch Bowl Social across the street..

I hope this gets done. I've lived in Stapleton for 15 years and want that hole filled!

As for the name, I initially wanted Aviation Park, but that didn't make the cut.

[BG918]

Originally Posted by COtoOC

I hope this gets done. I've lived in Stapleton for 15 years and want that hole filled!

As for the name, I initially wanted Aviation Park, but that didn't make the cut.

That one and the big field north of Punch Bowl. Seems crazy those are still empty lots with all of the growth in the area.

I think Central Park Station has a lot of potential to be great but not really encouraged by the current development; hopefully the lots closer to the station will have more density and better designs.

[laniroj]

Originally Posted by BG918

That one and the big field north of Punch Bowl. Seems crazy those are still empty lots with all of the growth in the area.

I think Central Park Station has a lot of potential to be great but not really encouraged by the current development; hopefully the lots closer to the station will have more density and better designs.

If my memory serves correct, I believe the City owns those 2-3 large blocks of land at the Station. That's likely the reason they're taking so long to develop - City probably has a very specific vision for what should go there, though I'm not sure exactly. Given how long those lots have been vacant (20 years now) that vision probably isn't aligned with reality but who knows. I saw a hotel offering for one of the lots about a year back, seemed pretty far along too but haven't heard a peep about it lately.

[The Dirt]

Originally Posted by BG918

Land speculation definitely has not slowed down in Stapleton. There is a 309 unit apartment project proposed for the long-vacant SE corner of CPB and MLK.

https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/n...stapleton.html

Now just need to figure out what to do with Punch Bowl Social across the street..

I remember going to a public meeting in 2013 where a developer was proposing something for this lot. There were audible gasps from the Stapleton moms when I questioned why it was going to be capped at 5 stories. Fast forward 7 years and the most prominent intersection in Shittleton still has vast open fields of tumbleweed surrounding it. Meanwhile Northfield has filled up another square mile of land north into the animal sanctuary with single unit blandness.

[CONative]

See below

[CONative]

STAPLETON / CENTRAL PARK:

I already posted about the condos at 36th and CPB months ago with links to the pictures, but good to see the pics directly on here.

The development at MLK looks promising, and we expected it years ago.

The Stapleton name will end up being Central Park. As long as the voting is not tainted (which it could be), it always had the overwhelming votes (and it was not my first choice).

[CONative]

Originally Posted by BG918

That one and the big field north of Punch Bowl. Seems crazy those are still empty lots with all of the growth in the area.

I think Central Park Station has a lot of potential to be great but not really encouraged by the current development; hopefully the lots closer to the station will have more density and better designs.

The large lot north of the tower is slated for luxury market-rate apartments and the developer is going the process right now. They have siteplans out there somewhere.

[BG918]

Originally Posted by CONative

The large lot north of the tower is slated for luxury market-rate apartments and the developer is going the process right now. They have siteplans out there somewhere.

Great news, get those empty lots developed. Hopefully they build to the lot line with underground or structured parking.

Sad though that Punch Bowl will be empty with no immediate plans for a new tenant.

While we're talking about this part of Denver there is a mixed-use project currently under construction on Fairfax between 28th and 29th that is getting close to completion. It's called Park Hill Commons. From their Facebook page:

[rds70]

1900 Lawrence is still moving forward!





Per the Denver Business Journal:

The developer behind a planned 30-story office tower in downtown Denver is betting that potential tenants will emerge from the coronavirus pandemic with a new appreciation for fresh air and touchless technology — and the company has been busy updating its latest plans to anticipate the requirements of a post-Covid world.

In January, Chicago-based Riverside Investment and Development Company, along with architecture firm Goettsch Partners, submitted a concept plan calling for an office tower to be built on a 1.26-acre lot at 1901 Arapahoe St. Riverside is under contract for the site, which is valued at roughly $27.5 million, according to current owner Paradise Land Co.

The project, which has since been named 1900 Lawrence, will feature roughly 700,000 square feet of rentable space, according to Tony Scacco, an executive vice president at Riverside. The city approved the concept plan in April, Scacco said.....


.....Riverside hopes to begin construction in early 2021, Scacco said. The company is targeting a delivery date in the second quarter of 2023.

The website is now active as well!

www.1900lawrence.com

[TakeFive]

Never fear; Riverside Investment and Development Company is still here

Coronavirus provides first opportunity to build next-gen office building in Denver with 1900 Lawrence.

Updated plans revealed for 30-story office tower in downtown Denver
Jul 15, 2020 By James Rodriguez – Reporter, Denver Business Journal

The developer behind a planned 30-story office tower in downtown Denver is betting that potential tenants will emerge from the coronavirus pandemic with a new appreciation for fresh air and touchless technology — and the company has been busy updating its latest plans to anticipate the requirements of a post-Covid world.

By that point, the coronavirus pandemic was already raising new questions over how offices will function in the future. Riverside had been in conversations with several anchor-type tenants prior to the outbreak in Colorado, said Drew Nieman, an executive vice president at the company. Those discussions slowed through stay-at-home orders, although he noted that activity has recently picked back up.

In the interim, Riverside, which owns nearly 4 million square feet of real estate in Chicago, has interviewed roughly 60 of its current tenants, nearly all of whom have national footprints. The goal of the conversations was to determine the features that tenants will be looking for in their future office spaces.

"With multiple assets in different phases of the process, we decided to take a step back and really try to evaluate, based on discussions with tenant clients, what behaviors and priorities they are expressing, and what behaviors are likely to be with us long term," Scacco said. "Once we queried our tenants, that allowed us to think more deliberately about building planning and perhaps a renewed emphasis on how the building infrastructure impacts the day-to-day health of the occupants."

Can you point to one high priority going forward?

Those changes start with making sure the building maintains strict standards for air quality. Riverside plans to install a secondary air purification system, on top of an air filtration system, to remove virtually all pollutants and airborne particulates from the airstream. Scacco said the filtration system will match those used in general health-care facilities.

Riverside is targeting minimum fresh-air rates that exceed local code minimums by more than 330%, Scacco said.

The company is also planning to incorporate sensors around the building that will measure 10 different factors relating to air quality. Tenants will be able to access an app that shows the air quality at any time, and will be given their own sensors that they can place throughout their space.

"The trust and the feeling of safety is such an essential component of people feeling good about coming into the office every day," Scacco said. "That is a change in behavior that might last for a while here."

Is this is exciting to hear or what?

Cleanest air in Denver (coming soon)


Credit: Denver Community Planning & Development - architecture firm Goettsch Partners via 9News Denver


Edit: rds70.. a little quicker on the draw than me and good to see you're still around.

[twister244]

Liking that 1900 rendering. Of course, would always love to see something taller, but that side of downtown could use a nice shiny new highrise.

With respect to the Austin comparisons, yeah, most has been pointed out already. I feel like Denver has had it's development take the form of infill more than anything else. That sucks if you want shiny new skyscrapers, but great if you are true urbanist. Seeing neighborhoods around the city grow and develop their character since I moved here 5 years ago has been super cool to see. I don't see this pattern changing until maybe we start getting River Mile going in the next cycle.

[Denveropolis]

Originally Posted by twister244

Liking that 1900 rendering. Of course, would always love to see something taller, but that side of downtown could use a nice shiny new highrise.

With respect to the Austin comparisons, yeah, most has been pointed out already. I feel like Denver has had it's development take the form of infill more than anything else. That sucks if you want shiny new skyscrapers, but great if you are true urbanist. Seeing neighborhoods around the city grow and develop their character since I moved here 5 years ago has been super cool to see. I don't see this pattern changing until maybe we start getting River Mile going in the next cycle.

I wish 1900 Lawrence could be taller as well. Unfortunately, it is right at the 400 ft. height limit per zoning for that block.

[DenvertoLA]

It says they hope to start construction in early 2021. So that’s mid winter. Can anyone explain to me why that would be the selected time? My uneducated thought is that winter would be an unideal time to start. Is the luxury of selecting a start time rare and materials/ availability of builders the determining factors?

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by DenvertoLA

It says they hope to start construction in early 2021. So that’s mid winter. Can anyone explain to me why that would be the selected time? My uneducated thought is that winter would be an unideal time to start. Is the luxury of selecting a start time rare and materials/ availability of builders the determining factors?

Excavation work doesn't care too much about the weather (aides from rain). Excavators and loaders don't have to worry too much about the elements in this environment.

At least that's my opinion based on limited experience.

[laniroj]

Originally Posted by DenvertoLA

It says they hope to start construction in early 2021. So that’s mid winter. Can anyone explain to me why that would be the selected time? My uneducated thought is that winter would be an unideal time to start. Is the luxury of selecting a start time rare and materials/ availability of builders the determining factors?

Selecting start time is rare here on the Front Range (typically as fast as you can get through entitlement and deal with utilities), but necessary in the higher elevations. We have such mild winters here in Denver, it's not an issue. Foundation work isn't really slowed down by our hit/miss cold/snow but it does cost a little bit of money for winter protection during concrete prep/pour.

[wong21fr]

On another note, does anyone know if X3 or Kenect have actually commenced with construction? My recollection that X3 did start clearing the site, but it did go dormant when the world ended. Kenect didn't start as all as far as I know.