DENVER | Main Development Thread #6 - Page 357

mhays · #**7121** Posted **Jan 29, 2016, 4:57 AM**

Then they're official for those purposes. They don't really define neighborhoods any more than the opinions of the average guy who lives there.

I don't get this concept that "official" definitions exist for all sorts of subjective things. At least not in the sense that "official" somehow suggests better information or authority.

bunt_q · #**7122** Posted **Jan 29, 2016, 12:50 PM**

A neighborhood is wherever a savvy realtor or landlord can make an idiot think they'll be living. That's why half of Denver is now "the Highlands." I've seen stuff clear down at like 6th and Federal marketed as "be near the Highlands!"

Cirrus · #**7123** Posted **Jan 29, 2016, 4:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by enjo13

Also the blue boundary looks like a rad spaceship.

I'd say more like:

streamlinermemories

PLANSIT · #**7124** Posted **Jan 29, 2016, 6:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by wong21fr

Don't think so. Probably the last state-owned block in Arapahoe Square with redevelopment potential is the Post Office block at 20th and Curtis. The Greyhound terminal could be another option.

But I think that a while block might be too much of a square for a downtown our size, or what it might grow to over the next 30 years or so. A half-block square with a mixed-use building fronting the square might be of better benefit to the Araqahoe Square neighborhood.

Not a square, but THIS is being planned for the area.

Source

More info HERE

wong21fr · #**7125** Posted **Jan 29, 2016, 6:31 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by PLANSIT

Not a square, but THIS is being planned for the area.

This is a pretty cool idea that's a great way of enhancing an under-utilized street and creating a linear public space through AS. Though if this does come to fruition I'd say that we scrap any kind of idea for a new square in AS and put more emphasis on Benedict Fountain as the park in for the area.

bunt_q · #**7126** Posted **Jan 29, 2016, 6:34 PM**

I'd say it's a great idea for 21st. Although I don't think it'll be an effective public space - linear spaces rarely are. It certainly isn't the transformative addition I would say that area needs. It'll be a nice walking street. But nobody will hang out there.

Doing it on Wynkoop is insane. So the planners screwed up and didn't realize that normal human behavior is not to go to the back door for the natural drop-off/pick-up point for a train station. So to solve the problem of clogged Wynkoop - we'll just take the cars away - or at least restrict them mightily - and build a trail. The least urban thing imaginable to solve congestion in front of our "city's" main transportation hub. If that isn't backwards provincial thinking, I don't know what is.

Fitting that we're taking our inspiration from Indianapolis. Way to think big.

wong21fr · #**7127** Posted **Jan 29, 2016, 6:47 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by bunt_q

Doing it on Wynkoop is insane. So the planners screwed up and didn't realize that normal human behavior is not to go to the back door for the natural drop-off/pick-up point for a train station. So to solve the problem of clogged Wynkoop - we'll just take the cars away - or at least restrict them mightily - and build a trail. The least urban thing imaginable to solve congestion in front of our "city's" main transportation hub. If that isn't backwards provincial thinking, I don't know what is.

Fitting that we're taking our inspiration from Indianapolis. Way to think big.

I don't think the trail is planned for Wynkoop- instead they want to turn it into a woonerf. Less trail and more piazza. Not sure whether this would be an improvement or hindrance for Amtrak drop-off's (or any other kind of future non-commuter train service). It's not like anyone is in a hurry for that kind of train service.

bunt_q · #**7128** Posted **Jan 29, 2016, 6:49 PM**

Why are you only worried about Amtrak, and not other services? I'd expect a ton of airport drop-offs, for example. And a ton of pick-ups from everywhere. You know, since our inner city connecting transit is so effective. To say nothing of pick-ups just because people are hanging out at Union Station. You already see all those cars blocking the precious bike lane, and we haven't opened any of the commuter lines! I don't see how a woonerf helps that.

wong21fr · #**7129** Posted **Jan 29, 2016, 9:23 PM**

I'd think that a lot of those airport drop-off's will occur in at the Park-n-Rides outside of downtown since our system is designed as such. As for pick-up's for the inner-city neighborhoods a lot of those might end up being done via Uber and the like. If not, f**k 'em.

The biggest draw of woonerf for me would be the elimination of the bike lanes, concurrent with the elimination of the bitching from the bicycle mafia, and the co-mingling of all traffic. Cars can pick-up at the front of Union Station as much as they want, hell double-park if you want to (I would), but it would be with the knowledge that it might take a bit longer to get off of Wynkoop once the pick-up is completed. Meanwhile, Wewatta would be pick-up point to go to if you don't want to deal with the pedestrians.

bunt_q · #**7130** Posted **Jan 29, 2016, 9:34 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by wong21fr

The biggest draw of woonerf for me would be the elimination of the bike lanes, concurrent with the elimination of the bitching from the bicycle mafia, and the co-mingling of all traffic. Cars can pick-up at the front of Union Station as much as they want, hell double-park if you want to (I would), but it would be with the knowledge that it might take a bit longer to get off of Wynkoop once the pick-up is completed.

Hmm, good point. Not a lot of full-size pickup trucks and SUVs in the Netherlands. Woonerf, meet 'MURICA. Where solidly 50% of us are gas guzzling a-holes, so watch out.

wong21fr · #**7131** Posted **Jan 29, 2016, 9:46 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by bunt_q

Hmm, good point. Not a lot of full-size pickup trucks and SUVs in the Netherlands. Woonerf, meet 'MURICA. Where solidly 50% of us are gas guzzling a-holes, so watch out.

Not a lot of concealed carry in the Netherlands either. Gas-guzzling a-holes meet .45 ACP.

Taking back the streets one armed pedestrian at a time.

Denver · #**7132** Posted **Jan 30, 2016, 2:25 AM**

New hotel proposal for LoDo

https://www.denvergov.org/content/dam/de...ddrb/agendas/2016/1701BlakeSt_020416.pdf

enjo13 · #**7133** Posted **Jan 30, 2016, 2:30 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denver

New hotel proposal for LoDo

https://www.denvergov.org/content/dam/de...ddrb/agendas/2016/1701BlakeSt_020416.pdf

Seems like a decent little infill building. Killing another LoDo parking lot would be huge.

BG918 · #**7134** Posted **Jan 30, 2016, 9:05 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denver

New hotel proposal for LoDo

https://www.denvergov.org/content/dam/de...ddrb/agendas/2016/1701BlakeSt_020416.pdf

Nice infill especially along 17th near Union Station. This and the Market Station redevelopment between Blake and Market, and the rumored hotel at 16th & Market, will really help add density in that part of downtown. Now we just need Tabor 2 to rise at 17th & Larimer.

Denver Infill

seventwenty · #**7135** Posted **Jan 31, 2016, 12:59 AM**

Apartment vacancy rates in metro Denver surge, rents dip a tiny bit

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denver Post

Metro Denver apartment rents leveled off and vacancies rose sharply between the third and fourth quarters after a surge in new supply left more landlords scrambling to fill their units, according to a quarterly update from the Apartment Association of Metro Denver.

. . .

The drop in median rents wasn't huge — a $7 decline from $1,252 a month in the third quarter to $1,245 in the fourth. The average rent held steady at $1,292 a month.

But in a sign more downward pressure on rents could be coming in the months ahead, the area's apartment vacancy rate surged to 6.8 percent from 5 percent in the third quarter.

The fourth quarter is typically a weaker period for apartment rentals, but the jump went far beyond any seasonal adjustment. It was the biggest quarterly surge in vacancies since heavy job losses caused people to move out of their apartments in 2008 and 2009.

. . .

Developers have focused on those areas for higher-rent apartments. Given that owners of new apartment buildings may not be familiar with the survey or may be too busy leasing units to respond, the actual vacancy rate in those areas might be understated, Throupe said.

Supporting the argument of oversupply on the high end of the market, the more-affordable areas developers passed over show much tighter apartment vacancy rates.

Wheat Ridge is at a low 2.6 percent, while Englewood and Sheridan are at 3.3 percent, northeast Denver at 4.1 percent and southwest Denver at 4.2 percent.

Boulder's University Hill area, which has constant student demand, was at a tight 2.7 percent.

Urbannizer · #**7136** Posted **Jan 31, 2016, 5:58 AM**

One Orchard

Quote:

5 tower masterplan
3 million sf on a 9 acre site
670 residential units, 800 sf of office, 75 sf of retail, 40sf whole foods, 125 sf urban park

Denver · #**7137** Posted **Jan 31, 2016, 6:25 PM**

^This has got to be in the DTC. Downtown cannot handle another Whole Foods. also, I do not know anything downtown that has 9.0 acres of open space. Still seems like a cool project though.

transistor · #**7138** Posted **Jan 31, 2016, 6:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denver

^This has got to be in the DTC. Downtown cannot handle another Whole Foods. also, I do not know anything downtown that has 9.0 acres of open space. Still seems like a cool project though.

It has Orchard in the name. I don't know of an Orchard St. in downtown so its definitely DTC.

comoneymaker · #**7139** Posted **Jan 31, 2016, 8:42 PM**

Green crane for University and Harvard. Do we have a rendering for this project?

bunt_q · #**7140** Posted **Jan 31, 2016, 8:47 PM**

There was also an Orchard Town Center, or something similar, that sold up in the Westminster area last year. It was an over $100 million sale, widely reported. So it could be up there as well. (The Whole Foods also makes more sense up there.)