DENVER | Main Development Thread #6

[COtoOC]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

Interstate 70 is a major East-West commercial corridor that has existed since the 1950's. It benefits downtown, the city, the metro area, the mountains, the state and the region. For decades it was surrounded by industrial brown fields.

CDOT has to be one of the worst funded state DOT's in the country especially considering Colorado's growth. Two similar states with growth, Georgia and Washington last year each increased their state DOT funding by a $billion per year. Is it any wonder that according to USDOT as reported by Business Insider that Colorado is tied for the 6th worst roads in the country?

With respect to Interstate 345 in Dallas that is nothing more than a 1.4-mile-long shortcut for convenience. Why would it be any big deal to tear that down? With respect to TxDOT and Dallas if they were dealing with a critical commercial corridor like I-70 it would have been rebuilt and completed years ago. When is the last time you compared TxDOT funding to Colorado? Hint: CNBC rates Texas 9th best for infrastructure despite dealing with tremendous growth.

I-70 expansion has been needed for a long time; it has been over a dozen years of painstaking process for CDOT to determine how best to proceed. There has been more than ample time for Colorado to raise the gas tax like other states have done to obtain the critical funding they have needed. If metro area residents much preferred to detour I-70 there's also been more than enough time to create an initiative specific to transportation funding for the metro area. As far as I'm aware nobody or group has offered to write out a big check for the cost of such a highly questionable idea. The only way CDOT has been able to move forward on many critical projects is by utilizing a P3 as they will with the I-70 expansion.

As far as reduced congestion that is the purpose of utilizing toll lanes. With respect to "induced demand" that is the silliest argument I've ever heard. Of course expansion invites additional traffic. That's part of the purpose since it's needed in the 1st place.

Lastly, what CDOT will do is no different that what Phoenix accomplished 25 years ago. If you're not fond of the park deck, fine, but it works OK down here. In any case I-10 is no big deal and essentially divides downtown from mid-town.

I agree on all points! This isn't a freeway that we can turn into a parkway. And I find it ridiculous that it's taken so long to get this project moving. It's ridiculous that 270 is only 2 lanes, and to my knowledge, CDOT has no plans to widen it. For a metro area that's growing so fast, CDOT should be working around that clock on multiple projects. But TABOR...

[TakeFive]

^ Thx... Yes, TABOR makes things more difficult and has paralyzed leadership substantially due to partisan differences.


Leasing up fast

Welton Park Apartments

Photo credit: Humphries Poli Architects

DENVER (CBS4) covered the Grand Opening of Welton Park Apartments, a 223-unit affordable apartment project attended by City Councilors and others.

[mr1138]

I agree with what you all are saying, but keep feeling like I also want to add that what really rubs me the wrong way about all this is the discourse/public process being used by the "ditch the ditch" crowd.

We can argue the merits, both functional and cost wise, of relocating I-70 to the north until we turn blue in the face. It still doesn't change the fact that we are almost a decade into the planning process, and the existing infrastructure is on a very real timetable to need to be replaced. I remember YEARS ago now being personally excited about the idea of re-locating I-70 and replacing it with a parkway. But at the time it seemed like nobody else cared, or was even paying attention. No articles in Westword, no community opposition from Elyria-Swansea, nothing. No real advocacy whatsoever, and are we really surprised that CDOT took the most expensive and complicated option off the table early on?

Now here we are, and CDOT is actually ready to move forward with construction and NOW people are coming out of the woodwork to throw sand in the gears and saying the project should go back to the drawing board. Seriously?! Where were all these people when they were taking comments on the PEIS? And now that all this time, money, and public resources have been spent (not to mention the ongoing decay of the existing infrastructure during this time), everybody suddenly feels awake and energized for a fight with the government? And while they're at it, they want to go ahead and throw loosely-related, and highly necessary projects, like the drainage project, under the bus. Meanwhile, there are plenty of other places in our metro area in need of progressive transit advocacy, but the Denver Fugly/Ditch the Ditch crowd would rather spend their time fighting the LAST project that they ignored when it was actually in the early planning stages. It's like a dog chasing its own tail, and accomplishes little to nothing except creating divisiveness between city planners and urban advocates. Is this really how we want to plan our city? Do these "advocates" really think that these methods will lead to good outcomes?

[mojiferous]

Originally Posted by mr1138

Where were all these people when they were taking comments on the PEIS?

They probably weren't living here, or at least not in these neighborhoods. An acquaintance went on a rant about how he lives in "RiNo" and how the drainage and I-70 project were the worst things to ever happen to Denver. After asking some questions, I realized that he and his wife moved to Cole (which is apparently RiNo now too) a couple years ago from the midwest.

He had no real sense of the history of the neighborhood, the history of either project, or why they were happening in the first place. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I have the feeling that the vast majority of the complaints come from people like this.

My favorite part of the whole conversation was when he started talking about how the I-70 project will increase pollution in the neighborhoods, and I casually chuckled about how it'll never pollute as much as the smelter did and he had no idea what I was talking about. He had totally bought into the idea that I-70 was the only thing keeping the neighborhoods around the highway from being the "next Highland".

[Denver Dweller]

http://www.denverrealestatewatch.com/2016/11/03/steam-on-the-platte-steaming-forward/

[COtoOC]

Originally Posted by mojiferous

They probably weren't living here, or at least not in these neighborhoods. An acquaintance went on a rant about how he lives in "RiNo" and how the drainage and I-70 project were the worst things to ever happen to Denver. After asking some questions, I realized that he and his wife moved to Cole (which is apparently RiNo now too) a couple years ago from the midwest.

He had no real sense of the history of the neighborhood, the history of either project, or why they were happening in the first place. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I have the feeling that the vast majority of the complaints come from people like this.

My favorite part of the whole conversation was when he started talking about how the I-70 project will increase pollution in the neighborhoods, and I casually chuckled about how it'll never pollute as much as the smelter did and he had no idea what I was talking about. He had totally bought into the idea that I-70 was the only thing keeping the neighborhoods around the highway from being the "next Highland".

Because I-25 totally ruined Wash Park when they sank it

[derek.berardi]

So nobody has anything at all regarding condos vs. apartment construction? Anytime I ask something on here for resources it seems to fall into a bottomless pit. HELP!

[RyanD]

Originally Posted by derek.berardi

So nobody has anything at all regarding condos vs. apartment construction? Anytime I ask something on here for resources it seems to fall into a bottomless pit. HELP!

I was meaning to ask you, are you looking for Denver Metro or just Central Denver? I can put something together for you, metro would take some time but central would be easy!

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by derek.berardi

So nobody has anything at all regarding condos vs. apartment construction? Anytime I ask something on here for resources it seems to fall into a bottomless pit. HELP!

I don't have anything recent, most of the discussion occurred in 2014-15. It would be interesting to look at project announcements and tie them to two the major developments on the construction defect front (Denver's ordinances and the Colorado appellate decision I'd hypothesize that these were the turning points, especially the court decision, in bringing more condos online.

[derek.berardi]

Looking for Central Denver as a starting point. I recall a few articles that showed units of rental vs. condo units side by side illustrating a pretty shocking disparity between the two.

[RyanD]

Originally Posted by derek.berardi

Looking for Central Denver as a starting point. I recall a few articles that showed units of rental vs. condo units side by side illustrating a pretty shocking disparity between the two.

I'm at work so this isn't very presentable but it gives you some raw numbers.

Here's what you get for condos vs. rental according to what we follow on DenverInfill:

I'm NOT including townhomes.



That translates to 121 condos to 13,752 apartments built since 2010. Spire added 500 condos if you want to count 2009.

With everything going up now (we need to update this chart) you have a ratio of 463 condos to 15,010 apartments. Again, add 500 if you want to count Spire.

Cherry Creek it's 151 condos to 1240 apartments.

So for percentages you get:

Downtown - 6.4% (including Spire)

Cherry Creek - 12.1%

[bunt_q]

And a reminder that the Spire started in like 2005, and sat idle for a year while bank issues got worked out. So that really shouldn't be considered a vintage 2009 building.

[derek.berardi]

Ryan D, thanks so much amigo! Very much appreciated!

[RyanD]

Originally Posted by derek.berardi

Ryan D, thanks so much amigo! Very much appreciated!

Anytime!

Renaissance Downtown Lofts

This project is getting going. Nice to see it's a little piece of infill and not huge-ish.

[enjo13]

Originally Posted by bunt_q

And a reminder that the Spire started in like 2005, and sat idle for a year while bank issues got worked out. So that really shouldn't be considered a vintage 2009 building.

It broke ground in 2007.

http://denverinfill.com/blog/2007/05/downtown-denver-spire-breaks-ground.html

[The Dirt]

Hack architect and councilnimby Rafael Espinoza is building phase 2 of his townhomes in Stapleton. This one is close enough to my house (I only care about things withing 3 blocks of my house) that I was thinking of staging a protest and community bake sale. We will sell cupcakes shaped like buildings and gingerbread men, to demonstrate the soul-crushing shadows these buildings will have on people. Additionally, I'm sure that I could argue that they will add traffic to already congested Central Park Blvd. and make my commute 15 seconds slower.


http://www.nedenverhousing.org/site/epage/108237_933.htm

They're seriously fucking underwhelming, though. They're even more blah in person. This is within a block of the train station, by the way. We should be building denser, but I'm sure actual NIMBYs will have a fit.

[Matt]

This has been going on for about a month now, but they've only really began to make noticeable progress within the last week. Both of the CenterPoint towers at I-25 and Colorado Blvd. are being repainted from white into beige/brown. They also seem to be removing the green/aqua lighting strip that was prevalent on one of the towers when Cigna was the anchor tenant, as seen in the last photo. I wonder if these "improvements" (although painting the buildings in earth tones and *removing* accent lighting installation seems like several steps backwards to me) are in direct response to the Colorado Center development across I-25. Pictures taken today:

[Matt]

Here is another building along Colorado Blvd being repainted. I can't guess as to the rationale or reasoning behind it, but it still changes up the Colorado Blvd. skyline a little bit. Besides this and the two CenterPoint Towers from the previous post, there are a few more buildings along Colorado Blvd. stretching into Glendale that are currently going through exterior renovations.

[enjo13]

From the "you don't see that everyday" department:

This is currently rumbling down 13th Ave:



It's the Kirkland Studio headed to it's new home at the new Kirkland museum.

[COtoOC]

Originally Posted by The Dirt

Hack architect and councilnimby Rafael Espinoza is building phase 2 of his townhomes in Stapleton. This one is close enough to my house (I only care about things withing 3 blocks of my house) that I was thinking of staging a protest and community bake sale. We will sell cupcakes shaped like buildings and gingerbread men, to demonstrate the soul-crushing shadows these buildings will have on people. Additionally, I'm sure that I could argue that they will add traffic to already congested Central Park Blvd. and make my commute 15 seconds slower.


http://www.nedenverhousing.org/site/epage/108237_933.htm

They're seriously fucking underwhelming, though. They're even more blah in person. This is within a block of the train station, by the way. We should be building denser, but I'm sure actual NIMBYs will have a fit.

Eh.. I live in Stapleton and these don't really bother me. They're affordable housing...

I'm more concerned about King Soopers abandoning the half built store in Eastbridge. I think they're not being truthful about what's going on and are looking for a buyer. And then the Punchbowl Social appears to be an abandoned project as well.