DENVER | Main Development Thread #7

[bulldurhamer]

https://www.ibtimes.com/coronavirus-reco...-quickest-covid-19-study-reveals-2973789

Denver mentioned as a “fast” recovering city.

[laniroj]

Originally Posted by BG918

You mean the Marriott at 14th & Stout?...

^^^Yeppers peppers

[Agent Orange]

Anyone know the status of the Front Range growth cap ballot initiative? I'm guessing they didn't collect enough signatures before the shutdown, and I'd bet they'd have a hard time approaching strangers now. Even if this did make it on the ballot, I wonder what voters would think of it in light of the changes to the economic landscape we've seen.

[TakeFive]

So you're saying there's a chance?


Credit: CBS4 Denver

Famous Denver Record Store Hopes New Website Helps Them Survive Coronavirus
May 11, 2020 By Dominic Garcia - CBS4 Denver

DENVER (CBS4) – For over 40 years, people have been coming to Wax Trax for their for all their music needs. In all that time, co-owner Duane Davis has never seen his store like this.

“This is the most unusual situation we’ve ever had occur,” he told CBS4’s Dominic Garcia.

Old school meets challenges with millennial help.

“The other owner and I are pretty much old school. So computers are a little bit of a mystery to us,” Davis told CBS4. Luckily, Stidman’s son, Pete, recently moved back to town and has been helping post their inventory online...

“It is time consuming but it has been gratifying to see, putting some of those oddball items up really gets people’s attention,” Davis told CBS4’s Dominic Garcia.

[TakeFive]

Put on a Happy Face

Construction Projects Still Moving In Metro Denver
May 3, 2020 By Kelcey McClung, Bisnow Denver

While Denver has seen a few slowdowns in terms of planning and entitlement, delays have not been too bad since Colorado’s shutdown began. That’s according to Milender White Vice President Morgan Lysohir, who was one of the panelists on Bisnow’s Construction Amid Coronavirus webinar.

“We’ve been pleasantly surprised with how well the inspectors have worked with us on all of our projects," Lysohir said. "When this first hit, that was one of our biggest concerns, that even though we were allowed to work that our production would stop when we couldn’t get inspections.”

Little glitches during trying times.

Dean Barber, executive vice president of development management at Confluent Development, said that they have seen a general slowdown, but things are “still moving.”

While projects are progressing, they're not at the same velocity they once were. There have been inefficiencies on sites and a lot of small, minor things that have added up, Lysohir said.

Block 162

The DBJ recently solicited some feedback from the developers on this project: https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2020/05/08/crane-watch-market-station-block-162-rev360.html

David Haltom, vice president of Houston-based Patrinely Group, the developer of the project alongside San Antonio-based USAA Real Estate Co., said general contractor Swinerton, of San Francisco, has made adjustments to on-site scheduling and safety protocols to keep the project on track. "I'll be honest, they've done an amazing and really impressive job of managing through some very challenging circumstances," Haltom said.

How is the leasing going?

Haltom said the decision-making processes of prospective tenants have slowed down during the Covid-19 pandemic, but the company continues to see the most interest from law firms, finance firms and tech companies.

"As recently as this week, we had a conversation with a potential tech firm who would be new to the Denver market coming from out of state," Haltom said.

So everybody is still upbeat about the future of Block 162?

Haltom said Patrinely Group remains a long-term believer in the Denver market. And a project like Block 162 could be well-positioned to capitalize on the flight to quality that the company is anticipating due to the current downturn, Haltom said.

"It's going to be increasingly challenging for developers to capitalize new speculative office developments here in the near to mid-term future," Haltom said. "So we believe that we're going to offer a really compelling new, best-in-class opportunity for tenants who either want to expand in Denver, or who want to move into the market."

How are things looking over the horizon?


Credit Bisnow/Kelcey McClung


Contractor Backlog Clearing Up As Construction Projects Pause
April 20, 2020 By Kelcey McClung, Bisnow Denver

Feinstein and Krasnow said they expect development costs to be affected by the current situation, with costs coming down “precipitously.” “I believe we will see a reduction in cost all the way up the line in development whether its construction, architecture, consulting, engineering or environmental remediation,” he said.

There may be one silver lining locally: Krasnow said that while deals are getting delayed, dropped or put on hold indefinitely as a result of this pandemic, the backlog for contractors is drying up. “It’s really hard to quantify right now as to what’s going to happen,” he said. “We certainly hope and think that there are savings that are going to come due to the fact that work is trailing off.”

[tommyboy733]

"Cyberpunk Brothel" At least our architecture matches the emergent dystopian nightmare.

[IMG]2020-05-07_x_denver_rendering-02 by Tom Conley, on Flickr[/IMG]

[tommyboy733]

Demolition also began in at the end of April 2020 at 36th & Delgany, well after the onset of the virus. This is for Schnitzer West's The Current. I know many projects are being delayed or cancelled (T3, 35th & Brighton Hotel...) perhaps this one is moving forward.

[IMG]IMG_20200508_112448959 by Tom Conley, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]The Current by Tom Conley, on Flickr[/IMG]

[rds70]

Denver City Council blocks 12-story, 650 unit project in RiNo.

Not the way to get more housing to mitigate the affordable housing issue.

Discuss:

https://denverite.com/2020/05/11/denver-city-council-blocks-12-story-650-home-development-in-rino/

[Agent Orange]

Asinine and nonsensical reasoning for their denial, but not surprising for Denver City Council.

I've yet to read a convincing defense of mandatory affordable housing programs. I've said this before here and elsewhere, but it seems clear that the widespread adoption of such a policy would have the effect of increasing income inequality among Denver residents, trending towards a city of a) a minority of households subsidized by the wealthy and b) the very wealthy who can afford the escalated costs of being the subsidizers.

Its biggest effect though would be the suppression of new supply throughout the city and thus increasing costs for everyone. The middle class and the lower income folks who don't happen to win the affordable* housing lottery get screwed, but activists on the Council and in the community (including YIMBY unfortuantely) can sleep at night knowing they kept their progressive bona fides. Every time I've sought a defense of such policies from people in the know smarter than me (economists, members of the Denver planning community), they agree with these observations. Yet we seem to still be barreling down the path of demanding subsidized housing from developers (and thus from present and future Denverites), but the effect of suppressed supply is a hidden one and the public will likely continue to blame developers, capitalism, or something and not their elected officials and rent seeking neighbors. The argument for inclusionary policies seems to be emotional, not empirical.

[The Dirt]

What do you mean, "YIMBY unfortunately"?

[twister244]

Originally Posted by Agent Orange

Asinine and nonsensical reasoning for their denial, but not surprising for Denver City Council.

I've yet to read a convincing defense of mandatory affordable housing programs. I've said this before here and elsewhere, but it seems clear that the widespread adoption of such a policy would have the effect of increasing income inequality among Denver residents, trending towards a city of a) a minority of households subsidized by the wealthy and b) the very wealthy who can afford the escalated costs of being the subsidizers.

Its biggest effect though would be the suppression of new supply throughout the city and thus increasing costs for everyone. The middle class and the lower income folks who don't happen to win the affordable* housing lottery get screwed, but activists on the Council and in the community (including YIMBY unfortuantely) can sleep at night knowing they kept their progressive bona fides. Every time I've sought a defense of such policies from people in the know smarter than me (economists, members of the Denver planning community), they agree with these observations. Yet we seem to still be barreling down the path of demanding subsidized housing from developers (and thus from present and future Denverites), but the effect of suppressed supply is a hidden one and the public will likely continue to blame developers, capitalism, or something and not their elected officials and rent seeking neighbors. The argument for inclusionary policies seems to be emotional, not empirical.

Yep, I agree. People always love to tout these policies without thinking about the unintended economic consequences. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. The risk Denver faces is coming out of this thing (from an affordability perspective). Right now, demand is falling, and prices are falling, but that won't last forever. Plus, with years of pent-up supply/demand imbalance, there won't be much of a hole to fill before prices start rising again coming out of the "Great Lockdown"

Someone posted an article a page back talking a out how cities like Denver are going to be well positioned to come out stronger compared to other cities. Part of it is we have less population density, so obviously the virus hasn't hit here as strong. I think there's some political forces at work here too though. Since we aren't being hit as hard, we can afford to relax things a bit earlier compared to other cities, which makes us attractive to entrepreneurs/business owners looking to start a business sooner than later from other states. Plus, some other cities are going to get hit pretty hard from a local budget perspective. Chicago was already in a rough spot going into this, and not they have hard choices to face in terms of taxes/spending moving forward. These prospects make Denver a more attractive place to invest into (whether you are a home owner or a business owner).

It will be interesting to see how things play out....

[Agent Orange]

Originally Posted by The Dirt

What do you mean, "YIMBY unfortunately"?

YIMBY has focused its efforts on overturning Telluride to usher in mandatory inclusionary zoning. Despite being a group/ideology that believes that decades of artificially reduced supply is the primary cause of our housing crisis, they are embracing a policy that has a high likelihood of further dampening supply. When I pushed back against this seeming contradiction, the counterargument was based on identity and emotion.

They're a Robin Kneich when we need a Kevin Faulconer. (I'll follow up with a PM).

[Paulopolis]

Originally Posted by rds70

Denver City Council blocks 12-story, 650 unit project in RiNo.

Not the way to get more housing to mitigate the affordable housing issue.

Discuss:

https://denverite.com/2020/05/11/denver-city-council-blocks-12-story-650-home-development-in-rino/

What a great way to kill jobs.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by Agent Orange

YIMBY has focused its efforts on overturning Telluride to usher in mandatory inclusionary zoning. Despite being a group/ideology that believes that decades of artificially reduced supply is the primary cause of our housing crisis, they are embracing a policy that has a high likelihood of further dampening supply. When I pushed back against this seeming contradiction, the counterargument was based on identity and emotion.

They're a Robin Kneich when we need a Kevin Faulconer. (I'll follow up with a PM).

You have an interesting mind. Now that I've brushed up on my "Telluride" history I generally agree. My free market prejudice along with - as twister244 would point to "unintended consequences" suggests there's way too many variables to think one can outfox the foxes with some arbitrary policy.

Originally Posted by rds70

Denver City Council blocks 12-story, 650 unit project in RiNo.

Not the way to get more housing to mitigate the affordable housing issue.

https://denverite.com/2020/05/11/denver-city-council-blocks-12-story-650-home-development-in-rino/

Arbitrary and capricious - so of course it doesn't makes a lick of sense.

Confused by what their philosophy and policy should be around affordable housing they take what should be a simple re-zoning decision and punt.

[TakeFive]

I always enjoy your neighborhood shots
especially since driving around the neighborhood isn't something I can do.


Photo by Tom Conley via flicker

I may be the least tech-savvy chap on the forum but just like with dancing I can do a mean two-step.

Step One:
Whenever I want to post a photo here I simply do a 'right-click - open in new tab'; then I copy the script at the top, click the image icon above and drop the script into that, click Okay and I'm done.

An interesting trick if you're curious how somebody created their post is to click on "Quote" as if you were going to respond to their post (but don't). At this point you can see all of their script before they posted. I usually just 'back-page' out.

Step Two:
Just post your photo credit and link below the image and you're done.

When I click on 'Quote' to your post I notice you have two sets of [IMG]'s which is the 1st issue. The 2nd issue is don't post any links/urls within the [IMG] icons; post credits/links outside of your image icons. Interestingly I can't 'right click' on your flicker page - but I could right click on the photo in your post above. Hope this helps.

P.S - if you'd like you can edit your own posts above to see if you, too, can do a Two-Step.

[tommyboy733]

Thanks for the suggestions. I spent 15 minutes trying to clean up my posts and failed. This platform is very difficult to use, but at least that keeps out the rif raff. My posts look good enough to me from my end, unless there is a serious issue I waste enough time on this tech. Though i will site the renderings in the post better.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by tommyboy733

Thanks for the suggestions. I spent 15 minutes trying to clean up my posts and failed. This platform is very difficult to use, but at least that keeps out the rif raff. My posts look good enough to me from my end, unless there is a serious issue I waste enough time on this tech. Though i will site the renderings in the post better.

I have another thought. Since you import your own [img] tags then just post them directly on the page and don't use the image icon provided above. (I've never had my own photos or flicker etc account so I'm not familiar with that end of it.)

[DenvertoLA]

Does anyone have info on the status of Kennect or 18th and Glenarm? I was holding out hope since those project would most likely complete in a stable economy...but now idk if I should even do that.

[mhays]

Originally Posted by Agent Orange

Asinine and nonsensical reasoning for their denial, but not surprising for Denver City Council.

I've yet to read a convincing defense of mandatory affordable housing programs. I've said this before here and elsewhere, but it seems clear that the widespread adoption of such a policy would have the effect of increasing income inequality among Denver residents, trending towards a city of a) a minority of households subsidized by the wealthy and b) the very wealthy who can afford the escalated costs of being the subsidizers.

Its biggest effect though would be the suppression of new supply throughout the city and thus increasing costs for everyone. The middle class and the lower income folks who don't happen to win the affordable* housing lottery get screwed, but activists on the Council and in the community (including YIMBY unfortuantely) can sleep at night knowing they kept their progressive bona fides. Every time I've sought a defense of such policies from people in the know smarter than me (economists, members of the Denver planning community), they agree with these observations. Yet we seem to still be barreling down the path of demanding subsidized housing from developers (and thus from present and future Denverites), but the effect of suppressed supply is a hidden one and the public will likely continue to blame developers, capitalism, or something and not their elected officials and rent seeking neighbors. The argument for inclusionary policies seems to be emotional, not empirical.

You've summed it up well.

[Ich]

Do you think it’s possible to get something on the ballot banning cities from having growth caps?

Or more locally, banning Denver from doing it?

The NIMBYs seem active on trying it the other way, why not do it in favor of YMIBYs?