DENVER | Main Development Thread #7

[mojiferous]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

Very interesting

The backstory on Palantir is also interesting:

Palantir takes swings at Silicon Valley on its way to Wall Street
Aug. 26, 2020 By Jeremy C. Owens and Levi Sumagaysay - MarketWatch

Palantir is not an amazing win for Denver - they've never been solvent (even after 20 years), they're having a ton of problems finding and keeping engineering talent because of their company culture, their IPO is structured really poorly for investors, and most importantly they have a questionable financial future because their chosen methodology is definitely going to be a target for regulation. Everything their CEO said in that article should be a giant blaring red warning light that he's looking for reasons for their poor performance that exclude internal changes.
He's blaming "Valley culture" for trouble with government contracts, which plays great in non-tech circles or on Fox News, but the reality is that people are stepping away from the intrusive surveillance and morally-questionable technology his company provides. Companies like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and General Dynamics are knee-deep in DOD and "non-progressive" programs and they aren't having the kind of issues finding talented employees that Palantir is... and a big part is because of Palantir's corporate culture and strategic decision making.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articl...not-palantir-in-tech-s-rush-to-go-public

Long story short - this is not necessarily a feather in Denver's cap, because a lot of sensible people are thinking that the company is making poor strategic choices. Furthermore, they never really outlined why they chose Denver beyond "the Valley sucks"... Unlike VF or Ardent Mills I don't think this will be a company that other companies follow.

Originally Posted by TakeFive

With respect to California, consider this:

Hollywood's Apocalypse NOW: Rich and famous are fleeing in droves as liberal politics and coronavirus turn City of Dreams into cesspit plagued by junkies and violent criminals

August 15, 2020 By Caroline Graham in Los Angeles for the Mail Online

Some of you might have considered my "white flight" over the top and I'll admit it's less likely in Denver at this time. That said:

Consider the source here for perhaps over dramatizing this but certainly the future of California will be interesting.

And as far as that is concerned ^^ someone should tell all the people moving to places like Koreatown, Echo Park, Hyde Park, Ladera Heights, and Boyle Heights. I mean, it's obviously a baseless scare-piece aimed at old racists in the UK and in middle America that are scared of the "inner city" and get all their news from old screaming white men on the tee-vee.

The question I would have is "where are these people allegedly fleeing to?" If you want to avoid "liberal politics" and are worried that you're unsafe in Bel Air, what city is authoritarian/tougher-on-crime and equally as billionaire-friendly? Moscow? Shanghai? Pyongyang?

[mishko27]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

Exactly!

Denver is very fortunate to have a (2nd term) Black Mayor who is very confident in his position and resolute that peaceful protest is a right but property destruction and rioting is NOT. Additionally, Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen and Mayor Hancock are on the same page: "This is OK but this over here is not OK." This carries over to how they are approaching Homelessness as well.

Contrast this with the clustermess in Seattle and especially Portland.

With respect to California, consider this:

Hollywood's Apocalypse NOW: Rich and famous are fleeing in droves as liberal politics and coronavirus turn City of Dreams into cesspit plagued by junkies and violent criminals

August 15, 2020 By Caroline Graham in Los Angeles for the Mail Online

Some of you might have considered my "white flight" over the top and I'll admit it's less likely in Denver at this time. That said:

Consider the source here for perhaps over dramatizing this but certainly the future of California will be interesting.

Daily Mail is usually less informative than coffee grounds reading. A total, partisan rag.

Also, what a piece. They interview a Trump's fitness council Lou Ferrigno, a Fox News commentator Ed Lozzi, an 87 years old actress Renee Taylor (who, mind you, found a buyer and sold her house for $7.425 million).

Instead of discussing affordable housing, job placement, accessible mental health, or other policies that could solve the problem, the article just criticizes WOKENESS for allowing people to be in the streets. Let's say they were not allowed in the streets, where should these people go? It's WILD. I don't have solutions for the homeless problems, but I know that sticking 100,000 people in jail is not it. Especially as we all pay a lot more for that then we would through other social assistance programs.

Ugh, Daily Mail is absolutely the worst.

[mishko27]

Originally Posted by mojiferous

Palantir is not an amazing win for Denver - they've never been solvent (even after 20 years), they're having a ton of problems finding and keeping engineering talent because of their company culture, their IPO is structured really poorly for investors, and most importantly they have a questionable financial future because their chosen methodology is definitely going to be a target for regulation. Everything their CEO said in that article should be a giant blaring red warning light that he's looking for reasons for their poor performance that exclude internal changes.
He's blaming "Valley culture" for trouble with government contracts, which plays great in non-tech circles or on Fox News, but the reality is that people are stepping away from the intrusive surveillance and morally-questionable technology his company provides. Companies like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and General Dynamics are knee-deep in DOD and "non-progressive" programs and they aren't having the kind of issues finding talented employees that Palantir is... and a big part is because of Palantir's corporate culture and strategic decision making.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articl...not-palantir-in-tech-s-rush-to-go-public

Long story short - this is not necessarily a feather in Denver's cap, because a lot of sensible people are thinking that the company is making poor strategic choices. Furthermore, they never really outlined why they chose Denver beyond "the Valley sucks"... Unlike VF or Ardent Mills I don't think this will be a company that other companies follow.




And as far as that is concerned ^^ someone should tell all the people moving to places like Koreatown, Echo Park, Hyde Park, Ladera Heights, and Boyle Heights. I mean, it's obviously a baseless scare-piece aimed at old racists in the UK and in middle America that are scared of the "inner city" and get all their news from old screaming white men on the tee-vee.

The question I would have is "where are these people allegedly fleeing to?" If you want to avoid "liberal politics" and are worried that you're unsafe in Bel Air, what city is authoritarian/tougher-on-crime and equally as billionaire-friendly? Moscow? Shanghai? Pyongyang?

Joe Rogan, mentioned in the article as moving to the conservative state of Texas, moved to Austin. Obviously a beacon of modern conservatism, and not at all a huge liberal enclave.

Also, they quote Craig Dorfman:

"Talent manager Craig Dorfman has moved to upstate New York. 'A lot of people in the industry are re-evaluating their lives and saying,

'You know, I never really loved LA. Where would I like to live? Because I can do what I want to do from anywhere,' ' says Dorfman."

The guy, based on a quick snooping on his social media, is a very liberal gay man who is moving out east to be closer to his family, as that's where he is from (based on a bunch of "welcome home" comments on his profile). This article is terrible.

[TakeFive]

With respect to Palantir

Originally Posted by TakeFive

This seems to be mostly a change of HQ address. The article also mentions the company has filed to go public at an undetermined time.

Could it be the skiing?

If a part of your business is politically controversial, why would you pick Denver over Dallas, for example. It has to be that some executives/investors like to Ski Vail, Ski Aspen etc.

I didn't tout the company; have no interest in making any judgments.

That said, according to the DBJ:

Other major shareholders include Founders Fund; Sompo Holdings, a Japanese corporation that operates a joint entity with Palantir in Japan; and UBS.

This is what is called a "Direct Listing" as apposed to a more typical IPO where they want to raise NEW money. Other examples are Spotify and more recently Slack which is also in Denver.

By going the direct listing route, Palantir won't be raising money, but it has loaded up on plenty of capital ahead of its trading debut, which is expected late next month. It has raised more than $3 billion in funding since it was founded and is valued at about $20 billion.

So far as what Palantir is about: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palantir_Technologies

Palantir Technologies is a private American software company that specializes in big data analytics. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, it was founded by Peter Thiel, Nathan Gettings, Joe Lonsdale, Stephen Cohen, and Alex Karp.

The company is known for three projects in particular: Palantir Gotham, Palantir Metropolis and Palantir Foundry. Palantir Gotham is used by counter-terrorism analysts at offices in the United States Intelligence Community (USIC) and United States Department of Defense.[4] In the past, Gotham was used by fraud investigators at the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, a former US federal agency which operated from 2009–2015. Gotham was also used by cyber analysts at Information Warfare Monitor, a Canadian public-private venture which operated from 2003–2012. Palantir Metropolis is used by hedge funds, banks, and financial services firms.[5][6] Palantir Foundry is used by corporate clients such as Morgan Stanley, Merck KGaA, Airbus, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV.

It's fair to say as Bloomberg points out that they are not in the 'hot' part of the tech market. Other than that, let me repeat myself:

I didn't tout the company; have no interest in making any judgments.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by mishko27

Daily Mail is usually less informative than coffee grounds reading. A total, partisan rag.

Fair enough.

Originally Posted by TakeFive

Consider the source here for perhaps over dramatizing this but certainly the future of California will be interesting.

"Guilt by Association" is pretty common among both the right and the left. Basically, it means that you can just disregard any facts as a result.

I appreciate that the use of "liberal politics" is a 'trigger'. It's not totally irrelevant but my interest is in the information provided - if factual.

Things do change over time. You can claim there's no such thing as "white flight" or that it doesn't matter (Denver's own history might indicate otherwise).

My 'politics' is still dead of center and I will not vote for Trump as an example. But that doesn't mean I can't (try to) make factual observations.

Consider the migration patterns over the last two decades. Then check out the tax burdens and the debt ratings of cities and their respective states. IIRC, New York, Illinois and California will all be losing at least one representative in the House of Representatives. Colorado 'may' gain a rep.

EDIT: After returning from running some errands, I re-read my post and thought I better google "emigration". Yeah, that was the wrong term so I changed it to merely "migration" which is what I intended it to mean.

[TakeFive]

Catching up on BusinessDen projects

Developer plans second apartment project in City Park
August 27, 2020 By Thomas Gounley - BusnessDen

California-based The Picerne Group has an affinity for City Park.

The plans, drawn up by Denver’s Davis Partnership Architects, call for a five-story complex that would span the entire west side of the 1600 block of North Fillmore Street, kitty-corner from the Venue complex. The site is already zoned for that height.

The Venue on 16th was their previous development and I don't even recall covering that one. We might have but here's a reminder.


Image courtesy The Picerne Group


Image courtesy United Builders

The 'Venue on 16th' is currently advertising: "UP TO 8 WEEKS FREE!"


Looking ahead we have interesting plans in Sun Valley


[SIZE="1"]Image Courtesy Don Fitzmartin via BusinessDen[/SIZE]

https://businessden.com/2020/08/25/faust...-story-apartment-building-in-sun-valley/

The founder of an Arvada-based aerospace products manufacturer is behind the latest development proposal in Denver’s Sun Valley neighborhood.

The concept plan, submitted earlier this month, calls for a nine-story apartment building at 2608 and 2638 W. 13th Ave. The project would be developed by Alicia Svaldi, who founded and still leads Faustson Tool, and other family members.

Plans call for the building, dubbed Mile High Studios, to have 166 units: 28 studios, 96 one bedrooms and 42 two bedrooms. There would be 143 parking spaces on the first and second floors.

This proposal is described as “workforce housing.”

“Our goal is to comply with the requirements of HUD and evaluate the potential of income-restricted units,” he said.

[ohiotoco]

Originally Posted by rds70

A building permit was submitted at the end of July for the Vert building at 3595 Wynkoop.

16 stories, 183 units, 175 feet in height:

Just wondering, but how did you find this rendering? I went to the permitting page and saw the permit was submitted, but would love to access additional info like this for new projects. Thanks!

[laniroj]

Originally Posted by ohiotoco

Just wondering, but how did you find this rendering? I went to the permitting page and saw the permit was submitted, but would love to access additional info like this for new projects. Thanks!

Your best bet is to go to the developer or architect's website first, though stuff like this typically stays under wraps. If nothing there, sometimes the renderings get posted on the contractor or design consultant's websites too...you can take their names off the plans. It's hard to get renderings unless they are submitted through the permitting process. The Ken and Ryan show is your best bet by far.

[TakeFive]

This is not a good thing and it didn't come from me

Panic buyers driving home prices up in metro Denver real estate market
Aug 27, 2020 By: Russell Haythorn - 7Denver

Despite record unemployment, home sales are outpacing last summer and bidding wars are still commonplace. “I’m literally getting a text message every second,” Lori Abbey said.

Experts say instability near downtown with homeless encampments and ongoing unrest is driving people out.

“I’m seeing a lot of people moving out of the city and into the suburbs where they can see 3,000 to 4,000 more square feet in their lawn and a couple thousand more square feet in their house,” Abbey said.

Whether as The Dirt might suggest this is becoming a 'meme' or whether it's 'trending on twitter' this is not a good thing. This is not Los Angeles, this is Denver.

Originally Posted by wong21fr

When you end up homeless in say, Douglas County, do you stay in Douglas County or do you migrate to downtown? Homelessness is certainly a metro-wide problem but it's Denver that bears the brunt of the problem. It also gets the most funding and spends the most of it's finances on it as well but it's still an uneven solution. The proposed Denver specific tax would equitably be a metro-wide tax to provide homeless treatment solutions that could then be spread across the metro area. Screw another shelter in Five Points- ...

100% This

I've had the same exact thought process:

• This should be seen as a metro-wide problem and should be addressed by a metro-wide effort.
• Today's homeless population is very different than it was ten years ago. It's younger and more drug-induced. It's no longer just the unfortunate and harmless few. There's too many stories like THIS.

I've read enough sympathy-worthy cases where 'cheap' housing would be the best solution for many. Given pandemic conditions it should be easier to find and convert older hotels to homeless housing in the suburbs. The NE corner of I-25 and Arapahoe Rd is but one location that comes to mind.

With .25% cent metro tax, it would be much easier and smarter to address Homelessness. When the City of Denver 'volunteers' to take on a metro-wide problem then it's not hard to guess what follows.

It's also worth noting that in 2018 Denver voters approved the Caring 4 Denver initiative for a .25% tax increase to fund mental health services. This was a good thing (it passed with 70%) to help with homelessness and opioid addiction, etc.

But the City of Denver can't find enough money to fix the homeless issue by themselves. Do they want to bear the negative burden by themselves?

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

But the City of Denver can't find enough money to fix the homeless issue by themselves. Do they want to bear the negative burden by themselves?

The issue here is that none of the surrounding suburbs want to touch homeless funding. In their myopic, self-serving view this is a big city issue and there's no way on god's green earth that any elected official in Parker, Westminster, Aurora, etc is going to man up and admit that homelessness is an issue in their community and advocate for services to be placed there. No, it's far easier for their social workers to give some poor soul the address of a shelter in Denver than it is to establish a local alternative.

Fuck the suburbs and their craven apathy. Denver should ask during sweeps where a homeless individuals last address was and drop them off their with $100 in their pocket. Let the suburbs deal with their own.

[laniroj]

Originally Posted by wong21fr

The issue here is that none of the surrounding suburbs want to touch homeless funding...

To me, the homeless issue (and related housing issue) isn't worth further discussion. We spend just over $25k/yr in philanthropic and governmental funding per homeless person - this doesn't even include the annual prison, court, and public health agency expenditures outside Denver proper. If I had to guess, I'd say it's probably north of $40k per person annually. For that kind of money, we could literally build all of the homeless people their own house (not tiny home, but a real home) and provide mental health services to them. We could, but we don't, and we won't. It's a completely solvable problem but we essentially can't "commit" folks to a better path anymore AND way too many people's jobs rely on the homeless remaining homeless, so they will never re-tool their resources to contribute to a larger "good". The homeless are here to stay in urban centers.

Anecdotally, I tried having lunch downtown last week along one of our new street promenades. After the third aggressive homeless person approached me, the first two were nice enough but rave dance twitching from their drug of choice, he chided me and the person I was with for not buying him lunch and then screamed at everyone enjoying their meal. I determined it's no longer worth spending money downtown. I'm sure many others are taking the same position - cities are letting themselves fall victim to the same decline they suffered in the post-war era.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by laniroj

Anecdotally, I tried having lunch downtown last week along one of our new street promenades. After the third aggressive homeless person approached me, the first two were nice enough but rave dance twitching from their drug of choice, he chided me and the person I was with for not buying him lunch and then screamed at everyone enjoying their meal. I determined it's no longer worth spending money downtown. I'm sure many others are taking the same position - cities are letting themselves fall victim to the same decline they suffered in the post-war era.

The homeless are emboldened. Downtown is at 30% of normal workday population and that's turned several areas of the CBD into a no man's land where the remaining workers and patrons are the focus of increased harassment (that the Rescue Mission is closed for renovations doesn't help either). It's likely not going to improve until more bodies come back to downtown in a sense of normalcy.



But let's be honest. We're not doing enough to deal with the issue. The average cost for incarceration in CO is about $32K per inmate- the cost at the county level is a lot higher than that (I believe it's about double). That doesn't include a ton of mental or physical health services, it's just the cost to store bodies and keep them alive. If you look at the figures that were produced during the Initiative 300 debate, the total amount of funding that was available metro wide to deal directly with homelessness was about $140M for a population of about 5.3K- that's about $26K per individual. So if all that was needed was to get people in housing, it could probably be done with what we're spending now.



What's missing from the above funding structure is the expensive cost of dealing with the ~50% of the homeless population that requires extensive mental, physical, and substance abuse services. Getting a chunk of those people, we're not going to get all of them, taken off the streets is going to require more funding and if takes the upcoming sales tax initiative, I'm all for it. But that's also my limit. The well of goodwill isn't bottomless and this is more of a cost of doing business in in Denver, though it's also an example of low-life suburbs trying to shift a societal cost from one municipality to the other which is infuriating.


Oh, and the camping ban needs to stay in place.

[BG918]

I’ve thought the same thing when I’ve been downtown recently. I find it hard to believe the people who have invested millions in revitalizing downtown would let it turn into the cesspool it has become. Denver needs a new mayor whose main issue is cleaning up the homeless before the situation gets worse.

[twister244]

Originally Posted by BG918

I’ve thought the same thing when I’ve been downtown recently. I find it hard to believe the people who have invested millions in revitalizing downtown would let it turn into the cesspool it has become. Denver needs a new mayor whose main issue is cleaning up the homeless before the situation gets worse.

What can Hancock do that he isn't already doing though? Wong's post is spot on in giving an overview of what needs to take place to really put a dent in the situation. Hancock does sweeps when the situation becomes bad, but beyond that, he can't do much else. He can't increase the budget for homeless funding without a vote. He can't just perform an involuntary commit for those who are really off the deep end. All he can do is help police enforce the camping ban.

[The Dirt]

Seriously. Not that Hancock or most of council is great, but they really don't have as much power as everyone seems to think. The solutions here from the "I was in downtown for the first time in 6 months" crowd are also pretty myopic. You just don't want to see homeless people, right? Maybe we should bus them out to Cherry Hills because when you sweep problems under the rug, that solves them.

[rds70]

A new apartment project is under review for the Belleview Station area:

Alexan Belleview Station - 17 stories, 251 units, ground floor retail on Newport Street, 184 feet in height, construction start fall 2020:

[TakeFive]

Belleview Station area is cooking

Originally Posted by rds70

A new apartment project is under review for the Belleview Station area:

Alexan Belleview Station - 17 stories, 251 units, ground floor retail on Newport Street, 184 feet in height, construction start fall 2020:

That is one nice-looking Alexan.

6900 Layton


February BizDen file photo

https://businessden.com/2020/08/28/new-d...00-layton-lands-72994-square-foot-lease/

A new office building nearing completion in the Denver Tech Center has landed its second major tenant.

Atlanta-based LogistiCare Solutions LLC has leased the 11th and 12th floors of the 15-story 6900 Layton building.

That adds up to 72,994 square feet, according to Kentwood Commercial, whose broker Solveig Tschudi Lawrence represented the tenant. Cushman & Wakefield’s Ryan Stout, Nathan Bradley and Zachary Williams have been marketing the building’s office space on behalf of the developer, Denver-based Prime West.

Some might recall that Newmont (mining) Corp. is moving their HQ to this building. They are leasing 142,000 Sq Ft.

The top three floors are still available so call me in the morning, we can talk turkey.

[SirLucasTheGreat]

Originally Posted by rds70

A new apartment project is under review for the Belleview Station area:

Alexan Belleview Station - 17 stories, 251 units, ground floor retail on Newport Street, 184 feet in height, construction start fall 2020:

For DTC, I think that apartment building looks great. I'm really interested to monitor a few different transit oriented developments going forward. I think 38th and Blake will be most active, then Belleview Station, and then Broadway Station will unfortunately be slow and disappointing. On the plus side, we will have about 100 miles of active rail lines when the N line opens this month. That is about the same as in LA's main system.

[TakeFive]

Three Strikes and then what

As homes fly off the market across the Denver metro, downtown's condo market stumbles
Aug 31, 2020 By James Rodriguez – Reporter, Denver Business Journal

Downtown Denver's condo market has struggled in recent months to keep pace with the rest of the metro, where homes have been flying off the market in record numbers.

BG918 and laniroj have already pointed this out anecdotally.
But there might be a light at the tunnels end according to some.

Regardless, Leggett and other experts who spoke with Denver Business Journal were adamant that they view the slowdown in the downtown condo market as temporary. The fact remains that Denver is thousands of condo units short of meeting demand in the city, and the continued influx of residents and high-profile companies bodes well for continued demand for downtown living, they said.

Pandemic Pariah Paranoia

What makes an urban area sexy is all the activity and options to eat, sleep etc nearby. As wong referenced above that isn't currently the case. Add in the homeless crowd and a lot of the shine comes of the city center. Credit The Dirt for the third issue which is costs of condos in and around downtown are very high.

This current existing scenario makes for a toxic brew downtown which then makes the suburbs look all the more inviting.

[TakeFive]

Three Strikes and then it's still not the end of the world

My knowledge of the city center/neighborhoods goes back to the early 1980's. Post-white flight, it was one of the more affordable places to live.

Ironically, downtown office building construction was booming. At that time most employees drove in from the suburbs. But it was also a fun place to hang out given all the new activity and the O&G boom.

To an extent those were the 'good ole days,' a city life that no longer exists.

Originally Posted by wong21fr

What's missing from the above funding structure is the expensive cost of dealing with the ~50% of the homeless population that requires extensive mental, physical, and substance abuse services.

The 1980's and 1990's had a modest homeless population. They were usually referred to a 'winos' and they weren't visible for the most part. That was still the case when I left in 2006. Unfortunately, today's drug of choice is a toxic mix and much more expensive.

I can recall radio conservative talker and attorney Dan Caplis on occasion putting aside his B.S. and speak eloquently of his 'homeless' brother who had Big Mental issues. Dan (who married Amy Sporer of CBS) had tried everything to help his brother to no avail.

The challenge is daunting. The biggest issue today includes addiction and a growing, younger population that has been both enabled and emboldened.

Originally Posted by twister244

What can Hancock do that he isn't already doing though?

There was (at least one) court decision that came out of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that limits to a significant degree what cities can do. Basically it goes to whether cities have enough housing beds they can offer which is why this is a very good thing.

Denver City Council approves lease agreement for new homeless shelter in the Park Hill neighborhood
Aug 31, 2020 By Óscar Contreras - The Denver Channel

DENVER – Denver City Council approved a new lease agreement Monday evening that will provide shelter to hundreds of people experiencing homelessness.

The 82,000-square-foot facility will shelter between 350-450 people and will offer flexible space to serve a variety of needs as well as various gender groups, Woodbury said in a statement after the vote.

This is notable and encouraging

“We have seen many benefits to deploying 24/7 sheltering this year, including lower levels of anxiety among guests who can count on an assigned bed that remains the same night after night,” said Britta Fisher, executive director of Denver’s Department of Housing Stability. “Guests are resting better, with increased sense of safety and security, leading to improved relationship building with partners, volunteers and service providers.”

(No more homeless talk from me)