DENVER | Main Development Thread #7

[rds70]

A few more 1750 Sherman renderings from the Denver Business Journal:

[The Dirt]

I'm really digging it. I worked in the building across the street for 5 years and would state down at the parking lot waiting for something to happen.

[EngiNerd]

Originally Posted by twister244

My employer has indicated those who want to go remote long term (including abroad) can now. The only caveat, as Dirt just mentioned is time zone differences. In my case, I might do a couple months in Europe, then a month in Tel Aviv (we have an office there), then maybe a few weeks in Dubai. Then maybe, I will come back to stateside and do Florida next Winter.

I can't speak for Dirt, but I am not planning on being in one spot for more than a month or two (as most nomads are). If you are talented enough, and bring value to a company cloud-based and international, I don't think folks care much. Plus, it cuts down on office expenses if less people are coming into the office. I am on the hook for work-related supplies (and co-working memberships) if I go remote long-term. But for me, that's more than worth it to have that privilege.

I'm guessing no one in here has school aged kids?

[DenvertoLA]

Originally Posted by EngiNerd

I'm guessing no one in here has school aged kids?

dogs are the new children, plants are the new pets

[Robert.hampton]

The El Jebel rendering is better than I thought it would be but not hard to see the cheap suburban-Hampton Inn influence. And still pretty shocked at the idea of focusing on very large 2-3 BR rental units.

[laniroj]

Originally Posted by EngiNerd

I'm guessing no one in here has school aged kids?

[zoom function - raise hand] - I do. Strangely enough, my wife and I have actually discussed spending this summer and next summer out of the country with our kiddos (provided we are allowed to do so once/if covid passes). No nomadic hopping for us, but along the same vein. My office has gone to a permanent work from home model, so easy enough for me.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by EngiNerd

I'm guessing no one in here has school aged kids?

Some of us took that plunge.

[jhwk]

Originally Posted by DenvertoLA

Where did they get that architect, the toilet store? The city allows up 650 ft here and this is what they do?

Not even a crown to utilize that height they decided to waste.

I don’t know how anyone can read this board for very long and not realize that the architect has nothing to do with how high a building gets built or whether the building gets a “hat”.

If you have any friends or relatives in China looking for a place to park some capital in exchange for citizenship, the name of the EB-5 developer is in the article. Toss $50 million in and I bet they will add as many floors as you want.

[bunt_q]

Originally Posted by The Dirt

I'm really digging it. I worked in the building across the street for 5 years and would state down at the parking lot waiting for something to happen.

I need the 16th-to-17th block to see some action to really have much of a view from the office. Alas, someday.

This is a perfectly fine filler building. All for it. Seems like some great, larger-ish unit, affordable housing 30 years from now.

[bunt_q]

Originally Posted by EngiNerd

I'm guessing no one in here has school aged kids?

Well, yes. But if the future of humanity is through a zoom meeting and social skills are no longer relevant, do we really need school? Get that kid coding for a few hours per day from your lakeside villa in Montenegro and he or she'll have all the life skills one needs.

We decamped to Hawaii for a while. A 4:30am to noon workday is actually no worse than not having afterschool at home these days - kid is interfering with 3+ hours of the workday regardless.

[UrbanT]

Anybody have any insight into this proposal I found on Milender White's website? It looks relatively new (I like the skybridge too) - Posted 10/7/20



https://www.milenderwhite.com/our-work/35th-wynkoop/

Also, looks like there is another early stage proposal for the Overland neighborhood called The Oso. I used to live down in that area and there's a lot of positive change happening down there!

https://www.milenderwhite.com/our-work/the-oso/

[BG918]

Originally Posted by UrbanT

Anybody have any insight into this proposal I found on Milender White's website? It looks relatively new (I like the skybridge too) - Posted 10/7/20



https://www.milenderwhite.com/our-work/35th-wynkoop/

That's McCaffery's 35th & Wynkoop proposal caddy-corner to Zepellin Station.

[SirLucasTheGreat]

Anyone seen any new groundbreakings or other construction activity? I saw a new crane at I-25 and Belleview for what I think might be the Kimpton Hotel

[UrbanT]

Originally Posted by BG918

That's McCaffery's 35th & Wynkoop proposal caddy-corner to Zepellin Station.

I did see that part haha. I wonder if this would start before T3? It would be great to have some more construction starts. Seeing some of our peer cities boom even during COVID has me jealous ha.

[Ich]

Originally Posted by SirLucasTheGreat

Anyone seen any new groundbreakings or other construction activity? I saw a new crane at I-25 and Belleview for what I think might be the Kimpton Hotel

There is a new tower crane over Baker. 2nd and Acoma I think. Haven’t seen renderings tho

[rds70]

Originally Posted by Ich

There is a new tower crane over Baker. 2nd and Acoma I think. Haven’t seen renderings tho

It is 360 Acoma, being constructed by Lennar Multifamily:

[gopokes21]

Originally Posted by bunt_q

You guys all need to take a breather and do some math. The entire general fund of the City and County of Denver is between $1.3-1.5 billion/year. All of Denver Public Schools' budget is just over $1 billion/year.

At $500M/mile, how much subway could the City of Denver ever build on its own? The answer is, almost none. You could literally double City taxes and not come close to having the cash for a meaningful system.

Denver is just too small. Wonder why RTD District A is so large? Because it is not dense. Barely denser than some of the suburbs around it. We can speculate about a regional tax going to fund Denver's "densest" neighborhoods, but politically, it is never happening.

We live in a City and a State that can barely scrap together $50 million for capital projects, let alone $5 billion (one subway line, maybe) or $15 billion (rail to the mountains).

In my experience, once someone's POV becomes fully myopic there is no talking them down from that ledge (further evidenced by your suggestion in the next post to close down Blu Pan), but basically you think Denver is a poor struggling city with no resources.

I'm not sure how relevant the city budget, let alone the DPS budget (btw check out the reserves they are sitting on if you're curious where money goes) are to financing mega projects. This city makes a billion dollars magically appear for mega projects every year. Stock show, DIA, I-70, Platte River, Park Hill to Platte drainage network, Stadiums, major affordable/homeless housing initiatives, the new parks sales tax, paying teachers high salaries, and so on.

Denver aint broke - the city budget is merely for maintenance, services, some smaller projects. The reality about transit funding is we should pursue more value capture mechanisms including a tax district to capture the increased valuation around any subway stops. That wouldn't work with streetcar which would honestly be a total waste of money anyway, and likely slower and much less convenient than just driving.

[gopokes21]

Originally Posted by Robert.hampton

I’d call it RNO inflicted blight more so than pre-development blight. Both the Franklin/colfax and smileys laundromat developments were put on hold by objections to demolition from CHUN. Now those building have sat vacant and dilapidated for years and the stretch of colfax has really deteriorated. And both projects had really high quality replacement proposals and were replacing buildings with very questionable historic integrity. Meanwhile CHUN sits on its hand as Victorians are raised at 16th and pearl which are going to be replaced with....a self storage building. Denver’s RNOs probably rival the RTD bord in level of incompetence.

In any case of all three of those developments do go forward - kairoi, smileys, and Franklin/colfax - that will be a generational change for colfax.

I swung by 16th and Pearl on my coffee run today and I didn't see any missing Victorians, let alone pre-development / staging for demo / anything. Is this a real proposal?

[laniroj]

Originally Posted by jhwk

I don’t know how anyone can read this board for very long and not realize that the architect has nothing to do with how high a building gets built or whether the building gets a “hat”.

If you have any friends or relatives in China looking for a place to park some capital in exchange for citizenship, the name of the EB-5 developer is in the article. Toss $50 million in and I bet they will add as many floors as you want.

The EB-5 program was great until the Colorado Regional Center screwed it all up and defrauded all of the EB-5 investors on the Solaris project in Vail. Don't think Colorado will be seeing any more EB-5 dollars because of that...

[Paulopolis]

Originally Posted by SirLucasTheGreat

Anyone seen any new groundbreakings or other construction activity? I saw a new crane at I-25 and Belleview for what I think might be the Kimpton Hotel

The 5-story Holland Partners Group development at 10th & Santa Fe looks like it’s going to start construction any day now. It’s been fenced off for a while, and they’re demolishing all the structures on the site. Covered walkways are being installed.

The 8-story development on the corner of 13th & Santa Fe also looks like it is going to start construction at any moment. It’s been fenced off for a while, all the structures have been demolished, and surveyors were on site this morning.

The 9-story DHA mixed-income development at the corner of 13th & Decatur (Sun Valley) looks like it’s going to start construction very soon too. The lot was recently fenced off, and they’ve begun tearing up the parking lot.