DENVER | Main Development Thread #7

[Agent Orange]

Originally Posted by CONative

As a National Real Estate Analyst, I can tell you that single-family rental is the fastest growing residential real estate happening right now across the country. It's growing leaps and bounds. Apparently a lot of people like single-family rental if there was more of it out there. The average size single-family rental in these planned communities is only about 1300 sf. I would expect it to be the same in Central Park (definitely not over 2000 sf on average). It's more about people wanting rentals with privacy and easier access (no stairs) and without being attached to other tenants (noise, etc.)

Sounds like if we could get rid of setbacks/easements from a zoning perspective, and if developers used better soundproofing, we could do a better job supplying homes that people want at a (semi) reasonable cost. I like the walkable urban life like the rest of the nerds here, but I also can't stand hearing peoples' kids and dogs running around on top of me. I had to go further from the core than I wanted, but I found a small unit in a 1950s fourplex that, while outrageous on a price psf basis, was doable for me. I only share one wall with a neighbor and I get tons more light than I would in a Cap Hill condo (but OTOH not a ton of cool things to walk to). This building would be illegal to build almost everywhere in the City of Denver now.

[gopokes21]

It's not good development, but I'm sooo excited about Quik Trip and Whataburger coming to town.

Originally Posted by BG918

Price Development Group has a 5 story, 309 unit apartment building planned at the SE corner of MLK & CPB. And ReyLenn has a 4 story, 307 unit apartment building planned for 32nd & CPB next to a planned Natural Grocers.

That's interesting. I'm aware of two more (other) projects soon to be announced on CPB right in front of the station; I just don't want to beat the developer/funders to their own forthcoming announcements.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by BG918

Price Development Group has a 5 story, 309 unit apartment building planned at the SE corner of MLK & CPB. And ReyLenn has a 4 story, 307 unit apartment building planned for 32nd & CPB next to a planned Natural Grocers.

ReyLenn is also planning 246 units in a three story building at Boston Court and 56th Ave. Mid-America Apartment Communities is planning 1,000 units at the SE corner of Northfield Blvd and Central Park Blvd. There's something like 2,500 rental units planned in Central Park and that's not including any of the plans around Central Park Station

[gopokes21]

Originally Posted by CONative

As a National Real Estate Analyst, I can tell you that single-family rental is the fastest growing residential real estate happening right now across the country. It's growing leaps and bounds. Apparently a lot of people like single-family rental if there was more of it out there. The average size single-family rental in these planned communities is only about 1300 sf. I would expect it to be the same in Central Park (definitely not over 2000 sf on average). It's more about people wanting rentals with privacy and easier access (no stairs) and without being attached to other tenants (noise, etc.)

Lol. SFH rental developments are the "American Dream, brought to you by Blackrock."

If there is any shred of market evidence supporting this trend, it's more of a matter of conservatives (Blackrock) knowing what other conservatives (SFH renter families) want. It's not a housing trend for the whole country or even a majority of people in Colorado.

I will say one good thing about SFH rental - I do see it as missing middle housing (broadly speaking), especially if it comes in the form of a pocket neighborhood:
https://rosschapin.com/projects/pocket-neighborhoods/

[The Dirt]

Isn't this steps from the train and bus station? Why are we building more low-density auto-centric 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 so close to transit? Oh yeah, shitting zoning.

[TakeFive]

The Honorable Governor Polis take the gloves off

https://www.cpr.org/2021/04/08/gov-jared-polis-says-rtd-needs-reform-not-more-state-money/

“While I wish RTD the best — ...and I hope to sign one (bill) that will allow them to compete and do better — they certainly don’t have a monopoly on public transit,” he said.

As the state considers a bill that would raise revenue for the Colorado Department of Transportation, Gov. Jared Polis says RTD, the Regional Transportation District, is not a part of it.

“I, and many others at the state level, are not always happy with everything RTD does,” Polis told Colorado Matters, “So we’re certainly not about to give them money, but the state absolutely supports local transit.” ( )

No comment.

Originally Posted by gopokes21

Lol. SFH rental developments are the "American Dream, brought to you by Blackrock."

If there is any shred of market evidence supporting this trend, it's more of a matter of conservatives (Blackrock) knowing what other conservatives (SFH renter families) want. It's not a housing trend for the whole country or even a majority of people in Colorado.

I will say one good thing about SFH rental - I do see it as missing middle housing (broadly speaking), especially if it comes in the form of a pocket neighborhood:
https://rosschapin.com/projects/pocket-neighborhoods/

This is not even remotely close to what CONative and I were talking about.

Blackrock which got out of the SFH ownership business in 2019 was indeed a primary beneficiary of the thousands of repossessed homes following the 2008 Great Recession. Very different concept and strategy, however.

Central Park was maybe the only neighborhood with the land that could accommodate this concept in Denver. The one other possibility that comes to mind would be Westside's redevelopment of the former Park Hill Golf Club. Given their NYMBY-ism they might like this concept?

[laniroj]

Originally Posted by The Dirt

Isn't this steps from the train and bus station? Why are we building more low-density auto-centric 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 so close to transit? Oh yeah, shitting zoning.

But but but we have plenty of land!

Candy-Chewbaca posted yesterday about making our streets edible orchards and farms. I wanted to laugh because fruit trees are forbidden in the public right of way. I guess you really can have your cake and eat (sh)it too!

[The Dirt]

Can we please have a primary challenger to Polis? What a 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 clown.

[TakeFive]

Evans Station TOD Proposal


Image courtesy of Gables Residential/Denver city documents via BusinessDen

Rezoning sought for 300-unit apartment project near South Broadway
Apr 7, 2021 By James Rodriguez – Reporter, Denver Business Journal

The owner of a nearly two-acre parcel at the northwest corner of South Bannock Street and West Evans Avenue is seeking a rezoning that would enable hundreds of apartment units to be built on the site.

The property, located at 235 W. Evans Ave., is currently owned by Denver-based Downing Street Investments, a company founded and operated by Andrew Davis. Davis told Denver Business Journal he's partnered with multifamily developer Gables Residential to build a roughly 300-unit multifamily project on the parcel.

On Tuesday morning, City Council's Land Use, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee voted to forward the rezoning request to the full Council, where it's tentatively scheduled to come up for a final vote on May 24.

Timing of this will depend on Century Link.

The warehouse at 235 W. Evans Ave. is currently occupied by CenturyLink, which still has a renewal option on its lease, Davis said.

"If they decide to renew their lease then this project would be delayed for the term of their lease, but we're working on alternative solutions for them right now," Davis said.

[twister244]

Originally Posted by The Dirt

Can we please have a primary challenger to Polis? What a 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 clown.

Polis just yanked the MLB all-stars game into Denver for this year, which will result in an un-told amount local revenue directly injected into the economy and you think he's a clown?.....

He's a moderate, business-centric gay liberal governor. You shouldn't be surprised by his policy positions on many of these issues.

[The Dirt]

Ah yes, a baseball game is very important to me. Bebe mind the fact that he wants his choo choo to Boulder so much that he's willing to take RTD down and leave the most at risk people without viable transportation options. 🞵🞵🞵🞵 him and his tech bro money.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by The Dirt

Ah yes, a baseball game is very important to me. Bebe mind the fact that he wants his choo choo to Boulder so much that he's willing to take RTD down and leave the most at risk people without viable transportation options. 🞵🞵🞵🞵 him and his tech bro money.

Sorry, but until RTD actually starts doing more to serve those at risk people instead of cutting, cutting, cutting local bus routes the criticism over RTD rings true. This in spite of Polis' misdirected criticism of the Boulder choo-choo. That we're still years out from a restructuring of RTD's service to focus on those routes that you are talking about (urban/local routes with higher ridership) shows that RTD has done very little to change. Granted the pandemic was a major setback, but it could also have served as natural disruption point to follow forward on this. Routes that showed a strong baseline ridership in the pandemic should have had their frequencies increased over pre-pandemic levels while other routes remained chopped. Instead we get the RTD Board acting faux woke and trying to replace security guards with mental health workers as their biggest focus.

RTD could also work on controlling the tweakers and 🞵🞵🞵🞵-bags who have made the bus terminals pretty unsavory. Public perception means a lot and RTD is failing hard right now at presenting an attractive transportation mode.

[twister244]

Originally Posted by The Dirt

Ah yes, a baseball game is very important to me. Bebe mind the fact that he wants his choo choo to Boulder so much that he's willing to take RTD down and leave the most at risk people without viable transportation options. 🞵🞵🞵🞵 him and his tech bro money.

How important the game is to you is completely irrelevant. What matters is the local boost on small businesses it's going to have in Denver, especially since by the time it occurs, things will be mostly open back up. Polis handed Denver a big win on this, and you can't deny that.

[SirLucasTheGreat]

Polis is not perfect but COVID has been his biggest test. In that test, Colorado had the 12th lowest number of cases per capita, 9th lowest deaths per capita, and the 12th lowest negative economic impact according to WalletHub. I think he has done pretty decent with a few missteps.

[TakeFive]

Side Pocket Topics

Migration

Millennials really want to live in Denver
Apr 8, 2021 - Axios Denver By John Frank

Denver continues to be a leading draw for ages 25 to 39 to come to Colorado, a recent SmartAsset report looking at 2019 data shows.

• The state saw the largest percentage increase in millennials at 2%.
• Colorado has a larger proportion of millennials than any other state at 23%.

.....
Images courtesy SmartAsset

Where Millennials Are Moving – 2021 Edition
MAR 30, 2021 By Ben Geier, CEPF - SmartAsset

Key Findings

• Moving West and South. Six out of the top 10 cities in the study are located in Western U.S., with the other four in the South. Colorado and Texas each have two cities in the top 10 – Denver and Colorado Springs in the Centennial State, and Austin and Frisco in the Lone Star State.
• Leaving the biggest cities. Millennials are flowing out most from the largest city in the country. New York City lost a net of almost 40,000 from this generational group in 2019. The second-largest outflow came from Chicago, with a net decrease of more than 11,000 millennials. Other big cities with net migration losses, placing at the bottom of our study, include Los Angeles, San Diego, Boston and Miami.
• States with no income tax. Five of the top 10 cities where millennials are moving have no state income tax on salaries and wages: Seattle, Washington; Austin, Texas; Frisco, Texas; Henderson, Nevada and Cape Coral, Florida.

[Sam Hill]

Originally Posted by Agent Orange

Sounds like if we could get rid of setbacks/easements from a zoning perspective, and if developers used better soundproofing, we could do a better job supplying homes that people want at a (semi) reasonable cost. I like the walkable urban life like the rest of the nerds here, but I also can't stand hearing peoples' kids and dogs running around on top of me. I had to go further from the core than I wanted, but I found a small unit in a 1950s fourplex that, while outrageous on a price psf basis, was doable for me. I only share one wall with a neighbor and I get tons more light than I would in a Cap Hill condo (but OTOH not a ton of cool things to walk to). This building would be illegal to build almost everywhere in the City of Denver now.

I live in a concrete-frame building now and it changed everything. (The main reason I moved from my old place was because of a noise-related feud with a neighbor.) I don’t hear a peep from my neighbors above and below. And I only barely hear my neighbors on each side and only if they’re really making noise. Then again, the condos I’ve looked at in buildings similar to this (I’m currently renting) are outrageous on a cost psf basis (and the HOA fees - oh my!)

I’ll be buying relatively soon and I’m hoping to find a place in a truly walkable neighborhood, and I already know, when it comes to neighborhoods like this, concrete frame is where it’s at, so that’s where I’ll be looking. Hopefully I don’t find myself priced out and relegated to something more suburban, because I can already tell you, wood-frame buildings where you can hear your neighbors through the floors/ceilings are not an option.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by Sam Hill

I’ll be buying relatively soon and I’m hoping to find a place in a truly walkable neighborhood, and I already know, when it comes to neighborhoods like this, concrete frame is where it’s at, so that’s where I’ll be looking. Hopefully I don’t find myself priced out and relegated to something more suburban, because I can already tell you, wood-frame buildings where you can hear your neighbors through the floors/ceilings are not an option.

Sorry if I'm being presumptuous but it's in my blood.

There's a fair number of concrete buildings in your neighborhood or nearby. A few good sources for looking:

• 1301 N Speer Blvd
  ------------
• Downtown Condos
  ------------
• Cap Hill Condos

OTOH if you can income qualify @ 80% of the medium income: AMI = $65,000 X 80% = $52,000 you could buy a brand new condo at La TELA starting at $150,000.

[SirLucasTheGreat]

CenturyLink



McGregor Square



One platte



X Denver



The Thompson



10th and Bannock

[Sam Hill]

X Denver is incredibly hideous. It’s incredible. I can’t believe it’s real. I can’t believe some architect thought this would be okay. But there it is.

I normally appreciate ugly buildings - even though I’m disappointed by their ugliness - because at least they’re adding much needed inventory to the market and increasing density in the neighborhood. Background buildings I say. But X Denver is a scar on the city and I wish it didn’t exist.

[Sam Hill]

I think the architect was going for that prison chic.