DENVER | Main Development Thread #7

[DenverInfill]

Originally Posted by mhays

The rendering appears to suggest a lot of housing (skinnier towers) in addition to some offices. With the Downtown fringes filling up, tall towers seem very doable, particularly if the district is nice enough or close enough to jobs that people will pay a premium for it. I'd expect more of these on the other Downtown fringes too.

Separate topic: What about Auraria? I just glanced at their 2017 20-year plan. There are two student residential projects, both in the five-year horizon, i.e. hopefully done or underway by now. Is there a chance at more intensive use, like more student housing, a hotel or two, a couple buildings for start-ups related to the institutions...? For such as huge campus, it doesn't seem to be pulling its weight in urban terms. Student housing seems particularly important as Denver housing gets more expensive.

The Auraria Campus is kicking off a full redo of the campus master plan. The expectation is that this new plan will push the urbanism even more than the last one, which wasn't overly ambitious with density and mixed uses.

The issue is that the state legislature provides very little in terms of capital funding. Several of the new buildings built on the campus this past decade were funded by the universities themselves by tapping various pots of money and student fees, and not from capital allocations through the Department of Higher Education as would be the normal revenue source. That isn't expected to change, so it is anticipated that the new plan will encourage a lot of public/private relationships to help fund new buildings. This could certainly result in higher densities. A private developer might not be too interested in partnering to build an 8-story building on the campus with 4 going to academic purposes and 4 going to private leasing. But a 20+ story building is another thing. IMO, the odds are pretty good that buildings on campus will grow in height, mix of uses (lots of student residential and non-student affordable) and other non-academic uses.

[mhays]

That's good to hear.

I'm seeing a lot of colleges focus on PPPs...debt isn't on their books (just lease obligations), they can mix private-sector costs and public-sector financing, they can encourage spin-offs that support the education and eco-devo missions... An institution can do one even if they're leasing the whole thing, or might do so eventually.

Likewise, private student housing is booming, whether on private land or institutional land. I bet they'd love to get their hands on a few sites.

[DenverInfill]

Agreed. There's strong demand for student housing. Auraria didn't get its first on-campus dorms until last fall, although a decade or so ago there was some student housing building across the street from the campus border. I think there's demand for several thousands of student housing units, from studios through housing for couples with kids.

The one thing the campus has of great financial value is the land. If they can be creative and partner with the private developers by provided the land as their equity contribution, seems like a real win-win-win to me. Land costs in a downtown setting account for a big chunk of the development cost of course.

[bunt_q]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

Denver - clinging to the edge of the middle is losing altitude. Colorado Gov Jared Polis who sorta went 'all liberal' a year ago is now trying to walk back some of those (new tax) provisions.

Phoenix - Arizona meanwhile is taxing their businesses less and less while Denver wants to see businesses as the answer to wanting more and more. And Denver is not alone; it was suggested that San Francisco's Prop C which taxed wealthier companies more may be an issue.

What new tax provisions are you talking about?

What has Denver done that targets business for more and more?

I can't think of a single thing, so I am wondering what you are referring to.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by DenverInfill

Agreed. There's strong demand for student housing. Auraria didn't get its first on-campus dorms until last fall, although a decade or so ago there was some student housing building across the street from the campus border. I think there's demand for several thousands of student housing units, from studios through housing for couples with kids.

The one thing the campus has of great financial value is the land. If they can be creative and partner with the private developers by provided the land as their equity contribution, seems like a real win-win-win to me. Land costs in a downtown setting account for a big chunk of the development cost of course.

MSU Denver has studied student housing over the years. The last analysis was that they needed over 1,500 units, it might have been as high as 3,000 IIRC, brought online within a five year time-frame for it to make financial sense. This high-capital hurdle has been the biggest impediment to Auraria's largest institution developing student housing.

[bunt_q]

Originally Posted by DenverInfill

The one thing the campus has of great financial value is the land. If they can be creative and partner with the private developers by provided the land as their equity contribution, seems like a real win-win-win to me. Land costs in a downtown setting account for a big chunk of the development cost of course.

A few considerations of course. (1) Will the campus allow market rents? Most do not; the more campuses control pricing, the harder it is to pencil; (2) particularly at a place like Auraria, is the campus guaranteeing some number of students? Not really a tradition of requiring on-campus housing, so if not (2), then (1) is all the more important. (3) Is it students only? harder for campuses to not have a guaranteed annual payment (the lease mhays refers to - that can be a lease from the university; not necessarily to the university) if the answer is no. And so on and so forth.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by DenverInfill

The Auraria Campus is kicking off a full redo of the campus master plan. The expectation is that this new plan will push the urbanism even more than the last one, which wasn't overly ambitious with density and mixed uses.

Does this mean that there are no other pending projects for the foreseeable future at Auraria?

Originally Posted by mhays

That's good to hear.

Likewise, private student housing is booming, whether on private land or institutional land. I bet they'd love to get their hands on a few sites.

Greystar, who's been involved in a number of Denver apartment projects was a front runner in student housing. There's been a number of projects near ASU, both their Tempe campus and their downtown Phx campus but none on campus that I'm aware of. But Auraria, with three different schools has been mostly a commuter campus with a lot of part time students although I assume this is changing some.

Carmel Properties (San Francisco/Denver) developed a nice off-campus project that DenverInfill reviewed when it was called Wellington Apartments. It's now called CoLab Apartments and they're taking reservation for the fall semester.

Originally Posted by bunt_q

What new tax provisions are you talking about?

What has Denver done that targets business for more and more?

I can't think of a single thing, so I am wondering what you are referring to.

Sorry, my language is confused. That was intended for the state legislature which I also spoke to.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by SirLucasTheGreat

BusinessDen had an interested story on Stan Kroenke wanting to redevelop the parking lots outside of Ball Arena. According to the article, these parking lots couple with River Mile would expand downtown by 40%

This is a nice site layout as well.


Courtesy of KSE

This is a bit hilarious from CBS4: https://denver.cbslocal.com/2022/05/03/kroenke-sports-entertainment-plans-lots-around-ball-arena/

“That area and the area around Mile High Stadium, these are the next frontiers for urban planning,” said Darrin Duber-Smith, a senior professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

“Is there a need for all of this extra retail and all of this extra space? Do we really need to expand the footprint of downtown Denver? I’m not sure if there’s a real necessity there.”

[DenverInfill]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

Does this mean that there are no other pending projects for the foreseeable future at Auraria?

No. The CU Denver Engineering Building is moving forward into the design phase. https://www.ucdenver.edu/about-cu-denver/our-campus-community/anchor-of-engineering

[RyanD]

Colorado Convention Center Expansion:


It's pretty sweet to see a large crawler on the roof.


https://denverinfill.com/2022/05/convention-center-may-2022-progress.html

[SirLucasTheGreat]

Thanks Ryan!

[EngiNerd]

That was quite the engineering undertaking (it was done by others at the firm I work for). Large portions of the new roof are designed with excess capacity solely because of that crane. You can see the track it can take in 3 directions so that large steel trusses for the new space can be lifted into place. Tower cranes don't have the capacity to support those heavy lifts like a crawler does.

[TakeFive]

Lincoln Property Company to Bring Life Sciences Campus to Broomfield
May 3, 2022 - Mile High CRE


A rendering of CoRE – Colorado Research Exchange, courtesy of HKS Architects

Located at 235 Interlocken Boulevard, CoRE – Colorado Research Exchange, will consist of four buildings, three of which will be four-to-five story tenant buildings ranging from approximately 110,000 to nearly 200,000 square feet. The fourth property, to be utilized as an amenity center, will be 15,960 square feet. The campus is being designed by HKS Architects,

What if I wanted to lease space for my new boomerang company?

“Our purpose-built campus will include tenant spaces designed specifically to accommodate lab/life science or tech uses,” says Scott Caldwell, senior vice president of Lincoln Property Company. “Companies won’t need to rehabilitate or convert old office or industrial space; these facilities will be on the cutting edge of critical environments for a broad range of uses.”

---------------------

So those crawlers aren't just for show?

Originally Posted by EngiNerd

That was quite the engineering undertaking (it was done by others at the firm I work for). Large portions of the new roof are designed with excess capacity solely because of that crane. You can see the track it can take in 3 directions so that large steel trusses for the new space can be lifted into place. Tower cranes don't have the capacity to support those heavy lifts like a crawler does.

Good to know!
------------------------

Very Nice

Originally Posted by DenverInfill

No. The CU Denver Engineering Building is moving forward into the design phase. https://www.ucdenver.edu/about-cu-denver/our-campus-community/anchor-of-engineering

Didn't the legislature just allocate funding for new higher education construction? Seems like there should be 'infrastructure' $'s out there somewhere.

CU Cool Rendering:

[DenverInfill]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

Didn't the legislature just allocate funding for new higher education construction? Seems like there should be 'infrastructure' $'s out there somewhere.

They do allocate some capital funding, but it's never very much and it's highly competitive. The Auraria institutions have to compete against all of the other colleges and universities in the state, and then higher education has to compete against all of the other departments for a limited amount of capital construction funding. Additionally, building rehabs (new roofs, HVAC replacement, etc.) also come from that same pot of money.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by DenverInfill

They do allocate some capital funding, but it's never very much and it's highly competitive. The Auraria institutions have to compete against all of the other colleges and universities in the state, and then higher education has to compete against all of the other departments for a limited amount of capital construction funding. Additionally, building rehabs (new roofs, HVAC replacement, etc.) also come from that same pot of money.

One of the things that caught my eye was their innovative and interdisciplinary approach. (I happen to be aware that ASU has ranked No. 1 in innovation by U.S. News & World Report for 7 consecutive years which is why that caught my attention) I have no idea how they have managed to raise so much money down here but I figure there must me money to be had somewhere, somehow.

[Robert.hampton]

Awesome to see a concept submitted for that firestone tire store at 20th and Broadway. A standalone tire store in the heart of downtown always felt to me like a lingering reminder of a downtown core that never truly recovered from the destruction of urban renewal. Hope this has some legs to it.

[Ich]

I saw a post on LinkedIn from the GreyStar construction team for a senior project manager with a photo of Parq II. Safe to assume that project is moving forward?

[SirLucasTheGreat]

Looks like Parq II is still working through design review/environmental review. The most recent thing I saw was a transportation plan from late March 2022. It seems active but not as imminent as Evans East. I would really love to see Parq II move forward though. It would add to a pretty dense wall on Speer and also fill up what is becoming a very dense corridor on Bannock (it is a Cherokee address but I believe much of the building will abut Bannock).

[RyanD]

Originally Posted by Ich

I saw a post on LinkedIn from the GreyStar construction team for a senior project manager with a photo of Parq II. Safe to assume that project is moving forward?

Saw a similar thing on LinkedIn from a high up person at Greystar for 650 17th as well..

[TakeFive]

Speaking of GreyStar

Sept 1 is now the advertised move-in date for availability at The Fitzgerald.

https://www.apartments.com/the-fitzgerald-denver-co/502p82p/

Move-in Special

Fitzgerald Special Now pre-leasing at Venture X Denver located at The Dairy Block. Book your VIP Tour today and receive 4 weeks free and more!*

Originally Posted by SirLucasTheGreat

Looks like Parq II is still working through design review/environmental review. The most recent thing I saw was a transportation plan from late March 2022. It seems active but not as imminent as Evans East. I would really love to see Parq II move forward though. It would add to a pretty dense wall on Speer and also fill up what is becoming a very dense corridor on Bannock (it is a Cherokee address but I believe much of the building will abut Bannock).

Wasn't sure where this one was at in the process but this project would be a logical one to move forward. I wouldn't be surprised if they already have the needed funding not unlike LMC. Who knows maybe their funding could included 650 17th but I'll hold my powder on this one till I see the whites of their eyes.