DENVER | Main Development Thread #7

[Chucolo]

5280 has a great story on the new owners of Larimer Square. Not a happy story, either.

https://www.5280.com/losing-larimer-square-the-uncertain-future-of-denvers-most-iconic-block/

[CharlesCO]

Originally Posted by Chucolo

5280 has a great story on the new owners of Larimer Square. Not a happy story, either.

https://www.5280.com/losing-larimer-square-the-uncertain-future-of-denvers-most-iconic-block/

Thanks for sharing. My brother and I used to go to Victoriana almost every year to pick out something for our mom for Christmas. I was sad to hear that it closed.

Hopefully, things turn out okay for the square. The last time I was there (probably close to a year ago), I thought it was quite nice as a closed-off pedestrian space. The city would be smart to make that permanent and fill in the street as a piazza. Turnover is bound to happen, and I'm not totally opposed to some national stuff (that Starbucks has been there for at least 20 years), but it would be a shame if it became full of Shake Shack, Sweetgreen, Warby Parker, Design within Reach, and whatever other stuff that really belongs in Cherry Creek North instead.

[DenvertoLA]

Originally Posted by Chucolo

5280 has a great story on the new owners of Larimer Square. Not a happy story, either.

https://www.5280.com/losing-larimer-square-the-uncertain-future-of-denvers-most-iconic-block/

The Market closing was a gut punch

[Jbash]

Hello from the SLC forum! I have taken it upon myself to start a mountain west development discussion discord server, for those who may be interested to join!
https://discord.gg/XJ2BKUua

[rds70]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

In case you slept in this morning, the calendar just rolled over and it's February 1st, 2023 and I'm expecting the announcement of three (3) new groundbreakings in the next two months.

The scuttlebutt is that SirLucasTheGreat knows which ones they are but he ain't talking.

Demolition has started for the Sports Castle Lofts, so there is one.

[ohiotoco]

Steelhouse at 31st & Brighton in RiNo broke ground over the weekend. GE Johnson mobilized on site.

https://steelhousedenver.com/

[Paulopolis]

The second half of the Holland Partners project on Santa Fe is well underway.

The condo (?) project on the NW corner of Washington & 17th seems to be underway as well.

And the low-rise on the SE corner of 12th & Bannock has been demolished. I don’t know what is planned for that plot of land.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by ohiotoco

Steelhouse at 31st & Brighton in RiNo broke ground over the weekend. GE Johnson mobilized on site.

https://steelhousedenver.com/

Really? Nice. Was waiting for that one after they completed the sewer main work.

[Darius C]

https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/...using-ordinance-scaring-away-development

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by Darius C

https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/...using-ordinance-scaring-away-development

Yeesh. Compare the three months before an ordinance goes into effect and when developers shoved anything into the permitting process they could and then compare it with the following three months?

That’s some cherry-picked data right there.

[UrbanT]

Originally Posted by wong21fr

Yeesh. Compare the three months before an ordinance goes into effect and when developers shoved anything into the permitting process they could and then compare it with the following three months?

That’s some cherry-picked data right there.

My thoughts exactly! Of course there was a flood of proposals before a rule change.

[rds70]

Originally Posted by Paulopolis

And the low-rise on the SE corner of 12th & Bannock has been demolished. I don’t know what is planned for that plot of land.

The site is planned for a 10 story office building.

[rds70]

955 Bannock is now officially under construction as well.

[laniroj]

Originally Posted by DenvertoLA

The Market closing was a gut punch

Yep - easily my favorite day spot in downtown Denver.

[laniroj]

Originally Posted by ohiotoco

Steelhouse at 31st & Brighton in RiNo broke ground over the weekend. GE Johnson mobilized on site.

https://steelhousedenver.com/

I find it interesting that this building is oriented with setbacks and amenity toward downtown, not the mountains. Seems a rather peculiar choice to me, but to each their own.

[rds70]

Renderings of the proposed two tower project at 22nd and California. 25 stories, 646 units, 265 feet, Perkins + Will Architects:

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by ohiotoco

Steelhouse at 31st & Brighton in RiNo broke ground over the weekend. GE Johnson mobilized on site.

https://steelhousedenver.com/

I've been holding my breath on this one. Quality people and Quality project but one could ague that Denver hardly needs anymore office space. However, RiNo seems to be preferred over downtown at this point. If we figure an 18 month buildout... let's say near the end of 2024 this project should do well I'd think.

Originally Posted by Paulopolis

The second half of the Holland Partners project on Santa Fe is well underway.

I'm always impressed by Holland's site selections. They really know how to pick the niches. It's been so long since we originally posted about these apartments I lost track of them so thanks for the update.

True Story

I like driving 'after dark' and decide to take one last ride before heading home. I pick up Diana at STK Steakhouse in Old Town Scottsdale.



Seeing that she's going to the Hilton Inn Airport I ask her where she's from (I always like to know where people are from). Says she's from Denver, born and raised. Says she lives 'downtown' so I ask her where; she lives in Highlands off of 32nd. The day before she flew down here she closed on a new 4 bedroom 4 bath condo at Reunion in Commerce City. Turns out she has 3 kids and they're all excited to move to their new home.

I ask her if she's down here for the week. She says her company owns another restaurant in addition to STK down here and both restaurants have catering events scheduled for the Phoenix Open and the Superbowl. She's responsible for organizing and overseeing these fun challenges.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by Chucolo

5280 has a great story on the new owners of Larimer Square. Not a happy story, either.

https://www.5280.com/losing-larimer-square-the-uncertain-future-of-denvers-most-iconic-block/

Obviously a sad news - good news story. The upside is that they have ownership with the capacity who intends to do the necessary extensive updating to continue to preserve this special area.

Side Topics

Here's a happy story with a sad ending with respect to the 16th Street Mall.

Tea with Tae, a local online tea business, made the jump to a brick and mortar location thanks to Popup Denver.

“It was pretty exciting,” said owner and founder Tae O’Dorisio. “When I got the call and the email from DDP, I did cry. I was really excited to have a location, a physical space, for Tea with Tae. And when our name was on the signs, that was a pretty exciting moment as well.”

Read the article for the sad ending.

Denver7 News also has this incredulous story about how much money Denver is spending.

True Story Two

Last Friday I pick up a guy from Knoxville TN. Says he wants to move to Denver and of course he's a HUGE Peyton Manning fan. His company was invited to help cater this week's Phoenix Open (The Greatest Show on Grass) and he was already starting the prep work.

He's telling me how nice it is in Knoxville. It's home to the University of Tennessee Volunteers but unlike Boulder it's really an affordable place to live. But because it's so affordable they've grown by 20% recently.

Which got me to thinking

the City of Denver could save a boatload of money if they'd buy one-way bus tickets to Knoxville for half of Denver's homeless population since it's so affordable.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by rds70

Renderings of the proposed two tower project at 22nd and California. 25 stories, 646 units, 265 feet, Perkins + Will Architects:

That developer is simply amazing - so far.

[DenvertoLA]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

That developer is simply amazing - so far.

646 units is a HUGE project. that is going to have an impact in the area in terms of people walking about.