Quote:
Originally Posted by BG918
Isn't the lot south of Central Park Station intended to be the de-facto downtown for Stapleton? That is where much higher densities than anything else currently in Stapleton make the most sense.
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I think this is dead on. Though I am curious what RTD's long-term plans for the three lots immediately south of Smith Rd are. RTD's TOD master-plan shows this ultimately being developed, and it seems like they'd be stupid not to redevelop any surface-lot that they can (proceeds from the sale of the real estate can go toward a new parking structure), but then again, it's hard to ever figure out if they have any long term organizational plan at all.
The lots south of 37th are owned by the City and County of Denver, so presumably those will definitely get developed. Factor in the Quebec Square real estate for future development, and this would absolutely be the logical place for Stapleton's main "downtown."
As for Northfield - I was just looking at an assessor's map and was disappointed to see that "Uinta, Verbena, 48th, 47th, and 46th Streets" are not actually city ROW, though they have carved out some legal parcels around the four corners of the parking-lot intersections for future development. The design of the interior streets seems to indicate the desire to add future density, but I suppose that will depend entirely on the desires of the corporate landowner when the time for redevelopment comes. With its site plan, it's not that hard to imagine the big-box retail on the perimeter of the site being redeveloped to high-density residential without the need to tear the entire mall down. It may just require some creative architecture to make it work, and perhaps regulatory changes to things like parking minimums.