DENVER | Main Development Thread #6

[DownhomeDenver]

Originally Posted by wong21fr

Well, we're filling up. An April 9th ground-breaking has been announced for Union Tower West:

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/blog/r...wer-west-to-break-ground-near-union.html

In 3 months or so we'll have 3-5 new construction cranes behind Union Station building 640 residences, 300 hotel rooms, 150K sq ft of office, and about 100K sq ft of retail. All with plenty of parking to ensure that the non-wealthy can visit occasionally for a peak of the good life.

Finally! How many development iterations and renderings did we go through over the years for this specific plot of land?! What's nice it's going to be a Hotel Indigo! Good brand!

Still rather surprised that we don't have a W. Just weird to me.

[seventwenty]

Event: Confluence Speaker Series: Talent & Housing - Are we shooting ourselves in the foot?

Originally Posted by BookFace page

Join us as we explore how city and state policies are affecting the current housing inventory, neighborhood shifts, the relationship between demand and development, and the feasibility of building for millennials.

Thurs April 16, 2015
5:30-7:30 PM
@ Green Spaces - 1368 26th Street, Denver

[DenverPoke]

Originally Posted by balugajames

That looks like a new rendering. Not the biggest fan of the look, but happy about the scale!

http://media.bizj.us/view/img/5475321/screen-shot-2015-03-31-at-113358-am*600xx564-376-0-24.png

Apparently it is going to be a Hotel Indigo, I'm not familiar with the brand.

Edit: DoHoDen beat me to it!

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by DownhomeDenver

Finally! How many development iterations and renderings did we go through over the years for this specific plot of land?! What's nice it's going to be a Hotel Indigo! Good brand!

Still rather surprised that we don't have a W. Just weird to me.

Wait... We have an update which DownhomeDenver mentions.

Updated: Mar 31, 2015, 3:34pm MDT according to Molly Armbrister

Union Tower West... will include a 180-room hotel by InterContinential Hotels Group (IHG).

The hotel will be branded as a Hotel Indigo, IHG's boutique brand. "We are excited to expand the Hotel Indigo brand into this incredible downtown Denver neighborhood," said Jason Moskal, vice president of lifestyle brands for the Americas at IHG

In an article by Hotelier & Hotel Dime Magazine dated March 26, 2015
"IHG positions its boutique brand to target millennials"

As more hotel chains realise the strength of the boutique and release their own lifestyle brands, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has revealed plans to drive this buoyancy further by targeting the Millennials.

The rise of the Millennial traveller, expected to be the biggest group of hotel customers by 2020, has sparked major development plans for the big brands, including IHG, as more hotel chains create tailored arms to tap into this market.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by DownhomeDenver

Finally! How many development iterations and renderings did we go through over the years for this specific plot of land?! What's nice it's going to be a Hotel Indigo! Good brand!

Still rather surprised that we don't have a W. Just weird to me.

I hope that when Starwood does put a W downtown that we get a good-sized one. None of this 100-200 room moderately-sized hotel talk; but rather a big, wonderful, 500-room plus hotel.

[Stonemans_rowJ]

Ross and TJ Maxx are perfect for the 16th street mall, the same way that Cheesecake Factory and Maggiano's are. If they didn't do well, they wouldn't be there. The 16th street mall is totally a tourist (to use a skiing term "gaper") spot populated by lots of tourists and panhandlers. Union Square in San Francisco has the same element to it. Locals don't like it there and the really hip retailers and restaurants generally do not locate there. Want some better retail and restaurants? Go to Rino or Lohi. Same way I'd go to Mission or Marina in SF.

While the buses are great from a transportation standpoint, and its a wonderful service, I think they detract from the quality of the space.

The higher end retailers won't want to be there. Maybe down at the "northwest" end of 16th towards Union Station and in Union STation proper. The more independent, boutique shops are in Larimer Square.

I've said this before, if I lived downtown and needed a coffee maker, I'm not buying it from Target. I'm getting a really nice one delivered 2 day free shipping via Amazon Prime. Socks? If I can afford to live downtown, I'm not buying my socks from TJ Maxx.

What thriving big city is not the domain of the affluent? Let's not act like Denver is flawed because it is expensive. This is the nature of the "great inversion" happening in every big, thriving city. Living in the core and close-in is the most desirable and therefore will cost the most. Simple supply and demand, and we have a small supply and very high demand.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by wong21fr

I hope that when Starwood does put a W downtown that we get a good-sized one. None of this 100-200 room moderately-sized hotel talk; but rather a big, wonderful, 500-room plus hotel.

Using my friendship with Google I checked on current plans for new W's. They list 25 new W's planned/under construction but ONLY 1 in the U.S. (Philadelphia).

[Dogpatch]

Originally Posted by Stonemans_rowJ

The 16th street mall is totally a tourist (to use a skiing term "gaper") spot populated by lots of tourists and panhandlers. Union Square in San Francisco has the same element to it. Locals don't like it there and the really hip retailers and restaurants generally do not locate there.

Except that Union Square can't touch 16th Street's panhandler epidemic. And it has some very high end retailers (Bloomingdale's, Neiman Marcus, Sax Fifth Avenue, Barney's) that don't leave the tourists walking away disappointed and wondering what the big deal is. So, not really the same element.

[DownhomeDenver]

Has anyone ever posted this site before? Lloyd Goff? I don't think I've ever heard this name before.

http://www.lloydgoff.com/Resume/Platte%20Valley/Platte%20Valley.htm

[UrbanT]

Originally Posted by Dogpatch

Except that Union Square can't touch 16th Street's panhandler epidemic. And it has some very high end retailers (Bloomingdale's, Neiman Marcus, Sax Fifth Avenue, Barney's) that don't leave the tourists walking away disappointed and wondering what the big deal is. So, not really the same element.

Don't forget that SF has one of America's most lively retail scenes if not THE most lively scene outside of NYC. With that being said, the homeless in the Union Square area in my experience is way worse than anything I have ever seen on 16th st.

As those have stated earlier, you can put me on the side of those saying that 16 th street should be more of a destination for everyone and there is plenty of room for improvement. A lot of the retailers that are in CC could still maintain a profit having 2 locations in denver proper.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by Stonemans_rowJ

What thriving big city is not the domain of the affluent? Let's not act like Denver is flawed because it is expensive. This is the nature of the "great inversion" happening in every big, thriving city. Living in the core and close-in is the most desirable and therefore will cost the most. Simple supply and demand, and we have a small supply and very high demand.

What has developed in downtown Denver and its surrounding neighborhoods and is ongoing is totally fascinating. While urban energy is not unique to Denver it has been pervasive. Certainly to me it is a-m-a-z-i-n-g.

Still, Denver does NOT have the depth of corporate power or industry bench of many other cities, especially gateway cities. It does have plenty going for it; just not at the level of other cities.

Metro Phoenix is similar in their lack of a deep corporate bench. But going forward they will have a big competitive advantage of affordability and being business friendly. It wouldn't surprise me if over the next 5-10 years they land a lot of new corporate business. It's not impossible that many of the millennials that have flocked to Denver might relocate to the desert for good paying jobs and where a nice home costs about half as much. While they lack for rail transit, they are getting ready to break ground on the last piece of freeway originally envisioned in 1986, a 22 mile freeway that will open by 2020 with 8 lanes from day one. This is just intended as an example of things that can't be predicted; who knows how things will play out in an ever increasingly competitive world?

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by seventwenty

I think my favorite thing about the 16th Street Mall website is that it has so many listings on 17th.

Haha, that's pretty interesting at that.

[enjo13]

Originally Posted by Dogpatch

Except that Union Square can't touch 16th Street's panhandler epidemic.

To hell it can't. Union Square backs up to the tenderloin. On any given day in the square proper you will be see some of the most aggressive panhandlers in the world. That's one of the really interesting things ABOUT that area. The Westfield center and up through Union Square is located within a block of one of the worst areas of the entire city.

Doesn't seem to affect it's retail success much.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by seventwenty

Event: Confluence Speaker Series: Talent & Housing - Are we shooting ourselves in the foot?
Thurs April 16, 2015
5:30-7:30 PM
@ Green Spaces - 1368 26th Street, Denver

Potential relief?

"Apartment Investors Turn to Suburbs After Crowding Cities"
by Nadja Brandt and Oshrat Carmiel, Bloomberg Business

After years of clamoring to buy the most centrally located rental buildings in major urban centers, U.S. apartment investors are rediscovering the suburbs. Transactions for multifamily properties outside cities -- often sprawling, garden-style complexes appealing more to families than urban-dwelling 20-somethings -- are on the rise as an increase in construction slows rent gains in more central areas.

“The urban supply was just continuing to ramp up pretty quickly,” said Sean Breslin, chief operating officer of Arlington, Virginia-based AvalonBay Communities Inc., the second-largest publicly traded landlord in the U.S. “On a risk-adjusted basis, the suburban markets look more attractive.”

About 45 percent of AvalonBay’s under-construction developments are in suburban locations, while the pipeline of projects the firm has not yet started leans 75 percent in that direction, Breslin said in an interview. Apartment owners including UDR Inc. and Essex Property Trust Inc. are also predicting growth outside major business districts.

From Highlands Ranch, Colorado-based UDR there's this:

older apartments in suburban Seattle fared better in the fourth quarter than assets in the city because they were “less exposed to new supply,” Chief Operating Officer Jerry Davis said on a Feb. 3 conference call. The real estate investment trust also expects Boston to have “supply pressure downtown,” with better performance in the suburbs, he said.

I wouldn't be surprised to see an aggressive push by developers into the suburbs, especially for TOD's, and possibly even into one of DenverInfill's favorites the Aurora City Center.

[Brainpathology]

Originally Posted by enjo13

To hell it can't. Union Square backs up to the tenderloin. On any given day in the square proper you will be see some of the most aggressive panhandlers in the world. That's one of the really interesting things ABOUT that area. The Westfield center and up through Union Square is located within a block of one of the worst areas of the entire city.

Doesn't seem to affect it's retail success much.

People complaining about how bad their home town's homeless or panhandling population is is the same as them saying their drivers are the worst in the country. It's a sign of laziness of thought or of never having left home and paid any attention. It's especially infuriating when everyone with any real intelligence knows that the worst drivers in the world are here in Orlando.

Denver does more than most cities to curb homelessness and panhandling and in my experience if I wasn't intentionally poking fun of 16th has neither more nor less homeless/panhandling than anywhere else I've been in the US.

[seventwenty]

Let's rebuild Coors Field.


• Video Link

From: DBJ & Don Brookins on YouTube

[RyanD]

^ That's neat!

Coors Field is having its first ever concert on July 3rd, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned it on here. I got tickets right when they went on sale, can't miss out on that part of its history!

[Brainpathology]

Originally Posted by RyanD

^ That's neat!

Coors Field is having its first ever concert on July 3rd, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned it on here. I got tickets right when they went on sale, can't miss out on that part of its history!

I'm sure everyone looks forward to a great first couple of songs before the lead singer goes hoarse and the others just can't play right together, with a finale of some old band no one cares about being brought in just before the end to attempt to keep people in the stadium to buy merch.

[DenverPoke]

Originally Posted by Brainpathology

I'm sure everyone looks forward to a great first couple of songs before the lead singer goes hoarse and the others just can't play right together, with a finale of some old band no one cares about being brought in just before the end to attempt to keep people in the stadium to buy merch.

LOL...stupid Rockies.

[seventwenty]

Cool, but I'm saving my pennies for Wings v Rockies Avs.