DENVER | Main Development Thread #7

[DenverInfill]

It's time for our end-of-year collection of summary posts at DenverInfill!

First up is our Downtown Residential Development Summary:

https://denverinfill.com/blog/2018/1...mber-2018.html





The highlights:

Almost 14,000 residential units completed in the downtown area since January 2010.

Over 6,000 units currently under construction.

We'll probably end the decade (December 2019) at about 18,700 units completed in the downtown area. This does not include townhome/rowhouse or adaptive reuse projects.

Since the start of the decade, 15 residential buildings of 10 stories or higher have been completed, with another 14 currently under construction.

About 3,300 units proposed (announced) with an additional 4,200 in the pipeline.

This is just multifamily residential. Tomorrow we'll do our non-residential (office, hotel, civic/other) summary.

[CastleScott]

^ Great density shot of Denver Ken/Ryan (Ryan's drone). Anyone wanna take a guess at Denver's 2020 Census count? I'm going to say....Maybe 718,779.

[DenverInfill]

Downtown Non-Residential Summary (office, hotel, civic/other):

https://denverinfill.com/blog/2018/1...mber-2018.html




The highlights:

A little over 4 million square feet of office space has been developed in downtown so far this decade, with 1.3 million currently under construction. And because most of RiNo is just outside of the 1.50-mile radius circle that we use, there's probably close to a million square feet more along the Brighton Boulevard corridor and around the 38th & Blake station. Quite remarkable, and it's amazing how much of it is being consumed by tech companies.

3,367 new hotel rooms added downtown so far this decade with another 929 rooms under construction. By the end of the decade next year, downtown Denver will have 11,000 hotel rooms within walking/mall shuttle distance of the Colorado Convention Center.

In total for all uses (residential, office, hotel, civic/other), 120 new buildings have been built in the downtown area so far this decade, with another 45 currently under construction. Of those 165 new buildings, 48 are ten stories or more, 30 are six to nine stories in height, and 87 are five stories or less.

Happy New Year from your DenverInfill team!

[Denvergotback]

Its amazing just how much it has changed here. Thank you Ken/Ryan for all your work!

[mhays]

Impressive numbers! And thanks Ken for the hard work.

[CastleScott]

^ Impressive numbers indeed and if I'm able to vacation back to Denver next year I bet I won't recognize it.

[pablosan]

Originally Posted by CastleScott

^ Impressive numbers indeed and if I'm able to vacation back to Denver next year I bet I won't recognize it.

The cityscape is continually changing, literally from week to week. It's amazing.

[Robert.hampton]

I saw in the DenverInfill post that the Colfax Marketplace has officially been canceled. Anyone know the future of that lot? I think Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods is really obstructing any sort of meaningful progress on Colfax. They opposed that project as well as the redevelopment of the dilapidated and beyond-repair buildings on Colfax and Park Ave.

Seemingly CHUN thinks preserving Colfax's 'grit and character' means ensuring the street is littered with abandoned and condemned building.

[ejwill04]

12-story, 102 unit condo project proposed in Rino.

https://businessden.com/2019/01/02/1...ghton-in-rino/

[laniroj]

This is right on the point and one of Colorado's greatest strengths. A new couple just moved on my block, two kids from Washington DC. Had only ever skied here, moved to Denver because of the perceived lifestyle. SO MANY people seem to have this story in Denver and the exposure we get from having the mountains drives incredible long term growth along the front range.

[HighSt.]

Originally Posted by Robert.hampton

I saw in the DenverInfill post that the Colfax Marketplace has officially been canceled. Anyone know the future of that lot? I think Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods is really obstructing any sort of meaningful progress on Colfax. They opposed that project as well as the redevelopment of the dilapidated and beyond-repair buildings on Colfax and Park Ave.

Seemingly CHUN thinks preserving Colfax's 'grit and character' means ensuring the street is littered with abandoned and condemned building.

I think this cancellation has much less to do with CHUN and a lot more to do with the economics of that particular site. There's been a lot of discussion about how it tends to be tricky to finance projects on small lots between 5-8 stories.

Southern Land Co.'s Gigantor 17th and Pearl (with historical handicap!) made it out of the ground this cycle; so did Modera Cap Hill. Both of these projects benefited from their (relatively) more gentrified and residential-feeling locations as well as a zoning envelope that allowed for a lot more units.

After seeing what was on the table for this site, I decided a while ago that there's another cycle at least before small sites in undesirable demographic areas like this one really come into play.

[twister244]

Originally Posted by ejwill04

12-story, 102 unit condo project proposed in Rino.

https://businessden.com/2019/01/02/1...ghton-in-rino/

More importantly.... there's a booze hall going next door!?

This is actually a great announcement, and helps solidify a trend of more condo projects slowly coming on board in Denver.

[jbssfelix]

Originally Posted by laniroj

This is right on the point and one of Colorado's greatest strengths. A new couple just moved on my block, two kids from Washington DC. Had only ever skied here, moved to Denver because of the perceived lifestyle. SO MANY people seem to have this story in Denver and the exposure we get from having the mountains drives incredible long term growth along the front range.

Guilty party. One thing that encouraged our move to Denver was the proximity to the mountains. Coming from Austin and Indianapolis before that, a ski trip was an expensive ordeal that involved airfare, hotels, expensive passes (no point in an epic pass for 3 days of skiing), and sharing the hills with all the other tourists at peak times of the year. Now, I can sneak out of the house at 6, ski for half a day, and be back before dinner. Or, if we want to do a weekend, it's only one hotel/AirBnB and a tank of gas, and zero time missed from work.

[Agent Orange]

Originally Posted by bulldurhamer

the assessment that cole and whittier are overwhelmingly single family housing is simply untrue.


We also seem to forget that Whittier and Cole has a good deal of section 8 multi unit housing that isn't in wash park. show that to me on your zoning map.

Not sure why you are so defensive about this, but just know that I’m not picking on Whittier-Cole. I’m picking on the institution of single family zoning as I believe it has been detrimental to our cities. Whittier Cole is just an egregious example, IMO, of how low density zoning is still in effect even in our most inner neighborhoods. Compare Whittier and Cole to Capitol Hill or Lower Highlands, which are about equally distant to the center of downtown. Those neighborhoods are far more dense and have much greater housing typology diversity. In my view, Whittier and Cole should be able evolve into something more like Cap Hill, but it probably won't, in the name of neighborhood character and parking.

Here’s an example: I recently looked at an underutilized warehouse-like commercial property in Whittier/Cole which has the bones to make a great duplex. Almost 2000 sq feet and you could easily pop the top for more space. Can’t do it; zoned single unit. It’s across the street from neighborhood retail and next door to some late 19th century townhomes which are just as dense as the hypothetical duplex would be. ADU's are not enough to solve this housing crisis.

[Robert.hampton]

Originally Posted by HighSt.

I think this cancellation has much less to do with CHUN and a lot more to do with the economics of that particular site. There's been a lot of discussion about how it tends to be tricky to finance projects on small lots between 5-8 stories.

Southern Land Co.'s Gigantor 17th and Pearl (with historical handicap!) made it out of the ground this cycle; so did Modera Cap Hill. Both of these projects benefited from their (relatively) more gentrified and residential-feeling locations as well as a zoning envelope that allowed for a lot more units.

After seeing what was on the table for this site, I decided a while ago that there's another cycle at least before small sites in undesirable demographic areas like this one really come into play.

I hope you are right that it is just market conditions and not CHUN/Historic Denver holding these things back. Hopefully with the new investments from the GO bond (colfax streetscape, BRT, district 6 police station replacement which could turn the current station into a full block mixed use development) Colfax will be more attractive for development in the next cycle.

[mr1138]

Originally Posted by Agent Orange

Not sure why you are so defensive about this, but just know that I’m not picking on Whittier-Cole. I’m picking on the institution of single family zoning as I believe it has been detrimental to our cities. Whittier Cole is just an egregious example, IMO, of how low density zoning is still in effect even in our most inner neighborhoods. Compare Whittier and Cole to Capitol Hill or Lower Highlands, which are about equally distant to the center of downtown. Those neighborhoods are far more dense and have much greater housing typology diversity. In my view, Whittier and Cole should be able evolve into something more like Cap Hill, but it probably won't, in the name of neighborhood character and parking.

Here’s an example: I recently looked at an underutilized warehouse-like commercial property in Whittier/Cole which has the bones to make a great duplex. Almost 2000 sq feet and you could easily pop the top for more space. Can’t do it; zoned single unit. It’s across the street from neighborhood retail and next door to some late 19th century townhomes which are just as dense as the hypothetical duplex would be. ADU's are not enough to solve this housing crisis.

You are exactly right - anecdotal examples aside, the zoning map is quite clear that the vast majority of Cole and Whittier are zoned U-SU, save for a few isolated islands of main street and other types of zoning. This is definitely less-than-urban zoning.

All of this raises a question about something in the zoning code that I don't fully understand. I always thought that new code was supposed to be more adaptable than the former code, and that part of this is embedded in the concept of "neighborhood context." Each chapter about a neighborhood context begins with a section entitled "GENERAL CHARACTER." In this section (I'll use the Urban context as the example here) it says things like: "The Urban Neighborhood Context is primarily characterized by single-unit and two-unit residential. Small-scale multi-unit residential uses and commercial areas are typically embedded in residential areas," and "Single- and two-unit residential uses are primarily located along local and residential arterial streets. Multi-unit residential uses are located along local streets, residential and mixed use arterials, and main streets. Commercial uses are primarily located along mixed-use arterial or main streets but may be located at or between intersections of local streets."

Is all of this contextual language just a bunch of fluff? Because what I read here is that there is a legal framework to apply for rezoning. Say you own a corner lot on an arterial that is currently zoned U-SU. Doesn't the opening section on General Character imply that Commercial or Multi-Unit zoning is more appropriate for such a location than single-unit, and therefore you may be eligible for a re-zoning based on this neighborhood context? And for that matter, doesn't it also imply that Two-Unit zones are appropriate just about anywhere in an Urban context? Has anybody attempted to up-zone their property based on the language in this section?

Now I say this understanding that re-zonings are regulatory actions taken by council and are inherently political. Perhaps site-specific re-zonings are therefore difficult or near-impossible to achieve action on. But if that is the case then that is really too bad and seems like a major oversight - what is the point of assigning neighborhoods "context" if the U part of the zoning doesn't really matter in the end, and all that really matters is the SU?

[corey]

I wasn't in favor of the Colfax Marketplace project as proposed since they were going to tear down a nice 1931 Art Deco brick apartment building. It should definitely be reused in some fashion. If nothing else, at least the corner of the building with the amazing brickwork should be preserved. The one story former Smiley's Laundromat of course should be demolished. Maybe the one house at Colfax and Park Ave. could be saved. The interior is amazing. The other house doesn't look like anything special and could be demolished. I am all for going the extra mile to save significant historic buildings, especially when so many buildings are torn down just to be replaced with EIFS cladded crap.

[corey]

I really hope the 12 story condo building on Brighton Blvd. doesn't fall through. Finally some larger size condominium projects! Does this mean that the new construction defect law is having its hoped for results?

[RyanD]

The latest 3D Future Skyline is up on DenverInfill! Most notably, 650 17th is officially canceled and off the map but the massing of the Glenarm towers is mighty fine!

https://denverinfill.com/blog/2019/0...mber-2018.html

[Robert.hampton]

Originally Posted by RyanD

The latest 3D Future Skyline is up on DenverInfill! Most notably, 650 17th is officially canceled and off the map but the massing of the Glenarm towers is mighty fine!

That's quite the map! I think the only thing that would do it a little more justice would be to add a smokestack coming from the land barges on Welton