DENVER | Main Development Thread #6

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by Sam Hill

I'm pretty ignorant about these processes. Will someone explain who "staff" is? Does the so-called staff consist of actual planning board members?

I've heard that they are all products of CU's ENVD program and reflect the thinking that has produced the Boulder we know and love.

[BG918]

Really liking the newest renderings of 1701 Chestnut, especially the smaller red brick portion. What is the issue with the planning dept?

I was walking down there earlier and it really is starting to fill in nicely with 1601 Wewatta and the Triangle buildings pretty much complete. Starbucks, Potbelly Subs and Honor Society have all recently opened in 1900 16th and have brought some more life to the area, especially with their outdoor seating. Interested to see what opens up at the base of the Triangle building along 16th and the new Wewatta Plaza which should be open soon.

Along 17th is a lot quieter with just Ink! Coffee open and several empty retail spaces at the base of Cadence and the Platform. I’m sure these will fill up as the projects in that area near completion. The Block A hotel/office project at 16th & Wewatta will really tie 16th St together through Union Station. Same goes for Whole Foods/Pivot apartments along 17th.

Closer to 20th the few times I've been in King Soopers it has been busy. That end should start to come together once the Hilton Garden Inn starts construction across the street.

[DownhomeDenver]

Originally Posted by Sam Hill

Best renderings yet! I like it better with each iteration.

Do we have any other information to go off of other than a recommendation of denial? Does this proposal exceed the height limit for that lot or something? If I remember correctly that lot is zoned for something like 265 feet. Whatever the reason, this is starting to really piss me off. I hope this isn't a trend we can look forward to.

I'm pretty ignorant about these processes. Will someone explain who "staff" is? Does the so-called staff consist of actual planning board members?

Nah, I liked the first iteration better.

[CPVLIVE]

Originally Posted by The Dirt

Anyone know why this is being rejected? Also, looks like sky house is getting the Denver beige treatment. They've painted the exposed concrete on the lower floors. I think this is actually a good thing. Most sky houses just leave the concrete bare and it looks pretty cheap.

It looks to be pre-cast colored concrete panels not paint and just the podium.

[bunt_q]

Why is the planning board website not working? Wanted to pull down the agenda items to see why staff is recommending denial on the Chestnut project. But the links haven't been working all day. I think it's a conspiracy, they don't have any good reason, and they don't want us to know it.

[The Dirt]

You could say that your access was... DENIED.

[seventwenty]

::glasses on::

YEAHHHHHHHHH

[Matt]

Originally Posted by bunt_q

Why is the planning board website not working? Wanted to pull down the agenda items to see why staff is recommending denial on the Chestnut project. But the links haven't been working all day. I think it's a conspiracy, they don't have any good reason, and they don't want us to know it.

Because this is Denver, and every building must look as it belongs in the downtown of a depressed and dirty Appalachia coal mining city. We eschew the sleek and modern because we feel "earth tone" colors and brick gives us a warm, down-home feeling that caresses our hippie soul like the first rays of a morning sunrise hitting the Flatirons.

[s.p.hansen]

Originally Posted by Matt

Because this is Denver, and every building must look as it belongs in the downtown of a depressed and dirty Appalachia coal mining city. We eschew the sleek and modern because we feel "earth tone" colors and brick gives us a warm, down-home feeling that caresses our hippie soul like the first rays of a morning sunrise hitting the Flatirons.

That sounds like a gorgeous city to me. Brick is so much warmer and permanent feeling than stucco. I've always been jealous of Denver's preference for brick. If we can get away with stucco in Salt Lake City, we try to go that route.

[bcp]

Chestnut...nice, but liked the previous version that gave the corner section a more differentiated color..sexy proportions

[bunt_q]

Originally Posted by bcp

Chestnut...nice, but liked the previous version that gave the corner section a more differentiated color..sexy proportions

I would really like to know why staff is recommending denial. It is seriously threatening my longstanding support for widened design review in Denver. That was premised on staff generally supporting... everything, short of the absolute worst stuff, which was quickly improved by developers. The fact that they're recommending denial of a project that looks, to me, just fine, makes me question whether maybe additional planning staff discretion is a bad idea. (Particularly with so many of them now coming out of the CU School of Artsy-chitecture and Bicycle Design.)

[TakeFive]

Easy Like Sunday Morning

Recently I spent some time on City of Denver's website watching their Channel 8 news videos. Hardly exhilarating but interesting at least. Whether for the groundbreaking of The Wheatley or ribbon cutting at Mestizo-Curtis Park, it's a bit fun to see/listen to who the local players are.

One that caught my interest was the graduating ceremony of 50 new police officers. I had never experienced this and figured this was my chance. My attention span didn't allow for watching the 39 minute video straight through but I did watch the whole thing. It was worth my time; pretty cool actually.

Fox31 Denver by Jon Bowman covered the event back on June 19.

DENVER -- More officers on the streets … that has been the cry from both citizens and city leaders. Following three classes which began at the Police Academy in 2014, the number of officers in Denver has grown to more than 1,400.

The last class is one of the most diverse ever, with three Asian, six Black, 17 Hispanic, and 24 White officers. Of the 50 officers who took their oaths Friday, 14 are women.

Photo courtesy of Denver Police Department via The Denver Post

Photo credit: Kathryn Scott Osler gettyimages

Several years ago I had compared the relative costs of "public safety" for both Denver and Phoenix. Best I could recall Phoenix was over 70% while Denver was less than 50%. Deciding to do an update I quickly found through Phoenix Business Journal that "public safety and criminal justice" would be nearly 71% of the proposed $1.2 billion budget. With Denver it was a little harder to find as half the links on the new website aren't working yet but I did find a pie chart breakout on one that did work. It showed that 36.7% of the $1.2 billion budget would go for pubic safety (including courts).

Given that Phoenix has a population over 1.5 million and Denver has over 660,000 and plugging a few numbers into my mechanical calculator I realized that Denver was spending more per capita on public safety. Which got me to thinking...

With a quick search I found governing.com which showed "Police Employment, Officers Per Capita Rates for U.S. Cities" through 2012. Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Chicago are at the top for officers per 10,000 residents with 45-50 while Denver is well down the list with 22.1 officers as of 2012.

Cops have kids?

Photos credit: Kathryn Scott Osler gettyimages

Just as Denver is an attractive city to live in I'd guess the quality of candidates to become police officers in Denver is quite good. And why not? I'll guess the average cost of a cop is about $100,000 per year including benefits.

Broncos to win 20-17.

[comoneymaker]

I want to get arrested by that super hot one. (Little lady 3rd from right)

[corey]

Originally Posted by comoneymaker

I want to get arrested by that super hot one. (Little lady 3rd from right)

Princess Leia

[Matt]

[lumos]

Originally Posted by Matt

More earth tones. And no internal balconies.

[bunt_q]

Great, another half block monolith blocking views. That will employ wealthy pretty white people who we can't house until developers figure out how to build defect-free. Can't they just go to another city?

[The Dirt]

Ugh, not enough ground level oats.

[RyanD]

This needs to have a Wild Oats on the ground floor.

BRING BACK WILD OATS!

[Sam Hill]

Originally Posted by The Dirt

Ugh, not enough ground level oats.

Not every new development needs ground level oats.