DENVER | Main Development Thread #6

[transistor]

Originally Posted by denconyny

Interesting the last paragraph of the article:

"Some might say that the city is experiencing a gold rush of a different color: green. After Colorado residents voted to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012, Denver has seen a surge in cannabis-related commerce, from dispensaries to magazines to high-tech paraphernalia like vaporizers, rolling papers, lotions and storage containers – and the industry is just gaining speed."

Finally, a mainstream publication at least giving positive attention to the millions of good people who like to smoke pot, but just are sick of the stupid pot laws in whatever current jurisdiction they may live, and if given any chance to make it possible..... they migrate to Denver...... current epicenter of the legalized marijuana industry.

Most of the people who move here for the pot are awful.
If legalized pot is your biggest reason for moving somewhere, its probably pretty clear you're already rather useless wherever you came from.

[mhays]

Originally Posted by bunt_q

Mhays doesn't know what he is talking about with respect to the Denver market. Fine, high rise condos are expensive. But it doesn't take $600/SF to build a three story condo building. And we have exactly zero of those being built. Anywhere in the state. That's clearly an anomaly. For all intents and purposes, it's illegal to build condos here.

F*** Central Denver. Time to leave this place. Ain't worth what we are forced to pay.

You're right that I don't know Colorado law. But Denver's condo values aren't very high, and that can explain the lack of development all by itself.

Again, my region is only building two, and not that long ago it was only one rogue developer out of Canada that didn't need to presell. Both are highrise projects. My firm is building the second one.

As for lowrises, there aren't any. Not one. It's not an anomoly...one current project tried to test the market, and they weren't selling at the needed prices, so they cancelled their contracts and will complete construction as a rental.

[mhays]

Originally Posted by CPVLIVE

IDK - Randy Nichols spent 175,000,000 to build the Spire and marketed and sold half the units at under $250,000 - $310/sf. This was before the (2007)recession and I assume he locked in his costs pre recession at the height of the then current boom (they lost their financing after the recession hit and had to scramble for another loan). What has changed since the height of that boom? Land and labor for certain but not commodities. Financing? Ins? I looked at a unit in the spire in December 2012 (900/sf) that the developer was asking $325,000 for that are now selling for half a mill.

Construction costs are higher now than at the height of the last boom. The Turner national average shows a 12% increase between 2007 and Q4 2015, which would be up another point or so right now. Land prices would be up a lot more. Insurance costs would be much higher apparently. http://www.turnerconstruction.com/cost-index

If the half million is typical then prices are still short of the benchmark I was imagining.

[comoneymaker]

on a side note which I did not want to start its own thread but I noticed something in the game Cities Skylines while skimming through some youtube videos for ideas of layouts and to know about future problems to design in before I start and well.... you think there is any relation? I would say so.

http://www.skylineswiki.com/File:MAM_Modern_Art_Museum.png

[RyanD]

Originally Posted by transistor

Most of the people who move here for the pot are awful.
If legalized pot is your biggest reason for moving somewhere, its probably pretty clear you're already rather useless wherever you came from.

Did you guys see what the tourism board put out last year?

Marijuana has huge influence on Colorado tourism, state survey says

A recent Colorado Tourism Office survey of summer travelers shows 48 percent were influenced by legal recreational pot

Marijuana businesses have long proclaimed that cannabis is drawing visitors to Colorado. Now they have proof.

A study commissioned by the Colorado Tourism Office and presented to the office's board of directors on Wednesday shows legal weed as a growing motivator for trips to Colorado — conflicting with the mantra of tourism officials statewide that savvy marketing alone is responsible for record visitation and spending in the past two years.

While the state's "Come to Life" ad campaign is certainly successful, surveys in October and November of potential summertime visitors who were exposed to the state's tourism ads revealed that the marijuana laws influenced vacation decisions nearly 49 percent of the time.

[corey]

IIRC, didn't Nichols get all or some of the money for Spire from an Native American tribe? I wonder why tribes and other non-conventional lenders/investors couldn't fund more projects.

[denconyny]

Originally Posted by transistor

Most of the people who move here for the pot are awful.
If legalized pot is your biggest reason for moving somewhere, its probably pretty clear you're already rather useless wherever you came from.

This is typical of how ignorant bigots think.

[CherryCreek]

Originally Posted by RyanD

Did you guys see what the tourism board put out last year?

Marijuana has huge influence on Colorado tourism, state survey says

A recent Colorado Tourism Office survey of summer travelers shows 48 percent were influenced by legal recreational pot

I'm not a big marijuana booster, but I did support its legalization. Seems little doubt it's had a significant, positive impact on state's economy.

I have been critical about those attributing Denver's boom to wacky weed, but no doubt it's created a lot of jobs in the tourist industry, in addition to directly in the marijuana production and retail business.

[corey]

Good news for old sign geeks like me. Empire Staples has installed their vintage sign on their new headquarters building. I was afraid it would be trashed when their old building on Platte St. is demo'd.

[transistor]

Originally Posted by denconyny

This is typical of how ignorant bigots think.

Sorry about offending your delicate sensibilities.

[comoneymaker]

Originally Posted by denconyny

This is typical of how ignorant bigots think.

Awww did the truth offend you???

[Scottk]

Originally Posted by comoneymaker

Awww did the truth offend you???

I am 100% pro legalization but I completely agree that weed has brought undesirables to Colorado, and it has been well documented that the legal weed has exacerbated our homeless issues.


It seems like I meet people regularly who are wearing pot leaf hats from Oklahoma or Arkansas or some other bumfuck shithole states that "moved here cause it's legal and I love the mountains."

[bunt_q]

Well it looks like the Supreme Court might be taking on Colorado marijuana legalization. The best defense I could personally think of is that Nebraska and Oklahome do not have standing to challenge it. But if the Court gets past that, I have no idea how we defend a state law that is clearly in conflict with federal law. I think there's a reasonable chance the Supreme Court just makes this whole marijuana nightmare go away.

Anybody have any other ideas how me might defend the legality of this? Here's the article btw:

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_295966...ide-colorado-marijuana-legalization-case

[chickenbone]

We may not even need to wait for the Supreme Court to rule on the case. President Ted Cruz could start shutting down the marijuana industry starting next January.

[bunt_q]

Very true. Except you spelled it wrong. It's President Donald Trump.

[seventwenty]

NVM. Spoiler.

[RyanD]

Originally Posted by bunt_q

Very true. Except you spelled it wrong. It's President Donald Trump.

President Bernie Sanders

[bunt_q]

Free tuition! Free weed! Free hospital stays when my keg-stand fails! (Because I'm a 45 year old man still living the free college dream, probably!) We really are making America great again! Or for the first time, since most of us had to muddle through without #BerniesFreeRide.

[RyanD]

So this hilarity was waiting for me in my mailbox:

Wealthy Rug Merchants Plans Exposed

They won't let you copy text off their site to embed, so just click it and enjoy the read.

TL;DR - They said rug company has bigger plans for the Glendale site, was playing the city because they want to put up a highrise similar to something you would see in Tehran. They are calling it the 'Tehranian Death Star'. I'm totally not kidding. They drop names and faces like Dana Crawford, and Chris Shears too.

[comoneymaker]

I didn't read the whole article because it was making my brain hurt to bad. Is this the arab mob? I think their land should be taken and auctioned off to cover the cost of the city/ states legal fees. F these people.