DENVER | Main Development Thread #6

[mhays]

I bet a lot of them are also running into stuff like building to a certain solidity/permanence standard, not being pointy/stabby, etc.

[DenverPoke]

Since nobody else appears to have posted it, RDS has a rendering of the apartment complex at 13th and Delaware.

[denconyny]

Originally Posted by DenverPoke

Since nobody else appears to have posted it, RDS has a rendering of the apartment complex at 13th and Delaware.

The above and this below

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B7usaiHrP4NEN1ZvamhRdUhUcmc&usp=sharing#

are sharing the same address, and the project is named "The Mosiac" in the link, only the link proposes either a 15 or 16 story structure? Still, they seem pretty much the same.

[rds70]

Originally Posted by denconyny

The above and this below

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B7usaiHrP4NEN1ZvamhRdUhUcmc&usp=sharing#

are sharing the same address, and the project is named "The Mosiac" in the link, only the link proposes either a 15 or 16 story structure? Still, they seem pretty much the same.

The Mosiac appears to be an old proposal. The one I posted is the latest plan that has moved into the site development process with the City.

[denconyny]

Originally Posted by rds70

The Mosiac appears to be an old proposal. The one I posted is the latest plan that has moved into the site development process with the City.

Kool..... it's just that there are 4 corners at 13th and Delaware, and 3 of them look basically possible for development - the SE (4 small houses probably now offices and likely site for this project) the SW (empty, surface parking lot) and the NW (again, 6 older homes and a 1 story building) so the above posting probably has to do with the 336 W. 13th Avenue address, which is the SE corner, correct?

[rds70]

Originally Posted by denconyny

Kool..... it's just that there are 4 corners at 13th and Delaware, and 3 of them look basically possible for development - the SE (4 small houses probably now offices and likely site for this project) the SW (empty, surface parking lot) and the NW (again, 6 older homes and a 1 story building) so the above posting probably has to do with the 336 W. 13th Avenue address, which is the SE corner, correct?

Both plans are for the southeast corner.

[TakeFive]

"$2.5 billion in development planned, under construction in downtown Denver, DDP says"
May 10, 2016 by Molly Armbrister - Denver Business Journal

Nearly $2.5 billion in development is currently planned or under construction in downtown Denver, according to the Downtown Denver Partnership...
As of mid-2016, according to DDP's report, there are 18 projects under construction and 14 projects planned for development in downtown Denver, totaling $2.47 billion in investment in Denver. The projects include 1,230 additional hotel rooms, 4,592 new residential units and 2.7 million new square feet of office space.

Originally Posted by rds70

Both plans are for the southeast corner.

Nice, very nice. Especially nice for the early morning sun.

[RyanD]

I found a new bridge view!


Trains, Stormy Skies and Skyline by Ryan Dravitz, on Flickr

[TakeFive]

What Say You

Image courtesy of Voce Sabia

"2016 Best & Worst States For Business"
May 9, 2016 by: J.P. Donlon - Chief Executive

Why some areas of the country thrive while others see businesses atrophy and people flee at alarming rates
The evidence suggests that pro-growth policies influence perceptions of competitiveness, particularly in the eyes of business leaders. The population losers tend to be the Rust Belt and Northeastern states like New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. Having said this, states such as Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan deserve credit for pro-growth policy reforms in the wake of years of poor policy decisions.

In our 12th annual canvas of CEO opinion, leaders favor states with fewer regulatory encumbrances and report that most remedies dangled by politicians only make things worse.

So how did the rankings stack up?

Texas and Florida top the list, as they have every year for the past 12 years that we have conducted this survey. North Carolina and Tennessee held onto their third and fourth places from last year, while Indiana moved up to fifth place and Arizona leapfrogged from ninth to sixth. South Carolina secured seventh place (up from 10th last year) while Georgia, Nevada and Ohio ranked eighth, ninth and tenth respectively

For anybody who's interested the actual list of state rankings is HERE. To summarize, if you live in a Red (Republican), right-to-work, southern state you've got a clear advantage with the CEO crowd. That typically also reflects lower taxes.

Colorado's Doing Fine
Colorado did drop four slots this year from 11th to 15th place on this list but they're still among very good company.

Props to the Governor and Affordability
We started hearing last year, notably from Tom Clark, about Denver's growing affordability challenge and ability to compete. I give credit to the Governor, Tom Clark and others for aggressively marketing the state and putting the best foot forward possible. It's hard to argue with what has been achieved and with what is going on.

[The Dirt]

On the whole defects liability issue, does the governor have any kind of executive ability to put this issue to rest until the state legislature can get it's shit together?

[CherryCreek]

Originally Posted by The Dirt

On the whole defects liability issue, does the governor have any kind of executive ability to put this issue to rest until the state legislature can get it's shit together?

Nope.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by CherryCreek

Nope.

A proper burial is often viewed as restful.

As I understand it, a compromise had been reached to at least obtain a fresh study on the topic which passed the Senate with broad bipartisan support. Then the House killed the notion. Hmm, seems there's still a divide between the liberal affordability Dems and the Elite Dems.

Sadly, politics too often boils down to greed and power and it happens on both sides. It also appears that both sides currently feel they're holding a winning hand in the November elections. November elections should be most interesting more so for the state than for President.

[CherryCreek]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

A proper burial is often viewed as restful.

As I understand it, a compromise had been reached to at least obtain a fresh study on the topic which passed the Senate with broad bipartisan support. Then the House killed the notion. Hmm, seems there's still a divide between the liberal affordability Dems and the Elite Dems.

Sadly, politics too often boils down to greed and power and it happens on both sides. It also appears that both sides currently feel they're holding a winning hand in the November elections. November elections should be most interesting more so for the state than for President.

The sad thing is I think that in principal the parties aren't that far apart but the partisan divisions are so strong and so personal that personal animosity gets in the way of progress. Ironic that the largest Democratic controlled city easily voted to support construction defect reform but the Democrats can't seem to get a majority statewide to do this.

As I understand things from prior posts on here, there may be a handful of key dem legislators who are the real obstacle. Perhaps term limits will eventually take care of this issue?

[comoneymaker]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

What Say You

Image courtesy of Voce Sabia

"2016 Best & Worst States For Business"
May 9, 2016 by: J.P. Donlon - Chief Executive

So how did the rankings stack up?

For anybody who's interested the actual list of state rankings is HERE. To summarize, if you live in a Red (Republican), right-to-work, southern state you've got a clear advantage with the CEO crowd. That typically also reflects lower taxes.

Colorado's Doing Fine
Colorado did drop four slots this year from 11th to 15th place on this list but they're still among very good company.

Props to the Governor and Affordability
We started hearing last year, notably from Tom Clark, about Denver's growing affordability challenge and ability to compete. I give credit to the Governor, Tom Clark and others for aggressively marketing the state and putting the best foot forward possible. It's hard to argue with what has been achieved and with what is going on.

I say their list was just made up or uses a bunch of bogus factors like all the yahoo polls of best and worst of this and that that come out every month.

Texas makes sense to be at the top but the rest should be at the other end. Most of the states in the top 25 have the worst unemployment rates and companies and people are bailing as quick as possible. While the bottom 25 have high pay high tech booming jobs where people are loving to move to. Or am I reading this whole thing upside down?

[comoneymaker]

Digging a bit more in depth I was right...

Challenges
Although flat against last month, confidence is down severely from a year ago, and businesses are very concerned about a talent shortage. In addition, new car/truck registrations dropped 23% in March, and used vehicle registration is down 14.9%, according to the Colorado Auto Dealers Association.

WTF does car registration have to do with the price of tea in china?

Plus Key companies listed are most bs too. Only listed a fortune 500 company. Boston Market??? Are they even still open ?

And 24th for workforce quality? Ummm excuse me but isn't Colorado and Massachusetts constantly going back and forth for most educated workforce? Or is that our problem... not enough dummies like the one who wrote this.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by comoneymaker

Digging a bit more in depth I was right...

You raise some good and interesting questions. Let's start at the top.

Best/Worst States for Business Survey Methodology
May 9, 2016 by: Chief Executive

More than 500 CEOs complete our detailed survey every year during the first quarter.

In our survey, we ask CEOs to consider three criteria: Taxes and Regulations, Workforce Quality and Living Environment. In most companies, the CEO makes the ultimate decisions about where to locate and/or expand the business, making his or her perceptions of each state critically important.

That's just a summary and there is of course more detail.

To your points made...

Originally Posted by comoneymaker

Challenges
Although flat against last month, confidence is down severely from a year ago, and businesses are very concerned about a talent shortage. In addition, new car/truck registrations dropped 23% in March, and used vehicle registration is down 14.9%, according to the Colorado Auto Dealers Association.

WTF does car registration have to do with the price of tea in china?

That appears to be a snapshot summary by someone derived partly from local indicators. Not sure it has anything to do with the actual survey or the compilation of results.

Originally Posted by comoneymaker

Plus Key companies listed are most bs too. Only listed a fortune 500 company. Boston Market??? Are they even still open ?

Presumably this is only a sampling of Colorado based companies. Boston Market which is one of a sizable family of companies owned by Sun Capital Partners, a Private Equity firm, is HQ'd in Golden. Ball Corp. which is also mentioned is as solid as it gets. It's the kind of company with a growing global presence that Berkshire/Warren Buffet would want to own.

Originally Posted by comoneymaker

And 24th for workforce quality? Ummm excuse me but isn't Colorado and Massachusetts constantly going back and forth for most educated workforce? Or is that our problem... not enough dummies like the one who wrote this.

From the linked Methodology page:

Workforce Quality

• Cooperative employee-management relationship
• Employee work ethic
• General education level of workforce
• Competitiveness of wage rates
• Availability of workforce with specialized experience/education

Again, this is a survey of CEO responses. It's their attitude or opinion. It is not derived from empirical data bases like a lot of these ratings are. My guess is that "General education level of workforce" was not of primary concern but it was only one of five criteria.

It's also worth noting that this survey targets the general business world and not what might be of most interest or specific to Colorado. It's partly why I included "friendly" comments in my original post.

For example, State Farm might not be the sexiest business. But when the Illinois HQ'd company decided to build Three Regional HQ's over 1.6 million SF with about 8,000 employees at each location it moves the needle a bit. The three sited in Atlanta, Dallas and Phoenix are all finishing construction. Georgia, Texas and Arizona also all happen to be Top Ten rated states.

[TakeFive]

Rendering courtesy: OPEN STUDIO ARCHITECTURE via Denver Business Journal , KUSA

The Unico Properties project on Platte Street that rds70 announced back on 3/16 is featured in an article about Unico Properties at the Denver Business Journal.

[Fritzdude]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

Rendering courtesy: OPEN STUDIO ARCHITECTURE via Denver Business Journal , KUSA

The Unico Properties project on Platte Street that rds70 announced back on 3/16 is featured in an article about Unico Properties at the Denver Business Journal.

This will be a welcome addition to Platte Street. Pays homage with aesthetic cues to the historical buildings on the street and boxes in the bridge. It also helps to block the ambient noise from the highway. I was hanging around there yesterday and noticed how little noise I could hear from the roaring traffic just a few hundred feet away.

[EngiNerd]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

Rendering courtesy: OPEN STUDIO ARCHITECTURE via Denver Business Journal , KUSA

The Unico Properties project on Platte Street that rds70 announced back on 3/16 is featured in an article about Unico Properties at the Denver Business Journal.

I would be interested to see the 16th St. articulation, will make for a nice building wall along there if done right.

[EngiNerd]

On another note, checking out the article from that Platte St. project led me to these architects.

http://www.openstudioarchitecture.com

Who have some interesting proposals on their site, ahh, what could have been....

15th and California site, the Fontius block 162.



14th and Larimer, the former Belltower proposal block (but on the downtown side of the Cherry Creek)



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