I have wondered all along if D4 has been having trouble getting financing, or something else to that effect. Do we know if this is a brownfield site requiring some cleanup prior to development? I know in the case of Gates, there were all kinds of complicated partnerships and land sales - the company who originally purchased the factory and dealt with the brownfield cleanup is not the final developer. Was D4 hoping for something like Tax Increment Financing or some other financial help? Without a lot more information, it's just hard to say.
It is a rather complicated site - I'm sure they don't want to evict paying tenants like Safeway or Kmart before securing some viable market-rate developments. That said, it seems like the whole thing has been a bit unfocused. All they have really accomplished is allowing the City of Denver to put in a new city street and regional storm sewer (Dakota and Dakota Outfall, actually a pretty important project), and getting the RTD station redeveloped as an affordable housing project. I'm all for affordable housing, but if it's the first thing built in a station area, that's usually a sign that market-rate developers aren't biting for some reason.
I don't know what their ownership stake is in Broadway Marketplace, but perhaps that has something to do with what is holding everything up. Personally, I think priority #1 would be to get that Safeway replaced by an urban style grocery like we are seeing at Union Station, with either office or residential upstairs. Perhaps tear down the Kmart and put in a new grocery with the entrance right at Dakota and Cherokee for easy access to transit riders. Having a nearby grocery store seems like too important of an asset for potential new residents to loose it outright. But sooner or later, the big-box-with-surface-parking arrangement needs to start breaking up in order for the plan to work. Again, without knowing a lot more about D4 itself, their ownership stake, or what exactly their strategy is, it's really hard to say why it is taking so long. Perhaps they're waiting to see if the City itself will give them some help to get things going? Everything they have done so far is some kind of public-private partnership.
Back to your larger question though, it seems to imply there is some sort of overarching master planning that controls development in the metro area, and that simply isn't the case. Greenwood Village is a pretty affluent place, and we have seen plenty of development down that way even during the recession. I'm sure they don't see any reason to wait for anything as long as they have developers interested in developing there.
As for Denver, they put a lot of resources into getting the Central Platte Valley and Union Station developed, and continued to do so even during the recession when the real estate market killed the original Gates redevelopment plan. Now they appear to be putting significant effort and city funds into Brighton Boulevard, 38th and Blake, Arapahoe Square, and other areas northeast of Downtown. With gentrification now a thing they have to be concerned with politically, they may just not feel the time is right or that it is appropriate to prop up another massive private redevelopment project here.
Last edited by mr1138; Feb 3, 2017 at 3:38 PM.
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