DENVER | Main Development Thread #7

[TakeFive]

Put a Wrap on this development in Olde Town Arvada

Howell Construction Completes Shops at Olde Town Station
August 21, 2024 -- Mile High CRE


Courtesy Howell Construction

Howell Construction, in conjunction with developer Trammell Crow and architect Farnsworth Group, has completed Shops at Olde Town Station in Arvada. This project recreated an underutilized parking lot and is part of a larger mixed-use, transit-oriented development that includes the Marriott Residence Inn, a project also built by Howell Construction.

What are they going to do with funky storm water runoff?

Due to site limitations, three underground detention vaults were utilized for storm water storage and filtration. These vaults manage the water runoff for the entire site, eliminating the need for an above grade detention pond. Although not a new technology, this technique is growing in popularity due to decreasing site footprints.

According to Arvada Urban Renewal Authority

The Shops at Olde Town Station are part of a larger mixed-use, transit-oriented development that includes The Russell apartments directly north, and the Marriott Residence Inn. The development is conveniently located within walking distance of the G Line commuter rail and Olde Town.

The entire community benefits from this new development through a more accessible and interconnected neighborhood, improved sidewalks, and other improvements.

July 1, 2013 -- Trammell Crow Company Selected as the Preferred Development Team of Arvada Olde Town

Just goes to show how long development projects can take. While not that large of a site there were a few complications and objections from NIMBY's.

[TakeFive]

Free Markets can work well for Ordinary Joe's and Juanita's too

Is South Broadway moving into Englewood?
Aug. 22, 2024 By -- Kevin Beaty -- Denverite


Courtesy Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

The employee-owners of the Fancy Tiger Crafts Co-op were hoping to stay in Denver when it became clear they needed to leave the space on South Broadway that housed their yarn, needles and classes for almost two decades. That didn't happen — their rent in Baker doubled, so they needed to leave.

But they did end up happy with where they landed. It turned out that their new block, further down Broadway in the heart of Englewood, was a refuge for other businesses fleeing high overhead.

"When we found this space, we were like, 'Well, it's just outside of Denver. It's downtown Englewood. It's three or four miles south, whatever,'" recalled Marta Johnson, one of those co-owners. "We're still on Broadway."

They're not the only ones making the move. Mutiny Information Cafe recently announced they plan to relocate down the block from Fancy Tiger's new location, thanks to rising rent. Treelotta Fabrics & Craft Supplies made a similar move a few years ago.

Kind of a cool story. I love little hole-in-the-wall places for shopping or eating. Denver's loss is Englewood's gain.

[TakeFive]

Why does Denver's Ego insist that they live in a vacuum?

Originally Posted by wong21fr

I'd take this scenario in a heartbeat- though I would also add a performance clawback tied to delivery of the units. I'd find that a fair tradeoff for a development review waiver.

I mean $500M can buy a lot of plans developed by consultants and the city, but it would probably be slightly better use of the money to just shove an ass-ton of residential units into downtown in a quick a manner as possible.

There's ample more affordable housing just not so much within the city limits of Denver. But in other metro areas there's certainly a lot to pick from.

There's waay too many hurdles and potential pitfalls to accomplish what Mayor Mike wants IMO.

Funny Story

So wallet hub recently released their best 'states' to live in and Colorado came in 21st in spite of scoring a lowly 48th for safety.
Sounds crazy but it makes my segue for:

If I were setting the priorities

for $100 million pot per year my list of priorities would be:

1. CRIME PREVENTION - $35 million - to include homelessness, addiction, theft and growing teen crime. From necessary personnel to services there's a lot needed.
2. AFFORDABLE HOUSING - $25 million
3. Repaving every street on a a rotating basis - $25 million - Note: this would be a voter favorite.
4. Vision Zero (type) improvements - $15 million

[TakeFive]

It's hard to beat good organic growth

Redaptive Expands Denver Footprint with Move to New LoDo HQ
August 22, 2024 -- Redaptive

DENVER, Aug. 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Redaptive, renowned for its data and sustainability solutions for industrial and commercial customers, is moving its headquarters from The Circa Building to a much larger, 25K-square-foot space on the eighth floor of McGregor Square in LoDo. The move comes on the heels of significant company growth.

Redaptive relocated to Denver from San Francisco in 2019 and established Denver as its corporate headquarters in 2023 with 17 employees. That number has grown more than fivefold in just over a year. This growth is expected to continue, with the new office space able to accommodate another doubling of Redaptive’s Denver-based employees.

I believe Redaptive had been using WeWork space on Platte.

[laniroj]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

Free Markets can work well for Ordinary Joe's and Juanita's too

Is South Broadway moving into Englewood?
Aug. 22, 2024 By -- Kevin Beaty -- Denverite


Courtesy Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite


Kind of a cool story. I love little hole-in-the-wall places for shopping or eating. Denver's loss is Englewood's gain.

It's a natural urban progression for higher end and more expensive retail to move into City Centers with the more affordable offerings moving outside the downtown footprint. I know everyone cries foul when this happens, but it's a sign of a maturing City. Now Denver just needs to add 50k residents in it's downtown/golden triangle footprint to 'grow up'. If the City can solve the security/drug/homeless problem downtown, or at least push it out of downtown, I do think downtown will thrive in the long term. Denver has really good bones, we just need a softer touch...this includes what I have long advocated for, a revived City beautiful movement and urban treescape. Denver is WHOLLY lacking on that front and I don't care what any of those surveys say which are all garbage. Downtown Phoenix is more pleasant with better treescape than downtown Denver...we can and should do much better. While we're at it, we need to get rid of City foresters and let the market get creative with treescape. I'm damn sick of all our homogenous landscaping because City Foresters dictate you can only use 5 trees and 10 shrubs...we need to take the power back!!!

[laniroj]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

Why does Denver's Ego insist that they live in a vacuum?

There's ample more affordable housing just not so much within the city limits of Denver. But in other metro areas there's certainly a lot to pick from.

There's waay too many hurdles and potential pitfalls to accomplish what Mayor Mike wants IMO.

Funny Story

So wallet hub recently released their best 'states' to live in and Colorado came in 21st in spite of scoring a lowly 48th for safety.
Sounds crazy but it makes my segue for:

If I were setting the priorities

for $100 million pot per year my list of priorities would be:

1. CRIME PREVENTION - $35 million - to include homelessness, addiction, theft and growing teen crime. From necessary personnel to services there's a lot needed.
2. AFFORDABLE HOUSING - $25 million
3. Repaving every street on a a rotating basis - $25 million - Note: this would be a voter favorite.
4. Vision Zero (type) improvements - $15 million

These dollars are child's play. I'm a small government supporter with occasional support for significant acts of grandeur. We need BILLIONS one time to provide a reset across a multitude of City efforts and more importantly, we need the City to stop micro-managing everything - THIS IS THEIR BIGGEST PROBLEM. They need to 'trust' the private sector to execute their general intent. Yes, there will be waste. Yes, there will be scandals. BUT there will be less waste than if the City had micro-managed it and the scandals will fade with time while everyday citizens enjoy the fruits of those wise enough to do bold things.

I'm all for that $35 million for law enforcement, but not "crime prevention". We already have a NINE-FIGURE annual apparatus in place serving those crime-prevention needs and as near as I can tell at this point, it's producing no discernable positive/measurable result (please correct me if you disagree). It's become a cottage industry dependent on public dollars to sustain jobs for mainly college educated people.

$25 million for affordable housing - that maybe gets you 1 large project of 300 affordable units. I believe tax credit affordable developments max out somewhere around $40k/unit for City funding - and that's with all the other economics that go to make those projects possible layered in on top of that. For the City to get affordable units from market rate developments, they'd need to double (maybe more) that per unit contribution or combine it with density/height bonuses which could maybe get them to 600 affordable units. Besides that, the City is constrained on their affordable housing efforts because 1) DHA mainly consumes the resources it takes to produce that kind of tax credit housing and 2) the City doesn't have enough private activity bonds to go around for workforce housing. Maybe if they layered in the $25 million with middle income housing tax credit it could produce more units, but I haven't heard of ANY of those type of projects announced or completed yet...

$25 million for streets - I've actually noticed the City doing a MUCH BETTER job with street paving over the past decade, including in many of the historically underserved and lower income neighborhoods. Roads seem in good condition mostly and I'm constantly seeing crews out repaving large swaths of roads both big and small. I'd give them a solid B+ for this - it would be an A- but they refuse to repaint the Speer bridge which looks like absolute shit and is one of the most important view angles of our City! I remember back in the day trying to cobble together some money to buy property on South Broadway because I knew the City would completely redo that corridor one day. Unfortunately I was a pauper with pauper friends, but we sure did dream big!

[mhays]

Is it possible to build <300 sf apartments in Denver? And no parking? In secondary cores and not just Downtown? This is a good way to address a chunk of the affordability issue.

Or better yet, can you do true micros, with shared kitchens?

[laniroj]

Originally Posted by mhays

Is it possible to build <300 sf apartments in Denver? And no parking? In secondary cores and not just Downtown? This is a good way to address a chunk of the affordability issue.

Or better yet, can you do true micros, with shared kitchens?

Doubtful. Some fairly savvy local and out of state developers have attempted those unit types as new builds and never got them to go forward. Maybe it'd work with existing office buildings though...

[mhays]

Too bad. Those are common in some places.

[jhwk]

Originally Posted by mhays

Is it possible to build <300 sf apartments in Denver? And no parking? In secondary cores and not just Downtown? This is a good way to address a chunk of the affordability issue.

Or better yet, can you do true micros, with shared kitchens?

Someone built one (320sf apartments with no parking) and reportedly it threw the NIMBYs into such a tizzy that we won't get another:

https://ozarch.com/our-work/economist

[mhays]

In an area with lots of other apartments and it looks like a good business strip right there!

It's easier when policy is set regionally, based on a set of shared ethics like "enhance affordability" and "support low-carbon transportation", etc. People are more accepting of policies in general vs. when they think they're personally under attack. Then when they protest, any attempt to take the policies back can be viewed through the lens that was already agreed upon.

In a neighborhood like that, this sort of building is mostly great news. Suddenly that business strip has more potential workers available. The sidewalks are slightly busier. But oh no, what if six cars get parked on the street?

[laniroj]

Originally Posted by mhays

In an area with lots of other apartments and it looks like a good business strip right there!

It's easier when policy is set regionally, based on a set of shared ethics like "enhance affordability" and "support low-carbon transportation", etc. People are more accepting of policies in general vs. when they think they're personally under attack. Then when they protest, any attempt to take the policies back can be viewed through the lens that was already agreed upon.

In a neighborhood like that, this sort of building is mostly great news. Suddenly that business strip has more potential workers available. The sidewalks are slightly busier. But oh no, what if six cars get parked on the street?

Not in Colorado they're not...or at least not yet.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by jhwk

Someone built one (320sf apartments with no parking) and reportedly it threw the NIMBYs into such a tizzy that we won't get another:

https://ozarch.com/our-work/economist

Someone else with a better urban planning background can correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the passage HB24-1304 and HB24-131 enable a project such as this to be built anywhere within a half mile of Colfax by right?

[laniroj]

Originally Posted by wong21fr

Someone else with a better urban planning background can correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the passage HB24-1304 and HB24-131 enable a project such as this to be built anywhere within a half mile of Colfax by right?

Municipalities have an out for projects 20 units or greater (so basically all multifamily housing development). Here's the language from the bill:

(1) NOTWITHSTANDING SECTION 29-36-103, A LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAY IMPOSE OR ENFORCE A MINIMUM PARKING REQUIREMENT IN CONNECTION
WITH A HOUSING DEVELOPMENT PROJECT THAT IS INTENDED TO CONTAIN
TWENTY UNITS OR MORE OR CONTAIN REGULATED AFFORDABLE HOUSING BY REQUIRING NO MORE THAN ONE PARKING SPACE PER DWELLING UNIT IN THE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT.

(2) (a) IN ORDER TO IMPOSE A MINIMUM PARKING REQUIREMENT
PURSUANT TO SUBSECTION (1) OF THIS SECTION IN CONNECTION WITH A
HOUSING DEVELOPMENT PROJECT, A LOCAL GOVERNMENT MUST, NO LATER
THAN NINETY DAYS AFTER RECEIVING A COMPLETED APPLICATION FOR THE
HOUSING DEVELOPMENT PROJECT, PUBLICLY PUBLISH WRITTEN FINDINGS
THAT FIND THAT NOT IMPOSING OR ENFORCING A MINIMUM PARKING
REQUIREMENT IN CONNECTION WITH THE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT PROJECT WOULD HAVE A SUBSTANTIAL NEGATIVE IMPACT.

Folks, I know I rant often about it, but ^ is what weak leadership looks like. This provision essentially makes this bill a "feel good" measure and provides no meaningful, impactful benefit to society other than affecting development at the fringes. I can see smaller townhome projects taking advantage of this but I suspect the townhome land rezoning efforts are infinitely small. Big miss by state government here and we can all likely predict the municipalities who will manipulate this to get their 1:1 parking.

I have also heard rumors that CHFA was against this bill. Apparently they value parking and I suspect have a very strong voice among the legislators.

Full text of the bill: https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2024A/bills/2024a_1304_enr.pdf

[mhays]

That'll drive developers NUTS. They'll waste tons of money proposing something, then have to redo the whole concept based on a parking requirement, which will also change everything else about their target buyer/renter. Or they'll just assume 1:1.

Rules need to be standardized. It sounds like Colorado has the same problem as California where plans allowed by land use code can be turned back.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by laniroj

It's a natural urban progression for higher end and more expensive retail to move into City Centers with the more affordable offerings moving outside the downtown footprint. I know everyone cries foul when this happens, but it's a sign of a maturing City.

Hmm, Not sure I agree with you; I'd venture that "it depends" is a better answer. Certainly, Cherry Creek would disagree.

Businesses never enjoy the idea of having to move but many have acknowledged that once they moved into Englewood they're happier given there's much less crime/vagrancy in their new area. So, it just depends.

I suspect that a lot of this goes to the underlying ground value perception. Only time will tell how well this works out.

Originally Posted by laniroj

I'm all for that $35 million for law enforcement, but not "crime prevention". We already have a NINE-FIGURE annual apparatus in place serving those crime-prevention needs and as near as I can tell at this point, it's producing no discernable positive/measurable result (please correct me if you disagree). It's become a cottage industry dependent on public dollars to sustain jobs for mainly college educated people.

Good Clarification! Law enforcement is the better language. It's also a whole other topic that includes laws and courts as well as policing but we'll leave it at that.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by mhays

Is it possible to build <300 sf apartments in Denver? And no parking? In secondary cores and not just Downtown? This is a good way to address a chunk of the affordability issue.

Or better yet, can you do true micros, with shared kitchens?

Actually, I sort of thought Denver led the nation when it comes to new-build micro-units and a large number of units were built under the 'X' brand that include co-living units. There's also student-style housing in the Auraria area. There's also a good number of projects (some not that big) that feature micro units in RiNo.

Clarification: Many of these projects may have a very modest number of parking spaces.

Outside of the city center there's this brand new project:

Iota Fox Station Opens in Globeville
August 14, 2024 -- Mile High CRE

KTGY, an award-winning national design firm specializing in architecture, interior design, branded environments, and urban design, announced the completion and opening of Iota Fox Station, a new transit-oriented multifamily development located at 500 West 41st Avenue, directly across the street from the 41st & Fox transit station in Denver’s Globeville neighborhood.

To deliver all the features residents want and more on a challenging site in an emerging neighborhood, KTGY’s architecture studio leveraged smart and effective unit design. Featuring 148 micro-units, Iota Fox Station creates inherent affordability and is conveniently located just one stop away from Denver’s downtown Union Station.

Courtesy KTGY

-----------------------------------

Can't say if rumor or fact

I was told that because of the office vacancy in downtown area neighborhoods in Seattle that all these micro units are having trouble renting. Especially given the WFH crowd why live in a shoebox when you can rent a much nicer place for the same money outside of downtown.

[TakeFive]

I was conflicted

Originally Posted by jhwk

Someone built one (320sf apartments with no parking) and reportedly it threw the NIMBYs into such a tizzy that we won't get another:

https://ozarch.com/our-work/economist

The fact that it was within a block north of Colfax was good. The one thing that conflicted me was that it was also a designated historical district.

I do recall the city making some adjustment afterwards. Denver has small amount of historical properties compared to many eastern cities, for example, that it's worth preserving these properties "where/when it makes sense." Areas like in Curtis Park do have older apartment properties (in some cases converted to multiple units) that do not have (much if any) parking so it's not unheard of.

----------------------

Originally Posted by laniroj

Downtown Phoenix is more pleasant with better treescape than downtown Denver...we can and should do much better. While we're at it, we need to get rid of City foresters and let the market get creative with treescape. I'm damn sick of all our homogenous landscaping because City Foresters dictate you can only use 5 trees and 10 shrubs...we need to take the power back!!!

Downtown Phoenix, in hindsight, is blessed by the fact it was/is like 4th in priority for office space after the Biltmore Area, Scottsdale and Tempe. So over the last decade plus a number of new apartment towers have been built as apposed to office buildings. A few of the older mixed-use projects do have an interior courtyard or retail space with nice landscaping. Exteriors though do vary from nicer to not so nice.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

Hmm, Not sure I agree with you; I'd venture that "it depends" is a better answer. Certainly, Cherry Creek would disagree.

Cherry Creek could arguably be considered part of the city center, or metro center when we're talking about businesses moving to Englewood (I certainly abused both locations equally when I was in the center of Denver). So I think that laniroj's logic makes sense.

Businesses never enjoy the idea of having to move but many have acknowledged that once they moved into Englewood they're happier given there's much less crime/vagrancy in their new area. So, it just depends.

Same article mentions that they've had dips in revenue due to fewer customers and are now working on ensuring parking to try and get their customer base to drive on down. It's more of a mixed bag than pure euphoria. As for Mutiny, maybe if they could figure out how to run their books rather than running a GoFundMe because they forgot to pay taxes for a few years they wouldn't be moving on down.

[mhays]

Iota Fox Station is NOT micros. Units currently available range from 554-909 sf.

Seattle's micros rent well in general, despite some softness during Covid.