DENVER | Main Development Thread #7

[mhays]

And good transportation mode splits.

[TakeFive]

I'd disagree somewhat

IMO, (whether urban or suburban) the best way to create activity/demand is by having a good tenant mix. For example, Cherry Creek SC I assume is still more for retail shopping than entertainment while Cherry Creek North likely has more nighttime entertainment appeal as well as daytime shopping appeal. Newer, nicer areas go for both daytime basics as well as nighttime entertainment appeal.

When one mentions 'streetscape' I'd ask how nice is the landscaping? Landscaping is a huge add for nicer, popular shopping areas. If it flowers or if it's green people love it.

Originally Posted by mhays

And good transportation mode splits.

Yesterday, about 1:45 pm in the afternoon I had a drop off and later a pickup at urban/suburban Kierland Commons and the sidewalks were just crawling with people. Good guess that half of the people were from out-of-town and all use rideshare. The landscaping along the sidewalks is awesome this time of year with flowering plants and shrubs etc.

If not yet, then In a few months it will be Denver's time to shine.

[TakeFive]

Side Pocket Topics

Speaking of retail and Walmart
Why Walmart is closing half its stores in Chicago
Thu April 13, 2023 By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN

New York (CNN)
Walmart plans to close half its stores in Chicago, a reversal of the retail giant’s high-profile commitment in 2020 to expand in the city as part of its corporate racial justice initiative in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by police.

The announcement comes after Walmart highlighted its efforts in Chicago as a “critical part” of its broader $100 million pledge to advancing racial equity in 2020.

So what went wrong?

But Walmart said Tuesday that these four stores lose tens of millions of dollars a year and that annual losses have nearly doubled in the last five years. The company said it tried several strategies to improve the stores and invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the city. “Unfortunately, these efforts have not materially improved the fundamental business challenges our stores are facing,” Walmart said in a blog post.

Denver's 16th Street Mall has the landscaping appeal but instead of adding good retailers they've lost good retailers.

Coincidentally, earlier I picked up a guy who works for Avis Security (didn't even know Avis was doing security). In any case the nearby center that they monitor has two stores that suffer the most theft: Target and Famous Footwear.

Here's to hoping that the Downtown Denver Partnership has more success finding new tenants and the whoever is elected Mayor can actually accomplish cleaning up the downtown streets.

[Sierra Obscura]

Originally Posted by SirLucasTheGreat

This is an interesting convo. I used to be partial toward high rise development but I'm more interested now in how things feel at the street level. I feel like LoDo and CCN are among the better neighborhoods in Denver because they feel much more vibrant to walk in. The central business district is obviously much denser when it comes to vertical development but it's not a particularly attractive area to be in. This is why I think I prefer some of the development in Denver versus Austin. I think Denver is on a better trajectory for walkability than Austin despite the fact that Austin is building far more high rises than we are.

I do agree with these points (and RiNo I believe is joining the ranks of LoDo and CCN), but I think it has more to do with the mix of uses vs. the height of buildings. I don't fetishize height alone, but I like that the northern end of River North is developing with a range of building heights...it creates a nice bit of variety, and a good amount of those buildings are residential.

Downtown, IMO, is too office-heavy to be an attractive area to spend time, especially post-Covid. If those towers had more residential units, no doubt it would have rebounded by now; it would at least have some appeal. In fact, there's an argument that places like Cherry Creek North and RiNo have sucked the demand away from downtown for that mix - I do fantasize about a 16th St. Mall filled with local shops and restaurants, becoming a regional draw once again, but it will probably take quite some time for that to develop.

[TakeFive]

Denver’s Office Vacancy Rate Reaches 10-Year High
April 17, 2023 By Robert Davis, Bisnow Denver

Metro Denver’s office vacancy rate reached a 10-year high during the first quarter of 2023 as economic uncertainty continues to weigh down the city’s commercial real estate market.

The city’s total office vacancy rate increased by 1.4% year-over-year to 20.9%, according to CBRE’s latest market report.

What's going on out there?

Leasing activity and net absorption continue to be two of the most troublesome segments of Denver’s office market. ... Meanwhile, large employers like law firm Bryan Cave and Tetra Tech reduced their office footprints in March, according to CBRE.

Denver saw a significant decline in its net absorption, which speaks to the decreasing demand for the city’s office space. In Q1, Denver posted a negative 250K SF absorption rate, led by Class-B properties

[TakeFive]

Exactly How Much Less America Walks Than Other Countries, In Five Charts
Apr 14, 2023 By Kea Wilson - StreetsBlog USA

I didn't bother to read the article as I didn't doubt the assertion made. Besides here in the States we tend to be distinctly American. But many might enjoy reading the article.

My mind started to wander to "what makes people gather, congregate?"

For healthy activity and exercise Fitness Centers seem to print money in the desert. I assume this is somewhat similar in Denver but that Denver's wonderful parks serve this purpose even better. Wash Park has always been the most popular and I assume one could still easily find a pick-up Volleyball game.

Googling for answers

Then I moved to the built environment and I focused on shopping or similar activities. Has anything much changed in the last 10 years?

With respect to malls, Survey says:

• Cherry Creek Shopping Center
• 16th Street Mall
• Denver Pavilions
• Park Meadows Mall

For more of a Denver specific areas of shopping etc popularity, Survey Says:

• LoDo - Larimer Square - Union Station
• Cherry Creek North
• 16th Street Mall
• SoBo/South Broadway
• Art District on Santa Fe
• Denver Central Market - The Source

Note: While the 16th Street Mall's current popularity may be lagging from Google's POV it is still very unique and appealing.

Not sure how important but most of the above have less density. In many instances it goes to the historical appeal along with a nice tenant mix.

And all this amounts to... well have a cup of coffee on me

[COtoOC]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

Exactly How Much Less America Walks Than Other Countries, In Five Charts
Apr 14, 2023 By Kea Wilson - StreetsBlog USA

I didn't bother to read the article as I didn't doubt the assertion made. Besides here in the States we tend to be distinctly American. But many might enjoy reading the article.

My mind started to wander to "what makes people gather, congregate?"

For healthy activity and exercise Fitness Centers seem to print money in the desert. I assume this is somewhat similar in Denver but that Denver's wonderful parks serve this purpose even better. Wash Park has always been the most popular and I assume one could still easily find a pick-up Volleyball game.

Googling for answers

Then I moved to the built environment and I focused on shopping or similar activities. Has anything much changed in the last 10 years?

With respect to malls, Survey says:

• Cherry Creek Shopping Center
• 16th Street Mall
• Denver Pavilions
• Park Meadows Mall

For more of a Denver specific areas of shopping etc popularity, Survey Says:

• LoDo - Larimer Square - Union Station
• Cherry Creek North
• 16th Street Mall
• SoBo/South Broadway
• Art District on Santa Fe
• Denver Central Market - The Source

Note: While the 16th Street Mall's current popularity may be lagging from Google's POV it is still very unique and appealing.

Not sure how important but most of the above have less density. In many instances it goes to the historical appeal along with a nice tenant mix.

And all this amounts to... well have a cup of coffee on me

I live in Central Park and love walking. I typically get in 6-10 miles per week on purposeful walks and I have a great place to do that. I can also walk to the grocery store, the Stanley, etc. I looked it up and my house gets a walk score of 74/100, but I doubt most Denver neighborhoods have that many options to walk to. I still have to drive to the gym though.

[bunt_q]

Originally Posted by COtoOC

. I typically get in 6-10 miles per week on purposeful walks and I have a great place to do that.

"Purposeful" walks. I used to do those. Now I don't have time, and in a post-commute world, my incidental walking is down to maybe a 3,000 steps per day average. That's the difference - if I lived in Europe, I'd average twice that without doing anything out of the course of my normal frenzied day; without anything purposeful.

[laniroj]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

...Denver's 16th Street Mall has the landscaping appeal but instead of adding good retailers they've lost good retailers....

Correction...had landscaping appeal. All of that is getting ripped out with the new 16th st mall plan - or so that's what I deciphered from the terrible plan they came up with.

Greenery and streetscape is literally the best thing the City has done in the past 20 years. The ROI for streets and trees and pleasant street level experiences is enormous in terms of new tax dollars generated. Think S Broadway 20 years ago, 14th Street 15 years ago, LoHi before the pedestrian bridge (?) years ago, Brighton 10 years ago. Cities really need to take a step back and invest in pedestrian and landscaping infrastructure...the rest will follow!

[laniroj]

Originally Posted by Sierra Obscura

...I do fantasize about a 16th St. Mall filled with local shops and restaurants, becoming a regional draw once again, but it will probably take quite some time for that to develop.

Add 20,000 new units in downtown proper and that will happen. Remove FAR, remove view planes, remove parking (or better yet put parking maximums) and it will happen in some of our lifetimes. We need those dense units dtown, not five blocks outside of it.

[bunt_q]

Originally Posted by laniroj

Correction...had landscaping appeal. All of that is getting ripped out with the new 16th st mall plan - or so that's what I deciphered from the terrible plan they came up with.

Greenery and streetscape is literally the best thing the City has done in the past 20 years. The ROI for streets and trees and pleasant street level experiences is enormous in terms of new tax dollars generated. Think S Broadway 20 years ago, 14th Street 15 years ago, LoHi before the pedestrian bridge (?) years ago, Brighton 10 years ago. Cities really need to take a step back and invest in pedestrian and landscaping infrastructure...the rest will follow!

I agree 200%. And this is where I say I am deathly afraid that DOTI screws up the streetscape on Colfax BRT. There should be a dollar spent on streetscape for every dollar spent on core BRT infrastructure. Alas, when it eventually gets value engineered, the agency that will tackle the BRT project but is afraid of sidewalks is definitely going to make all the wrong decisions.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by laniroj

Correction...had landscaping appeal. All of that is getting ripped out with the new 16th st mall plan - or so that's what I deciphered from the terrible plan they came up with.

We will see. The landscaping appeal of the mall came solely from the trees canopy- the only decent one downtown for the better part of three decades. If Stantec doesn’t screw that up I think the appeal will return and be increased.

But right now it has the appeal of navigating an entry control point at Bagram back in ‘08.

[bunt_q]

Originally Posted by wong21fr

We will see. The landscaping appeal of the mall came solely from the trees canopy- the only decent one downtown for the better part of three decades. If Stantec doesn’t screw that up I think the appeal will return and be increased.

But right now it has the appeal of navigating an entry control point at Bagram back in ‘08.

Except I think Bagram in 2008 was probably safer than 16th Street in 2023.

[COtoOC]

Originally Posted by bunt_q

"Purposeful" walks. I used to do those. Now I don't have time, and in a post-commute world, my incidental walking is down to maybe a 3,000 steps per day average. That's the difference - if I lived in Europe, I'd average twice that without doing anything out of the course of my normal frenzied day; without anything purposeful.

I walked to King Soopers yesterday. Probably not a quarter mile round-trip. But with perm. work from home, I have more time for fitness. And the kids are old enough that they go to the gym with me on weekends, so family time/fitness = win/win?

[BrIced_Tea]

Originally Posted by wong21fr

We will see. The landscaping appeal of the mall came solely from the trees canopy- the only decent one downtown for the better part of three decades. If Stantec doesn’t screw that up I think the appeal will return and be increased.

But right now it has the appeal of navigating an entry control point at Bagram back in ‘08.

Looks like they're bringing all the street trees and planting back.

https://www.denvergov.org/Government...Mall#section-3

[laniroj]

Originally Posted by BrIced_Tea

Looks like they're bringing all the street trees and planting back.

https://www.denvergov.org/Government...Mall#section-3

It'll be 30 years until those trees amount to anything resembling urban canopy and 25% of them will be dead by then too. I'll never understand treescape in Denver. 100 years ago, every street in Denver was lined with elms, maples, and cottonwoods and looked like the picture-esque Brooklyn brownstone streets. Then urban renewal happened and we've never cared about it since. Quite literally every larger City out west (and every city in the east) has a nice urban canopy, except Denver. Even downtown Vegas and Phoenix and Cheyenne make Denver look like a dust bowl.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by laniroj

It'll be 30 years until those trees amount to anything resembling urban canopy and 25% of them will be dead by then too. I'll never understand treescape in Denver. 100 years ago, every street in Denver was lined with elms, maples, and cottonwoods and looked like the picture-esque Brooklyn brownstone streets. Then urban renewal happened and we've never cared about it since. Quite literally every larger City out west (and every city in the east) has a nice urban canopy, except Denver. Even downtown Vegas and Phoenix and Cheyenne make Denver look like a dust bowl.

Drought, climate change, and invasive species are all a bitch.

Seriously, the hatred to a native tree like the cottonwood by the city sucks. It's a fast-growing tree that thrives in the climate and could quickly bolster the canopy... brittle nature of the boughs be damned.

As for the 16th Street Mall canopy, my understanding is that Stantec has ~250 juvenile trees that have been acclimating since 2000 in Colorado that will provide an instant canopy (25-40' height) versus your standard Home Depot tree that's usually planted as part a development landscaping. Think the Union Station plaza as it looks today.

[mr1138]

Originally Posted by laniroj

It'll be 30 years until those trees amount to anything resembling urban canopy and 25% of them will be dead by then too. I'll never understand treescape in Denver. 100 years ago, every street in Denver was lined with elms, maples, and cottonwoods and looked like the picture-esque Brooklyn brownstone streets. Then urban renewal happened and we've never cared about it since. Quite literally every larger City out west (and every city in the east) has a nice urban canopy, except Denver. Even downtown Vegas and Phoenix and Cheyenne make Denver look like a dust bowl.

You're not wrong - but we should also give credit where it is due. The Downtown Denver Partnership's Urban Forest Initiative Grant Program would seem to demonstrate at least some understanding that trees need more to survive than a 5'X5' box in the sidewalk that never gets any water.

While I don't have a photo immediately available for reference, I would bet that those tree-lined streets had continuous tree-lawns like in Cap Hill and other residential neighborhoods. A 5'X5' box in the concrete jungle of downtown may work for cities that get more rain, but here the roots need more dirt to expand out into so they don't dry out quite so fast in a summer heat spell. I guess only time will tell if the larger 5'X15' planter boxes will be enough to restore the tree canopy downtown, but at least this effort demonstrates some recognition by landscape architects and the business district that we need to do more to keep trees healthy in Denver. As wong21fr pointed out, a major, professional landscape architecture firm should know how to get this right. The trees in Union Station plaza really do look pretty decent today, and they have replaced the trees that have failed.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

It only took ten years but 'we' got her done

The GSA has sold off the 59 acres of federal land owned at the Federal Center to a developer from Dallas.

It turns out the buyer from Dallas was Lincoln Property

and the backstory is hilarious.

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

Narrate Companies Breaks Ground on Boutique Apartment Community in Denver
April 18, 2023 - Mile High CRE

Frameline Apartments - 4225 E Hale Parkway


Image courtesy OZ Architecture

Narrate Companies and MCP Group broke ground recently on Frameline, a new 78-unit high-efficiency boutique apartment community at 4225 E Hale Parkway. Designed by OZ Architecture, the new community is nestled between the historic Hale neighborhood and the vibrant 9+CO redevelopment. Frameline achieves practicality with modern design tailored to meet growing demand from the area’s predominantly medical workforce.

[COtoOC]

Originally Posted by wong21fr

Drought, climate change, and invasive species are all a bitch.

Seriously, the hatred to a native tree like the cottonwood by the city sucks. It's a fast-growing tree that thrives in the climate and could quickly bolster the canopy... brittle nature of the boughs be damned.

As for the 16th Street Mall canopy, my understanding is that Stantec has ~250 juvenile trees that have been acclimating since 2000 in Colorado that will provide an instant canopy (25-40' height) versus your standard Home Depot tree that's usually planted as part a development landscaping. Think the Union Station plaza as it looks today.

I don't think Cottonwoods would be a good idea on the mall. One of my neighbors let one grow (planted itself) and sure, it grew very fast. And then destroyed their sidewalk. Cost them a lot to have it removed and replace the sidewalk. Apparently they have very invasive roots, which is why you don't see them in people's yards. But they are a beautiful tree.