Welcome to Cherry Creek Perspective – monthly news of mobility-related and affordable housing real estate throughout the Denver-metro area, and news of real estate, public sector and economic developments in the southeast Denver – Glendale area, relying in part on articles published in Real Estate Perspective. To read the newsletter easily on a mobile device go to:
www.jres.com/publications/cherry-creek-perspective/
Research a property or a market in our searchable on-line library of Real Estate Perspective articles compiled since 2001 at:
jres.com/publication-content-search/
Each business day for Real Estate Perspective, the JRES staff reviews all Denver metro area wide and local newspapers, trade journals, government websites, blogs and other sources for commercial and residential real estate and economic news. News items are condensed into easily readable summaries providing all of the essential facts for the Real Estate Perspective newsletter. And Apartment Perspective, provides a detailed update of Denver metro area apartment rental, vacancy and development/construction activity including proposed projects.
The latest on Real Estate and Mobility is also available at a Group in LinkedIn with that name and moderated by Bill James at:
www.linkedin.com/groups/4760558
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OPPORTUNITIES
RAIL~VOLUTION 2019
Transit & community development conference
Come together with professionals who share your dedication to transit, livability and communities. Choose from 75+ thought- and discussion-provoking workshops, ranging from cutting edge policy overviews to practical hands-on strategies. Explore real-world issues and projects across the region via our unique mobile workshops. Registration Opens May 2019
September 8-11, 2019, Vancouver, British Columbia
railvolution.org/the-conference/conference-information/
That’s Entertainment (Districts)
Denver is blessed to have sports and entertainment facilities clustered in the city core and served by transit. However, Broncos Stadium at Mile High, Coors Field, and the Pepsi Center remain auto-oriented and engulfed by parking. Come learn about ambitious plans to transform parking lots into mixed-use neighborhoods serving not just entertainment but art, culture, retail, residential, parks and more. The event will feature national speakers and examples from local leaders of these projects.
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
1:30- 3 pm (Tours); 3:30 – 6:30 (Main Program); 6:40 pm (Networking Rockies game at Coors Field)
The Maven Hotel, Dairy Block, 1800 Wazee Street, Denver
colorado.uli.org/events/detail/E5F0A858-27AD-41F8-A668-5E55BF1D3E71/
National Real Estate & Cannabis Summit
The National Real Estate & Cannabis Summit (“NREC Summit”) serves as a primary resource and clearinghouse for real estate professionals and real estate companies that interact with the cannabis industry at all levels. Your challenges are vast when buying, building, leasing to, maintaining, or converting property that intersects with the cannabis industry. The NREC Summit will help you address these challenges in a proactive way.
Friday, October 4, 2019, 8:00 AM – 6 PM
Gaylord of the Rockies, 6700 N. Gaylord Rockies Blvd., Aurora
Join Housing Colorado for the 31st annual NOW Conference in Keystone, Colorado. Housing Colorado’s 2019 conference features educational information of the highest caliber on best practices, innovative ideas, and current issues for affordable housing professionals. The organization’s signature event gathers affordable housing professionals for creative, inspiring, and thought-provoking education. Build from past successes to shape Colorado’s future of more affordable options and excellent, safe housing for all.
October 9 – 11, 2019, Keystone Conference Center, Keystone, Colorado
Urban Forest Initiative Grant Program
This grant program by the Downtown Denver Partnership, Downtown Denver Business Improvement District, and City and County of Denver, with funding support from private donors has the goal of building a robust tree canopy downtown. Grants of up to $18,000 per tree planting area are available to property owners in Downtown Denver to be used for expanding tree planting areas and/or installing new tree planting spaces including costs for concrete work, soil remediation, suspended pavement systems, tree planting and installation, and other tree-related work.
www.downtowndenver.com/initiatives-and-planning/downtown-denver-urban-forest-initiative/
ATTAINABLE HOUSING
Rent controls are making a comeback. Long dismissed by the economics mainstream as a premier example of inefficient and self-defeating policy, rent control languished for decades in a few cities. But earlier this year, Oregon became the first state government to enact rent controls, followed by a successful push that rocked New York state politics in June. Yet another bill is now working its way through California’s state legislature. All of which raises the question, is it time for a rethink on the issue? For progressives in particular, is rent control something they should put their full weight behind? Unfortunately, based on the evidence, there’s no easy answer.
theweek.com/articles/856597/should-liberals-behind-rent-control (Paywall)
MOBILITY
RTD recently started service on the new Platte Valley FlexRide, which replaces Route 33. FlexRide is a shared ride bus service that anyone can ride to connect with other RTD bus or train services at stations and Park-n-Rides, or get easy access to schools, shopping centers, businesses and more. Just go to a bus stop on the route which meanders on both sides of I-25 between Alameda/Broadway and Colfax/Federal during operating hours.
www.rtd-denver.com/FlexRide.shtml#plattevalley
In 2020 RTD plans to open the N Line commuter rail line which will travel 13 miles from Union Station to Commerce City, Northglenn, Thornton and north Adams County. The N Line will serve seven stations, including Union Station, feature six new Park-n-Rides, and offer connections to the University of Colorado A Line, B Line, and G Line, the C, E, and W light rail lines, and multiple Local and Regional bus routes across the metro area. The line will be extended north an additional 5.5 miles when funding is available. RTD is hosting public meetings to discuss the proposed service changes in implementing the new N Line.
www.rtd-denver.com/servicechanges-n.shtml
www.rtd-denver.com/n-line.shtml
Qualified residents living in the RTD service area can now see 40% off their fare with RTD’s new LiVE income-based fare discount program. Eligible Families and individuals are encouraged to apply on the State’s benefits site
The Regional Transportation District (RTD) of Denver concluded service Aug. 2 on a six-month pilot program testing the viability of a self-driving shuttle that connected passengers from the 61st and Peña commuter rail station to the Panasonic and EasyMile offices…RTD staff will present the results of the pilot program to the RTD Board of Directors with the intent of exploring other opportunities to test self-driving shuttles as an option for moving RTD passengers.
Colorado transportation leaders are banking on buses and trains as population surges…More than ever, CDOT under the Democratic governor is embracing a “multimodal” focus that puts as much emphasis on buses, the potentially costly train route and other forms of transit as it does on highway expansions. Though that shift began under his predecessors, it has the potential to be legacy-making for Polis…Now at the helm of the strategy is Shoshana Lew, CDOT’s new executive director. She joins Polis in extolling the potential environmental benefits of the evolving transit strategy while arguing Colorado’s rapid growth has made it impossible to solve gridlock by widening roads alone…Years from now, if their work is successful, Coloradans moving between cities — or tourists headed for mountain destinations — will have a much larger network of buses and destinations to choose from. Along the major interstates, regular “mobility hubs” will provide places to connect between state and local buses, rail lines and ride-share services.
www.denverpost.com/2019/08/05/cdot-roads-transit-bustang-colorado-polis/
REAL ESTATE
A new rule about what commercial real estate requires appraisals has divided the industry. The National Credit Union Administration, which regulates federally insured credit unions, in mid-July approved a rule change increasing the threshold for mandatory property appraisals in commercial real estate loans involving credit unions from $250K to $1M. The agency characterized the change as a move to simplify smaller deals, and thus promote economic activity spurred by such transactions. The Appraisal Institute immediately denounced the change. The appraisal threshold for banks doing CRE deals was increased last year, though not as much as for credit unions. The federal banking regulatory agencies — the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve Board — approved increasing the commercial appraisal threshold from $250K to $500K.
Denver City Council Member Jolon Clark reports residents in Valverde can begin sharing their thoughts and ideas about the future of their neighborhood. Part of the Neighborhood Planning Initiative, the West Area Plan will bring the community together to develop a long-term vision for the area according to each neighborhood’s unique character and challenges. A community event will officially launch the project later this summer.
REAL ESTATE AND MOBILITY from the LinkedIn Group at www.linkedin.com/groups/4760558/
Denver’s Aerotropolis on Track to Reshape Region
“Right now we have four to seven thousand people living and working in and around DIA and over the next four years, if we do this thing right, it will jump up to around 180,000 people,” said Michael Martinez, president/CEO of Brighton Economic Development. There are currently several companies that already occupy space within the boundaries of the 25,000+ acres that make up Aerotropolis — Kärcher North, Walmart, Amazon, and Panasonic, just to name a few — and there are some other major developments currently in the pre-planning stages:
milehighcre.com/denvers-aerotropolis-on-track-to-reshape-region/
5280 Trail aims to be Denver’s answer to New York City’s High Line
After years of talking about the 5280 Trail, city officials and private boosters who see the potential to strengthen neighborhoods said Tuesday that they’re ready to launch into formal design work for the first section. It could break ground along a small stretch of 21st Street in the next two years or so, and the city has committed $850,000 to get the ball rolling on designs.
www.denverpost.com/2019/08/21/denver-5280-trail-urban-loop/
Is It Time to Let Employees Work from Anywhere?
Even as working from home (WFH) becomes relatively commonplace, a new form of remote work is emerging: working from anywhere (WFA), in which employees can live and work where they choose, typically within a specific country, but in some cases, anywhere in the world with a reliable internet connection. While many companies are just starting to consider allowing employees to work from anywhere, developed WFA programs can be found at firms such as Akamai and SAP.
Developers Reduce Parking via Car Sharing
Kennedy noted, “If three private cars can be replaced by one shared car, and that one shared car is stored on a triple-stacked lift using the space equivalent to one-third that of the surface-parked car, then the space typically dedicated to one private car can be used to provide auto transport for nine households.”…With increased acceptance of car sharing nowadays, the multiplier may have doubled. That kind of efficiency can enable developers to add an additional floor of units, which is far more profitable than building parking spaces. And, they can increase density in urban and urbanizing areas. The next level of efficiency can come as developers of mixed-use projects, with different peak parking demands, encourage cities, lenders, and tenants to stimulate car sharing combined with shared parking.
urbanland.uli.org/development-business/developers-reduce-parking-via-car-sharing/
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION KILLED A SELF-DRIVING CAR COMMITTEE — AND DIDN’T TELL MEMBERS
The Advisory Committee on Automation in Transportation was announced in early January 2017 as part of Barack Obama’s larger federal automated vehicle policy. It consisted of an all-star cast of 25 executives, professors, and politicians from across (and even outside) the transportation world, like General Motors CEO Mary Barra, Waymo CEO John Krafcik, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Lyft co-founder John Zimmer, and oft-cited industry experts like Duke’s Mary “Missy” Cummings, and the University of South Carolina’s Bryant Walker Smith.
Denver airport fires construction partners
In the letter sent to Great Hall Partners late Monday night, DIA terminated the public-private partnership terminal contract using its “for convenience” clause, rather than citing a “for cause” reason that could have resulted in a legal battle. It takes effect Nov. 12, giving DIA and Great Hall time to negotiate its exit, potentially with more of the project’s first phase finished by then.
digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODN/DenverPost/shared/ShowArticle.aspx
Will congestion pricing affect New York’s property values?
Faced with the prospect of congestion pricing for vehicles in the city’s busiest neighborhoods, New York’s commercial real estate industry is wondering how the measure will affect property values. In Singapore, a similar congestion fee to reduce vehicular traffic led to a 19 percent drop in prices on retail real estate within the affected zone, according to a 2015 study by The Journal of Urban Economics. So far, real estate industry insiders say that type of impact is unlikely to happen in Manhattan.
www.nreionline.com/finance-investment/will-congestion-pricing-affect-new-york-s-property-values
D.C. tests system that allows delivery drivers to reserve space at the curb
City officials say they plan to use the data to determine how to better manage — and possibly expand — commercial loading zones. Making space more readily available, they say, would cut emissions from delivery vehicles having to idle or circle the block as they wait for parking, relieve traffic backed up behind double-parkers and make streets safer for everyone who must swerve around them. The study comes as the District and other cities seek more efficient ways to use their curb space — their hottest real estate — amid an explosion in ride-hailing trips by Uber and Lyft, online shopping and on-demand food deliveries.
Are we witnessing the death of Main Street, or its rebirth?
Technology is not the only external force to batter small independent stores. The family-owned stores that we associate with Main Street have long struggled to compete with the economies of scale and depressed prices achieved by the big chain stores. But this isn’t the first time politicians have tried to run to the rescue of small shopkeepers. The “fair trade” laws of the 1930s reined in free markets to help small Main Street stores compete with the economies of scale allowed by the chain stores by setting floors for retail prices. Now, if you look in the right places, Main Street’s moment for intervention might have come around again. The urban planning movement known as New Urbanism, which seeks to reinvent place making using neo-traditional approaches has been trying to breathe new life into shopping streets. This is a reflection of the “outpouring of nostalgia” for Main Street, and lost downtown stores and historic shopping districts, according to historian Vicky Howard.
Uber, Lyft and the A-Line train have changed the game at DIA — shelving plans for more airport parking
It’s the rapid rise of Uber and Lyft that took airport officials by surprise in a span of four years that also saw the long-anticipated start of the Regional Transportation District’s University of Colorado A-Line. DIA began allowing ridesharing services in late 2014, and since then they’ve done more than jolt the taxi industry. Their meteoric rise has drawn business not only from former taxi passengers and travelers who used to be dropped off by friends or relatives, but also those who once frequented the airport’s parking garages and lots. At the same time, DIA has experienced an unprecedented period of growth in passenger traffic, which increased nearly 20 percent from 2015 through 2018 — a situation that normally would have meant skyrocketing demand for parking. Instead, the rise of alternatives has resulted in DIA brass kiboshing their plans to build two new parking garages.
www.denverpost.com/2019/07/21/denver-airport-parking-uber-lyft-rtd/
