Welcome to Cherry Creek Perspective in a new more user-friendly format. We hope that you have found CCP a useful source of information about mobility and real estate in general, and in the central and southeast Denver area.
The new format of our email newsletters allows much more flexible viewing on mobile devices with small screens and desktops with wide screens. And Cherry Creek Perspective is now organized to allow quick and easy access to available current information from a variety of sources in addition to a searchable database of all of the JRES newsletters content available at:
jres.com/publication-content-search/
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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If you are interested in familiarizing our subscribers with your organization through a logo and link on these newsletters, contact Bill James at bjames@jres.com or 303-316-6768.
Mobility
RTD wants your input for a pass program study. RTD reports they are committed to providing customers the best transit experience. “As we’ve expanded our bus, rail and specialty services, we’ve identified the need to review our current pass programs. Over the next year, we will evaluate and identify challenges with our pass programs and determine the best programs to meet our customers’ needs. We will be hosting monthly community meetings for public input and invite you to attend. Check out upcoming meetings and learn more about the Pass Program Study.”
www.rtd-denver.com/PassProgramStudy.shtml
RTD has made travel on bus and rail more convenient with the launch of MyRide smart cards, enabling customers to preload cards with up to $200. Customers will now be able to pay their bus or rail fare with a quick tap and save money on each trip. The new MyRide cards are available for purchase at each of RTD’s five regional sales outlets and on RTD’s online store. MyRide cards can be reloaded three ways: online through the MyRide account page, at an RTD sales outlet and at more than 50 Safeway and 80 King Soopers stores across the metro area.
www.rtd-denver.com/myride.shtml
As part of Denveright, Denver Moves: Transit is convening community conversations to shape how mobility will evolve to meet the needs of those who live, work and play in Denver over the next 20 years. “Denver Moves: Transit is Denver’s first transit plan that will look to create a local vision for new transit choices and improvements within our city. The plan will examine how transit can play a key role in creating a successful mobility system that moves more people through our city as our population continues to grow. The Task Force has met six times in the past year, working closely with the project team to develop Denver’s transit vision, goals, and priorities. As we begin evaluating corridors for service and capital improvements, the Task Force will continue to provide input and share information with the organizations and communities they represent.”
www.denvergov.org/content/denvergov/en/denveright/transit.html
Denver City Council Member Wayne New reports a Cherry Creek South Drive Construction Update. Work on the final phase of the street construction project along Cherry Creek Drive South is well underway with an anticipated completion date in late October or early November. A new traffic light will be installed at the Cherry Creek Drive South and Alameda intersection. Discussions continue with traffic engineering and pedestrian mobility on pedestrian crosswalks, reduced speed limits, and other traffic improvements.
Real Estate
Denver Community Planning and Development reports that the Square on 21st opened June 15 as a park-like public space in Denver’s Ballpark neighborhood where residents and visitors can relax in the shade, play lawn games, sip early morning coffee, sample late-night eats, and enjoy activities for all ages (and dogs too!). This pop-up park between Larimer and Lawrence will be open June 15 – August 15, and is the brainchild of area residents and business owners who worked with city planners to envision an underused public street as an oasis in downtown. The installation urges visitors to consider new and creative uses for publicly-owned streets and sidewalks. It will provide a temporary public gathering place for a neighborhood that doesn’t have one now, and give those who live and work nearby the chance to enjoy open space and park amenities close to home. It is the direct result of a series of city plans, including the 21st and Wynkoop Urban Design plan (2016), as well as the ongoing The Outdoor Downtown plan for parks and recreation.
www.denvergov.org/thesquareon21st
The Colorado Division of Housing reports strengthening of Colorado’s continuum of housing interventions. Colorado’s budget for fiscal year 2017-18 includes a new funding stream – more than $15 million from the Marijuana Tax Cash Fund – for the Division of Housing’s budget to provide permanent supportive housing and rapid re-housing assistance for individuals with behavioral health needs, and/or for people experiencing or are at-risk of homelessness. The Division of Housing hosted a Stakeholder Engagement Forum in June to outline funding parameters, capture community input, and explore opportunities for continued engagement regarding this funding stream.
DOH is pleased to announce that $36.2 million was awarded from the revolving Colorado Housing Investment Fund (CHIF) to create or preserve affordable housing. Allocated to DOLA from the Attorney General’s office through investments in 2013 and 2015, the custodial funds are the result of a 2012 settlement with the five largest mortgage servicing companies. The CHIF program offers short-term, low interest loans to affordable housing developers to bridge long-term permanent financing sources.
www.colorado.gov/pacific/dola/colorado-housing-investment-fund-chif
In total, twenty four affordable housing developments have received awards from the CHIF, facilitating the construction, acquisition and/or rehabilitation of more than 2,200 units, including:
- Five rural properties spanning the state from Durango to Grand Junction to Akron,
- 396 affordable rental units for the elderly,
- 200 units for persons with disabilities, and
- 405 units for persons experiencing homelessness.
The CHIF program has also helped build more resilient communities in Colorado by increasing the supply of affordable housing. CHIF leveraged federal Community Development Block Grant funds to support the new construction of nine affordable rental developments in the Presidentially-declared flood or fire-impacted counties, including 250 affordable units in Boulder County, the county that experienced the most damage to its housing stock as a result of the 2013 floods.
Council Member Wayne New reports that the ten year GO Bond capital improvement process is being completed, with $750 million in requests being submitted to the Mayor by the GO Bond Executive Committee and its five task forces. With the complete request list totaling $3.6 billion it is a difficult process to prioritize the most needed requests for funding. Discussions are underway between the Mayor and City Council to allow funding for additional community improvement needs. The final list of recommendations should be completed in July and will be communicated to residents for their review and support in the November General Election. Examples of capital improvements that may be included in the final list are: Denver Art Museum expansion; Denver Public Library expansion; the first segment of bus rapid transit for Colfax; new Westwood Recreation Center; new District 5 and 6 Police Stations; neighborhood park improvements; and sidewalk funding. The most widely discussed issue has been the significant amount of deferred maintenance that has not been funded, which has reached a total of approximately $800 million. The new GO Bond capital improvement list will likely have a combination of new capital improvements and deferred maintenance.
From the LinkedIn Group – Mobility and Real Estate
The Electric Car Revolution Is Accelerating
“Lithium-ion cell costs have already fallen by 73 percent since 2010 and BNEF predicts innovation of battery manufacturers will accelerate and lead to further steep declines in average prices over the next two decades.”
www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-06/the-electric-car-revolution-is-accelerating
Before They Hit the Road, Driverless Vehicles Will Take Over Warehouses
Indeed, a warehouse is an “interesting environment” for developing autonomous vehicles because it “lets you experiment with the same technology [being used on the roads] but in a more controlled, unregulated environment,” says Clarke.
If you can’t ban cars downtown, just take away the parking spaces
“It seemed foolproof: In the heart of Oslo’s city center, 88.1% of people do not own a car; just 7% commute by private vehicle, with the majority preferring public transit, biking, or walking. But so vehement was the backlash from Oslo’s conservative faction, including of its automobile lobby, that the Oslo city council had to go back to the drawing board… Instead of an outright car ban, Oslo has now announced a tactical-urbanism approach to limiting vehicle movement through the city center by simply removing all the parking spots from the area. There are currently 650; in their place, Oslo vice mayor for environment and transport Lan Marie Nguyen Berg told The Guardian, “we’ll put up installations and create public spaces.”
www.fastcompany.com/40434409/if-you-cant-ban-cars-downtown-just-take-away-the-parking-spaces
Alphabet Inks Deal for Avis to Manage Self-Driving Car Fleet
“Avis gives Waymo a potential asset that rivals like the major automakers and Uber Technologies Inc already have: a sprawling network of traditional cars and customers that could be transformed into an autonomous transport service over time.”
EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_06_26&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_97f672225d-5842f6e7ef-312819889
Cherry Creek retail sales taxes are up, despite outcry over paid parking at the mall
“The Denver neighborhood, which is bound by 6 th Avenue, Colorado Boulevard, and Cherry Creek S. Drive and includes the Cherry Creek North shopping area and the Cherry Creek shopping center, saw an increase in retail sales tax collections in February from $2,368,058 in 2016 to $2,408,471 in 2017.
The city doesn’t report sales tax collections for just the mall. It does take a look at just Cherry Creek North Business Improvement District. In just Cherry Creek North, the sales tax collections also were up from $718,406 in February 2016 to $753,016 in February 2017.”
www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2017/06/20/cherry-creek-retail-sales-taxes-are-up-despite.html
Supercommuters, skyrocketing commutes, and America’s affordable housing crisis
“Between 2010 and 2015, the number of American supercommuters—those with commutes of 90 minutes or more—has skyrocketed…These vast fleets of private cars, idling for longer and longer periods every day on our highways, are also an indictment of the country’s affordable-housing policies. Far from every worker is forced into a long commute: Some trade time behind the wheel for the home, neighborhood, and school district they desire, all part and parcel of pursuing the suburban American dream. But research increasingly finds that for many, longer drives are a direct result of a dearth of housing near jobs, especially in increasingly expensive downtown districts.”
www.curbed.com/2017/6/20/15834514/rent-transportation-commute-affordable-housing
Cities will need to fight zero-occupant miles with “TDM for autonomous vehicles”
“How people start to use AVs will matter in terms of the traffic impacts they create. Personal autonomous vehicles, according to a landmark 2015 Urban Mobility study by the International Transit Forum and Corporate Partnership Board, will generate up to 35 percent more VMT than conventional personal cars. Those in a shared “fleet” model would generate less. Meanwhile, AVs in a taxi model, carrying single passengers all the way to their destinations, would create 90 percent more VMT than typical taxies. Using those taxis as a connection to transit with multiple passengers, however, would only produce 6 percent more VMT.
To avoid the worst of these traffic scenarios, policy needs to be deployed with an eye towards minimizing the added miles and the demand for situations involving zero-occupant vehicles.”
mobilitylab.org/2017/05/30/tdm-for-autonomous-vehicles/
DIA would pay more than $1 billion over 34 years in deal for massive terminal renovation, chief says
“Day outlined a 34-year deal for the Great Hall project in which the Ferrovial team and DIA would split the upfront costs of a four-year renovation project. Ferrovial then would operate expanded concessions in the terminal, awarding contracts to operators, with exchanges of varying costs and income over three decades.”
www.denverpost.com/2017/06/02/denver-international-airport-terminal-renovation/S
Transit Hubs: A Growing Lure for Developers Square Feet
“The growing number of transit-oriented developments has spurred rail projects in markets of all sizes. Areas that have experienced development near new rail systems or station openings include Fulton Market in Chicago; downtown Kansas City, Mo.; Austin, Tex.; and the RiNo neighborhood of Denver, to name a few.’
www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/business/transit-rail-property-development.html?_r=0
Unless we share them, self-driving vehicles will just make traffic worse
“For urbanists, these coming transportation revolutions might portend heaven — fewer cars, less parking, more places for biking, walking, and gathering — or they might portend a hell of more cars, more vehicle miles traveled, worse congestion, and more sprawl.”
www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/5/18/15604744/self-driving-cars-cities
From Real Estate Perspective
