The Lowenstein complex on Colfax will welcome the Denver Film Society to its list of tenants in November.  To move from its current location at the Starz Film Center in Auraria, the new tenant will complement the Tattered Cover Bookstore and Twist & Shout music store with film screenings in the 11.250 SF space previously occupied by Neighborhood Flix Cinema & Café.  The facility will be known as the Denver Film Center/Colfax.  The theater will celebrate its opening in conjunction with the opening ceremonies for the Denver Film Festival which begins in early November.

The 24,000 SF former Big Lots retail store at 1st Avenue/Broadway has been leased for development of the first Punch Bowl bowling center.  The tenant will spend $2.5 million to convert the building to 8 bowling lanes with a restaurant and bar to open in August 2011.   The developer, Robert Thompson operates the Argyll GastroPub in Cherry Creek North and plans more such bowling centers if the concept is successful.

RTD has broken ground on the East Line commuter rail line which will extend from Denver Union Station to DIA.  More at:

RTD District A Newsletter 

Developers George Thorn and Buzz Koelbel broke ground on a new senior affordable apartment building adjacent to the Yale Station of RTD's Southeast Corridor light rail line.  The 6-story 50-unit building will include a small retail space and is under construction on a former gas station site at the foot of the I-25 off ramp.  The Koelbel family has owned the land for some 5 decades and a few years ago built a new office building across Yale Drive from the site for the Koelbel and Company headquarters.  George Thorn's Mile High Development Company developed Colorado Center at 1-25/Colorado Boulevard and the Museum Residences which "wrap" the parking structure at the new Hamilton Wing of the Denver Art Museum.

A street improvement project in downtown Denver will result in better connectivity between 16th and 17th streets and the Larimer retail area.  Funded by the Better Denver Bond Program and the Downtown Denver Partnership, the $2 million project will make the area more pedestrian friendly with wider sidewalks, new lighting and trees.  A separate project along 14th Street between Colfax and Market Street will make the area friendlier to pedestrians and bicyclists.  To be completed over a year, the $14 million project will be funded by the Better Denver Bond Program and a general-improvement district.

The much anticipated Four Seasons Hotel opened this month at 1111 14th Street near the Denver Performing Arts Complex.  The 45-story building offers 239-hotel units and 102 private residences.  The facility is the first 5-star hotel to grace the Denver metro area.

The new Solera apartment will soon open at 20^th/Lawrence Streets.  Developed by Zocalo Community Development the 11-story 120-unit building will have the gold rating of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). 

Lower Downtown or LoDo, has been called one of the 10 Great Neighborhoods for 2010 by the Great Places in America program of the American Planning Association. The award is based on the leadership and skills used to redevelop the neighborhood into a thriving area while still maintaining its historical character.

With support of the leadership of the Cherry Creek East and Country Club Neighborhoods and Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods, CCNNA leadership worked with the Cherry Creek North Business Improvement District to further refine the design. Under the new design:

·         Parking has been removed from the entire north end of the plaza to allow a more pedestrian feel.  There will be 5 spaces on each side of the south end of the plaza near First Avenue.

·         The center of the plaza and all of the area north of the center will be curbless, creating a very open feel when the area is closed.  There will be retractable bollards for closing the plaza to traffic and for delineating the auto/pedestrian areas when it is open.

The following elements of the design remain:

·         Special pavement treatment from building face to building face, sidewalk and street.

·         Lush planters with trees on the south end of the Plaza to block noise from First Avenue

·         A central event space with a removable high shade structure

·         Narrow traffic lanes that allow but don't encourage traffic

The key programming elements include:

·         $600,000 of event infrastructure for sound, lighting, and other mechanical

·         At least 35 days of closures and events - including Sundays from May to September,

·         4 neighborhood/community days or evenings, and 5 3rd party requests, etc.

·         A 50% increase in the BID's budget for events in 2011

The next step will be for the BID to turn the conceptual design into actual construction design and to start through the city review process.

Council Member Robb also feels that East Colfax Avenue is now a safer place in part thanks to the installation of 'Halo' security cameras that are being installed between Grant and Josephine Streets. This results from a new relationship between the Colfax Business Improvement District (CBID) and the Denver Police Department. Camera locations were determined by the highest crime areas. Installation of 12 cameras will be during November.

The construction of the Renaissance Uptown Lofts is proceeding at Colfax/Pearl Street. The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless believes the building design and the "Main Street Zoning", will go far in helping to revitalize the East Colfax Corridor.  The Coalition is pleased to see that the McDonalds next door has rebuilt its restaurant along the same "Main Street" plane while continuing to improve the streetscape along this block. The Coalition is taking lease applications for the affordable housing units, and working Denver's Road Home and the Denver Housing Authority to qualify homeless individuals for housing within this development.   They are also negotiating with a number of potential retail tenants.

Marczyk Fine Foods will be opening a new 6,500 SF grocery store and wine shop at the corner of Colfax/Fairfax in July 2011.  The original Marczyk's location at 17th /Clarkson will remain.

St. Joseph Hospital and Exempla Healthcare announced plans to redevelop the former Children's Hospital site into a new hospital complex.  Children's Hospital moved to the Fitzsimons Redevelopment in Aurora several years ago.  Over the next 5 years St. Joseph will build a $325 million facility between East 19th/20th Avenues, and Marion/Lafayette Streets.  The 325-bed facility will be served by two 300-space parking structures.  The existing St. Joseph Hospital at 18th/Franklin will be eventually removed.