Historic Denver Union Station reopened
to the public July 26 and developers introduced
all of the building's new amenities, including
the Crawford Hotel, restaurants, bars, shops and
a spiffed up great hall. The great hall will
serve as the station's ticketing center and a
place for travelers, visitors, downtown workers
and residents to hang out. In fact, renowned
Denver preservationist Dana Crawford, who was
instrumental in shepherding the station's
renovation, calls the renovated great hall
"Denver's living room." In the hall are modern
and retro elements that pay homage to the
region's railroading past and its contemporary,
transit-oriented vibe. Thousands of people
turned out for a public celebration and street
festival and toured the new historic building;
an interactive water fountain outside enabled
children and the young-at-heart to cool off. The
renovated historic building complements the
transit elements RTD built into the train
station, which debuted in May, and includes a
new underground bus concourse and a train
platform with eight tracks for Amtrak trains and
the RTD commuter rail trains that will begin
service in 2016
Denver Post reporter Mark Jaffe provides a
comprehensive analysis of the events that led to the
historic depot's rebirth and the redevelopment of
the former railroad yards that surround it into a
large mixed-use neighborhood:
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_26139214/denvers-renovated-union-station-has-been-30-year
And for a great slide show of the station go to:
http://www.confluence-denver.com/features/union_station_slideshow_073014.aspx?u
tm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=Denver+Union+Station+Reborn%3a+A+Pictorial+Pique&utm_content=%7bEmail_Address%7d&utm_campaign=Union+Station+Slideshow%2c+Industry+Denver+%26+Art+as+Urban+Catalyst+
The Regional Transportation District (RTD) Board
of Directors voted July 16 to advance two more
transit projects: the Southeast
Rail Extension in
Douglas County and the Colorado 119 bus rapid
transit or BRT
project between Boulder and Longmont. RTD
will include both projects in an amendment to the
2040 Regional Transportation Plan it will submit
to the Denver Regional Council of Governments in
early August. This keeps FasTracks' $207 million
Southeast Rail Extension project in the pipeline
to receive $92 million in Federal Transit
Administration funding, which would be a key part
of extending the existing light rail line 2.3
miles from Lincoln Station to RidgeGate Parkway in
Lone Tree. Southeast corridor stakeholders have
committed $35 million to $40 million in cash,
rights-of-way and other contributions to complete
the extension. The board's decision also means
more detailed planning for the $75 million BRT
project along Colorado 119 will move forward. The
recently concluded Northwest Area Mobility Study
identified arterial BRT on Colorado 119 as the top
priority to improve the area's mobility.
If you like transit, think about the next Citizens'
Academy of the Transit Alliance. The Academy meets
Wednesday evenings beginning on September 10 and
ending on October 22 from 6 - 9 PM. The Citizens'
Academy develops community leaders that are poised
to advocate for transit, biking, walking and
increased mobility in our communities. Academy
graduates are equipped to provide relevant and
timely information to help policy makers, business
leaders, and the general public make informed
decisions about transportation choices and
transportation infrastructure investments for our
future. Applications are DUE Friday, August 22 by
5pm.
http://www.transitalliance.org/academies/
Denver City Council Member Jeanne Robb reports
significant progress continues on the Denver
Wastewater Storm Drainage improvements and on the
reconstruction of
University Blvd. and Josephine Streets (Better
Denver Bond Project). At the request of many
constituents and neighbors, the project team applied
for a variance to the City-wide noise ordinance to
allow for some of the project work to be done at
night. The variance was granted by the Department of
Environmental Health and the construction team is
revising the overall schedule to take advantage of
this new opportunity.
Council Member Mary Beth Susman reports that on
July 15th the developer of the former
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center at
9th and CO Blvd, Continuum Partners LLC, held a
community meeting to discuss their progress on the
project. Frank Cannon of Continuum briefed
neighbors. Common themes from the community
feedback include concerns over traffic and
parking, and making sure the existing culture and
feel of adjacent neighborhoods are respected.
Frank also relayed the community's desire to have
the size of the stores fit with the scale of the
neighborhood, be unaccompanied by large surface
parking lots, and be pedestrian friendly.
Continuum expects to have several more community
outreach meetings over the next several months.
A Quebec
Alternatives Analysis team
for Quebec Street between 6th Ave and 26th Ave
have concluded two potential options for
reconfiguring the street - adding two additional
lanes, one in each direction at intersections, or
expand to a four lanes the entire length, two in
each direction, much like the portions of Quebec
Street south and north of the study area. This
would include taking some of the city's existing
right of way, an area that many residents may
believe is their front yard, to make way for the
street and sidewalk improvements. The Quebec
Alternatives Analysis will finalize their proposal
and begin the process to seek funding.
The city's first on-street
bike corrals on
the street, not on the sidewalk were installed in
a pilot program on South Pearl Street with the
support of local business leaders. The corrals
take away one parking spot and replace them with
spots for up to 12 bikes each allowing for the
possibility to triple the potential customers that
use the nearby shops. Susman reports that studies
show revenues from bicyclists are higher in
restaurants and small retail compared to revenues
from those who drive.
MacBain, a Calgary-based real estate investment
firm, bought the Colorado
Athletic Club building
in downtown Denver. The 108,000 square foot
building at 1630 Welton Street was acquired from a
lender, LNR Partners, for $8.5 million, or about
$78 per square foot. James Roupp of JLL
represented the seller.
German investor GLL Real Estate bought One
Union Station,
a new 111,464 square foot office building adjacent
to Denver Union Station in LoDo. The five story
building at 1615 Wynkoop Street has as its major
tenant Antero Resources. GLL Real Estate paid East
West Partners and Starwood Capital Group
$$67,140,000 for the building, or about $602 per
square foot. The seller was represented by Cushman
and Wakefield brokers Chad Flynn, Tim Richey and
Mike Winn.
Ardent Mills announced that it will locate its new
corporate headquarters in 1875
Lawrence Street.
The company is a joint venture of Conagra and
Horizon Milling. The headquarters will occupy four
floors in the fifteen story building, ultimately
employing about 200 people. Ardent did not
announce how many square feet the offices will
contain but 1875 Lawrence Street is listed as a
185,737 square foot building.
The US government opened its new satellite
patent office in
the Byron Rogers Federal Building at 1801 Stout
Street in downtown Denver. The US Patent and
Trademark Office is establishing branch offices in
each time zone, with Denver's office to be joined
by facilities in Dallas, Detroit and the San
Francisco Bay area. The Denver office will employ
about 120 people by the end of the first year of
operations. A study by the University of Colorado
Leeds School of Business estimated that the new
office will have a $440 million impact on Denver's
economy in the first five years of operation.
Imagine Communications will relocate its Denver
offices from suburban Douglas County to downtown
Denver. The broadcast technology firm now occupies
space in the Meridian International Business
Center on Lincoln Avenue near I-25. The company
leased 36,314 square feet at the Denver
Post building at
101 West Colfax Avenue. About 130 to 150 employees
will occupy the space once the newspaper relocates
some of its operations within the building.
New York City-based Carey Watermark Investors Inc.
bought the building at 550 15th Street in downtown
Denver that consists of the dual-branded Hampton
Inn and Homewood Suites.
The twelve-story building contains 302 rooms and
was acquired for $81.5 million, or about $270,000
per room. The seller was Stonebridge Companies,
which built the hotel in 2013 across from the
Colorado Convention Center.
Holland Partner Group submitted development plans
to City and County of Denver staff for Seventeen
W, a 640-unit
apartment project adjacent to Denver Union Station.
The three-tower complex would occupy the block
bounded by Chestnut Place and 17th, 18th and
Wewatta streets. The apartments would rise above a
three story podium that would include parking and
about 70,000 square feet of retail space.
Vancouver, Washington-based Holland Partner Group
is currently building an adjacent tower called The
Platform and has several other apartment
developments underway in metro Denver. Pending
approval from Denver planners construction is
scheduled to begin in mid-2015.
The Novare Group filed plans with Denver planners
to construct Skyhouse
Denver, a
25-story apartment building at the southeast
corner of Broadway and East 18th Avenue in
downtown Denver. The project will contain 354
units along with street level retail space and a
parking garage. Novare is based in Atlanta and is
developing similar apartment buildings in Atlanta,
Austin, Charlotte, Dallas and Raleigh.
Construction is scheduled to begin in late 2014.
The historic Cable
Building at
1801 Lawrence Street in downtown Denver was sold
to an affiliate of Stoltz Real Estate Partners.
The 36,803 square foot building was constructed in
1899 as a powerhouse and car barn for Denver's
cable car transit system, which was ultimately
replaced by electric streetcars. The Pennsylvania
company acquired the two-story building for $11.1
million, or about $301 per square foot. The seller
was The Hampshire Companies, which was represented
by Geoff Baukol and Tim Swan of CBRE.
A partnership of DTC Development Company and Real
Estate Opportunity Capital Fund bought 1875
Lawrence Street ,
a 192,241 square foot office building in downtown
Denver. The seller was Behringer Harvard, which
received $46.7 million, or about $242 per square
foot, for the fifteen story tower. HFF brokers
John Jugl and Mary Sullivan were agents for the
seller.
Hines announced plans for 1144
15th Street, a 38-story office building in
downtown Denver. The building will contain about
600,000 square feet of office space atop a
900-space parking garage and will occupy part of
the block on the south side of 15th Street between
Arapahoe and Lawrence streets. The building, which
will be the tallest office building constructed in
Denver in almost thirty years, is scheduled for
completion in 2017.
California based food retailer Trader
Joe's will
open its fourth Denver store September 5. The
company is currently constructing the 11,600
square foot store at the southwest corner of Logan
Street and East 7th Avenue in the Capitol Hill
neighborhood. There are three Trader Joe's stores
currently operating in metro Denver, including
Boulder, Greenwood Village and east Denver.
Construction is scheduled to begin this fall on
Enviva Cherokee, an 18-story apartment building at
1250 Cherokee Street in the Golden Triangle
neighborhood south of downtown Denver. The
developers are Charter Realty Group of Denver and
Integral Group of Atlanta. The building will contain
274 units.
The City and County of Denver will begin a
long-planned renovation of the Boettcher
Concert Hall in
2015. The construction will likely take about a
year, requiring the hall's major user, the
Colorado Symphony Orchestra, to find a new
performance venue, at least temporarily. The
orchestra has been in negotiations with the
Hancock administration to reduce the amount of
rent it pays at the hall, which is part of the
Denver Performing Arts complex on 14th Street.
Trammell Crow Residential closed on the purchase
of a 4.5 acre tract within the Sloans mixed-use
redevelopment area in west Denver. The
Dallas-based developer plans to construct Alexan
at Sloan's Lake,
a 369-unit apartment project south of West 16th
Avenue between Quitman and Stuart streets.
EnviroFinance Group, which is the master
redeveloper for the old St. Anthony's Hospital
site, sold the property to TCR for $11,850,000,
including an existing 700-space parking garage.
The seller was represented by NAI Shames Makovsky
agents Dorit Makovsky Fischer and Hayden
Hirschfeld.
NAVA Real Estate is proposing to develop a 224-unit
condominium building on
part of the former site of St. Joseph's Central
Hospital in west Denver. The 12-story building
would be located across from Sloan's Lake Park on
West 17th Avenue. The parcel would require
rezoning and development is not likely to begin
until 2015. The principals in NAVA are Trevor
Hines and Brian Levitt. Prices have not yet been
announced.
A vacant warehouse in the La Alma/Lincoln Park
neighborhood is being converted into a Denver
Public Schools trade school. The 50,300 square
foot building at 1201 Osage Street will house the Emily
Griffith Technical College. The
2.2 acre site is several blocks from an RTD light
rail station. The building was leased for twenty
years from Osage LLC, which was represented by
Daniel Close and Todd Witty of CBRE. DPS was
represented by Tim D'Angelo and Mike Wafer of
Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. About 1.2 acres of the
site will be retained for possible high-density
residential development.
Clear Creek Homes plans to develop a 26-unit
townhouse project in Five Points. The project will
be located at 2400
Washington Street
with units priced to sell in the high $300,000s.
Clear Creek Homes is an affiliate of Golden
apartment developer Confluence Companies that will
concentrate on developing for-sale residences.
Palisade Partners plans to begin construction on Welton
at 25th, a
96 unit apartment building at 2460 Welton Street
in the Five Points neighborhood near downtown
Denver. The project will also include about 3,500
square feet of ground floor retail space.
Zocalo Community Development started construction
on 100 Steele
Street, a
185-unit apartment building in Cherry Creek North.
Completion for the twelve-story building is set
for the end of 2015. 100 Steele Street is the
fourth upscale apartment building currently under
construction in Cherry Creek North and Cherry
Creek East.
Pending approvals by the City and County of
Denver, Trammell Crow Residential plans to
develop Alexan
Cherry Creek ,
a 186 unit apartment building on Cook Street
between East 1st Avenue and East Ellsworth Avenue
in Cherry Creek East. The eight story building
will replace an older parking garage and is part
of an overall project that will include the
extensive renovation of the adjacent Key Bank
Building. Construction is scheduled to begin in
early 2015.
The owner of 7.7 acres in Cherry Creek North is
considering possible redevelopment options. Amcap
Inc. owns the land generally between East 1st and
East 2nd Avenues, Detroit Street and Josephine
Street. The area is known as
Clayton Lane and
was developed in 2000 with office, retail,
residential uses and a JW Marriott Hotel. Potential
redevelopment includes the property on East 1st
Avenue currently occupied by a Sears Lands End store
and Whole Foods' Denver flagship grocery store.
AmCap retained David Tryba, the original architect
for Clayton Lane, to consider redevelopment options.
Broe Group filed plans
with the City and County of Denver for the
construction of two 30-story apartment buildings on
South Downing Street between East Ellsworth and East
Bayaud avenues, across from the Denver Country Club.
The buildings would contain a total of 500 units and
would replace three of the five Country
Club Gardens apartment
buildings. Pending planning approvals, Broe expects
to start demolition this fall and begin work on the
towers in early 2015. The remaining apartments, and
the adjacent Country Club Tower at 1001 East Bayaud
Avenue, will be renovated.
The long-vacant site of the former Asarco ore
refining plant in north Denver may be redeveloped
as an industrial park. EnviroFinance Group has the
77-acre site under contract and is seeking
approval for the creation of several metropolitan
districts to fund development and maintenance of
streets, utilities, sidewalks and storm water
retention ponds. The site is located on the west
side of Washington Street between East 51st and
East 55th avenues. Approvals for the creation of
the districts must come from the City and County
of Denver and Adams County since the land is in
both jurisdictions. If approved, the project will
be marketed to developers of industrial buildings
as the Globeville
Commerce Center
.
Alliance Residential plans to begin construction
on its planned Broadstone
on 9th apartments
in east Denver. The 324 unit community is the
first phase of redevelopment planned for the
former University of Colorado Health Sciences
center at Colorado Boulevard and East 9th Avenue.
The 6.3 acre Alliance site is on the southeast
side of the property near the intersection of East
8th Avenue and Clermont Street. Completion is
scheduled for the end of 2015.
Rezoning applications have been submitted for the
initial development at Boulevard
One, the
final section of the former Lowry Air Force Base
redevelopment. The Lowry Redevelopment Authority
plans submitted to the Denver City Council call
for 230 townhouses and 100 detached single family
units. Boulevard One will occupy the 70-acre site
of the former US Air Force Defense Finance and
Accounting Services complex south of East First
Avenue between Monaco Parkway and Quebec Street.
The project will ultimately include apartments,
office and retail uses clustered around 13 acres
of park and open space.
DPC Development bought Cherry
Tower, a
16-story office building at 950 South Cherry
Street. The company acquired the 231,025 square
foot building from an affiliate of Carmel Partners
for $21.2 million, or about $91 per square foot.
Cassidy Turley agents Jim Brady and R. C. Myles
represented the seller, Cherry Tower LLP.
The Denver Business Journal reports that Bank
of America,the
second-largest bank in America by total assets, is
opening three retail branches in Colorado, with
plans to open more, the bank confirmed to the
Denver Business Journal Monday.Although the bank
has had commercial, business banking and mortgage
operations here since 2008, as well as ATMs, it's
the giant bank's first retail foray into Colorado,
with a full-service "flagship" branch to open at
100 Fillmore St. in Cherry Creek by the end of the
year. The Cherry Creek banking center will be a
larger space offering all traditional banking
services, as well as Merrill Lynch financial
advisers and Merrill Edge financial solutions
advisers on site for investment clients.
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