The Road Ahead Addresses the Parking
Conundrum
The
Road Ahead is Transportation Solutions' ongoing
series of seminars to bring to the dialogue
cutting-edge and practical topics and research in
transportation options that balance economic,
environmental and health considerations to meet
today's and future needs.
THE ROAD AHEAD - The Parking Conundrum
Dynamic Strategies for an Evolving World
April 2nd, 2015
Infinity Park Event Center
4400 E Kentucky Ave, Glendale, CO
Half day - morning event
http://www.transolutions.org/roadahead/
The
keynote speaker at The Road Ahead in 2015 will be
Jay Primus Manager of SFpark in San Francisco, one
of the most innovative municipal parking programs in
the country:
http://sfpark.org/
The
event attracts elected officials, policymakers,
private developers and transportation industry
leaders. Contact Alex Mehn atamehn@transolutions.org with
questions.
Stand Up For Transportation Day
On
April 9, the American Public Transportation
Association (APTA) will be sponsoring a national
advocacy day to draw attention to the need for
increased funding for our nation's transportation
infrastructure, including roads, bridges, public
transit and more. On May 31, the current federal
transportation funding bill, Moving Ahead for
Progress in the 21st Century (MAP 21) will expire.
By that date, Congress will either need to extend
the bill again or create a long-term solution.
The
transportation industry, in near unanimity and over
100 cities across the country area advocating for a
long-term, sustainable and reliable transportation
funding bill instead of an extension of MAP 21. As
the APTA chair, Phil Washington, CEO of RTD has made
raising awareness about the need for federal funding
for transportation one of his main priorities. RTD
and partners across the country will be holding a
special event to encourage representatives to
support a long-term transportation funding solution.
Join
RTD and partners at Stand Up for Transportation Day
on Thursday, April 9 for the Unity Parade at 10 AM
from Market Street Plaza (16th & Market) to Denver
Union Station. A rally will follow at Denver Union
Station's Wynkoop Plaza. The event will be
introduced by a Signature Bus Tour from March 14 -
April 4 around the district where supporters can
sign the bus as a visible show of support. Stand up
together and send a united message to the U.S.
Congress to pass a long-term transportation spending
bill to keep transportation moving. For complete
information about SU4T Day, visit:
http://www3.rtd-denver.com/elbert/news/index.cfm?id=6359
Until
then, have a little fun with this problem and watch
HBO's John
Oliver of Last Week Tonight on
the topic:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-john-oliver-movie-stars-infrastructure-20150302-story.html
RTD
has been granted funding for numerous projects by
the State of Colorado Funding Advancements for
Surface Transportation and Economic Recovery Act
(FASTER) grant program FASTER program. One of them
will be Bus
Rapid Transit (BRT) along East Colfax Avenue. The
Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has
made a change to the program so it now designates $3
million annually in FASTER funds directly for RTD.
The projects submitted for 2016 approval include the
East Colfax/15L Transit Enhancements Project for
$770,000. RTD has also received a Federal Ladders
of Opportunity grant to fund the project to reduce
travel time and increase security and ridership. The
project includes: stop amenity improvements (repair
and replace existing amenities; lighting; shelters;
security cameras), bus bulbs at a few locations,
transit signal priority (TSP), and bypass
lanes/queue jumps similar to the queue jump at East
13th Avenue/Lincoln Street. The project extends
along East Colfax from Broadway to Potomac (near
I-225). It is important to note that from Yosemite
to Potomac, the project will only include improved
stop amenities
RTD
staff is participating in Denver's Alternatives
Analysis/Environmental Clearance study to consider further
East Colfax transit optionsbetween I-25
near the Auraria campus to the Anschutz/Fitzsimons
medical campus near I-225. The project team has
completed the Alternatives Analysis and determined
that the preliminary locally preferred alternative
is more
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) as
described above such as exclusive bus lanes during
peak periods. Public meetings that presented the
preliminary locally preferred alternative were held
in August. The meetings were well attended and the
public expressed mostly support, but the City of
Aurora publicly stated that they cannot support any
alternative on Colfax at this time without
additional detailed traffic analysis. The next step
is an Environmental Clearance phase which is
scheduled to begin in the coming months.
RTD,
in partnership with the City and County of Denver
and the Downtown Denver Partnership selected ZGF
Architects LLP as the prime consultant to lead the Civic
Center Station Transit District Master Plan.
The ZGF team is joined by local consultants Steer
Davies Gleave, GBSM, among others. The Master Plan
will develop short, medium, and long-term strategies
to enhance multi-modal connectivity, boost economic
development, and improve the public spaces in and
around Civic Center Station.
Denver City Council Member Jeanne Robb reports
regarding the plannedCentral Denver
Recreation Center at
Colfax/York Street. The new recreation center will
include an 8 lane lap pool, a leisure pool, a gym, a
cardio/weight area, exercise space, and community
rooms. Construction costs have increased
significantly, so Council recently appropriated an
additional $6 million to the construction budget.
Final demolition has been completed. The city and
stakeholders hope to add two more lanes to the lap
pool, have a climbing wall for the outside of the
building, and create a roof-top event space with a
catering kitchen, terrace, and community room. So
they are actively looking for financial sponsors and
making the Parks and Recreation naming policy
available to them.
Council Member Robb reports that Continuum Partners
closed on the purchase of the property formerly
owned by the University
of Colorado at 9th and Colorado Boulevard.
They are mobilizing their contractor and work will
begin immediately! Continuum's agreement with Denver
Urban Renewal Authority which Council approved
requires at least 100 affordable units in the
overall development. More at:
www.9thandcolorado.com
A
partnership of Mile High Development and Koelbel
plans to develop a112-unit affordable
apartment building as
part of the development. The building will be
constructed at 1126
Ash Street, occupying a site between East
11th Avenue and Hale Parkway. The development group
plans to seek funding assistance from the Colorado
Housing and Finance Authority. Construction, pending
that funding, is due to be completed in 2017.
Storm Water Improvements between 2nd and 3rd
on Columbinewhich will mitigate ongoing
flooding issues in the area, are now being done in
the 200 block of Columbine. Once this second phase
on Columbine is completed there are two more phases
moving east on Third and north on Detroit to
Fourth. The entire project will be complete in May.
Keep up with the project at:
www.denverstorm.com
In
the past year, a couple of proposals to build 40 to
55 apartments with no parking have been brought to
the attention of Council Member Robb and Community
Planning and Development (CPD). She asks, "Is the
total exemption from parking too much? Did we
consider this small, multi-unit concept when the
2010 Zoning Code was passed?" Councilwoman Robb is
exploring potential changes to this exemption and
has met with concerned citizens, CHUN, and INC,
affordable housing developers and business
districts.
Liberty Global will
relocate its headquarters from Douglas County to
downtown Denver. The international
telecommunications company leased over 70,000 square
feet in the Triangle
Building, which
is currently under construction at 1550 Wewatta
Street near Denver Union Station. Liberty Global
will move from its current 40,000 square feet of
space on Liberty Boulevard in the Inverness business
park. The 225,000 square foot Triangle Building is
being developed by East-West Partners and will be
completed by the fall of 2015. Liberty Global's
management cited the Triangle Building's proximity
to Denver Union Station and its 2016 commuter rail
connection to Denver International Airport and the
downtown environment among the reasons for the move.
Transamerica Corporation will
relocate its Denver operations from the Denver Tech
Center to downtown Denver. The San Francisco-based
financial services company leased 121,000 square
feet in 1801
California Street. The
move by the end of 2015 will double the size of
Transamerica's local operations and allow employment
to increase to about 650.
Stoltz Real Estate Partners bought the Elephant
Corral, a
66,200 square foot office property in downtown
Denver. The two buildings are located at 1408 and
1444 Wazee Street and were constructed on the site
of one of Denver's first buildings, a corral and
stage station that started when Denver was settled
as a gold mining camp in 1858. The sale price was
$17 million, including two adjacent parking lots.
The seller was Elcor Partners Ltd, which was
represented by Greg Baukol of CBRE.
White
Lodging plans to start construction this spring on a
dual-branded hotel tower at 15th
and California Streets near
the Colorado Convention Center. The 18-story
building will combine an AC Hotel and a Le Meridien
Hotel with a total of 491 rooms. The
Indianapolis-based company plans to complete
construction by early 2017.
Zeller Realty Group bought 1401
17th Street, a 16-story office building in
LoDo. The 191,151 square foot building, also known
as Alamo Tower, was acquired from an investment
group including Lowe Enterprises Investors for $75
million, or about $392 per square foot. In 2013
Chicago-based Zeller purchased the nearby Guaranty
Bank Building at 1331 17th Street.
Novare started site work for Skyhouse
Denver, a 25-story apartment tower at 1776
Broadway in downtown Denver, across the street from
the Brown Palace Hotel. The Atlanta-based company
has developed, or is developing, similar apartment
projects in Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Dallas and
Raleigh. Skyhouse Denver will contain 354 units and
will be completed by mid-2016.
City
Office REIT bought the Logan
Tower, a
69,968 square foot office building at 1580 Logan
Street in downtown Denver. The Vancouver-based
company paid DPC Development Company $10.5 million,
or about $150 per square foot. The ten-story
building was constructed in 1983.
The
Denver City Council unanimously approved a zone
change that will allow construction of a 12-story
condominium building at the site of theformer
St. Anthony's Hospital in
west Denver. NAVA Real Estate sought the change to
allow construction of the 226-unit building at the
southwest corner of West 17th Avenue and Raleigh
Street, across from Sloan's Lake Park. The building
is part of a 19-acre mixed use development on the
site of the former hospital. Construction is
scheduled to begin in the spring of 2016.
The
design for 2300
Welton Street was
revealed in the Denver Infill website by the
project's architect, Humphreys Poli. The four-story
building will contain 223 units and be constructed
by Century Development on the east side of Welton
Street between Park Avenue West and 24th Street,
across from Lawson Park. The 2300 project is the
latest in a string of apartment development
announcements and starts along Welton Street between
downtown and Five Points.
Littleton Capital Partners plans to start
construction by mid-year on a 66-unit apartment
project at Larimer
and 35th Streets in
the RiNo neighborhood. The building will also
include about 10,000 square feet of retail space.
The site is about five blocks from the future RTD
commuter rail station at 38th and Blake streets.
BMC
Investments and Sage Hospitality began construction
on a $70 million hotel at 245
Columbine Street in
the Cherry Creek North neighborhood. The 155-room
hotel is being built on the site of the Case
Building, which once contained a US Post Office
branch. The seven-story hotel, which has not yet
been named, will also include street level retail
space.
The
Broe Company plans to start construction this summer
on a 30-story apartment building on South Downing
Street at West Ellsworth Avenue. The building, which
is essentially designed as two connected towers,
will contain 533 units. It will replace several
older buildings at the existingCountry Club
Gardens apartments.
Construction is scheduled to be completed in 2017.
The
Preiss Company bought Vista
Student Apartments, an
87-unit building at 1920 South University Boulevard
near the University of Denver campus. Carmel
Partners sold the eight-year old property for $25.4
million, or about $292,000 per unit. CBRE brokers
Matt Barnett,Jaclyn Fitts, David Potarf, Ryan Reed
and Daniel Woodward represented Carmel Partners.
Inland American Communities bought Asbury
Green, a
171-unit apartment building oriented to University
of Denver students. The Dallas-based investment
company paid almost $41 million for the property at
2400 East Asbury Avenue east of the DU campus, or
about $239,000 per unit. The seller was not
identified. Inland American has renamed the building
University House.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock outlined the funding
sources for the redevelopment of the National
Western Stock
Show complex
in north Denver. Plans call for the property on
Brighton Boulevard to be renovated and expanded with
new buildings, including a horse center and medical
facility, a new livestock center, additional event
and public space and new streets and utilities. The
cost is estimated to be about $856 million, funded
by extension of Denver taxes on hotel rooms and
rental cars, a state tourism grant and investments
by the National Western and Colorado State
University. The development project is expected to
take about ten years and be completed in three
phases. Extension of the existing taxes, now due to
sunset in 2023, will be submitted to Denver voters.
The
National Western Stock Show's 2015 run had a total
attendance of over 682,000 people, the most since
the record of 727,000 set in 2006. The 2015
attendance total was up 42,517 from 2014. The show
also set a record for a single day attendance with
68,757 people on January 17.
A
partnership of Central Development and DMI Real
Estate purchased1660 South Albion Street in
south Denver. The 111,786 square foot building was
acquired for $9,880,000, or approximately $88 per
square foot, from Sperry Equities. The seller was
represented by Unique Properties LLC-TCN Worldwide
broker Kurt Holzkamp. The building is located
several blocks north of the Colorado Center RTD
light rail station. RTD and the City and County of
Denver recently constructed a pedestrian and bicycle
bridge over I-25 to improve access to the station
from the north.
Metropolitan Homes plans to develop a 120-unit
apartment building for senior residents at 195
South Monaco Parkway in
east Denver. Pending approval of a rezoning request
by Denver City Council, the four-story building
would replace a church on the site adjacent to
Crestmoor Park.
