"RIDE the Ride, WALK Your Talk, SEE the
Art" is
a one-day event organized by Rocky Mountain
Chapter of the Sierra Club to be held on
Saturday, September
12th 9:00 AM-3:00 PM at Union Station.
The event will encourage people to use RTD and
to visit Public Art sites around Metro Denver.
Participants are RTD, Denver Arts and Venues,
Hyatt Regency, The Art a Hotel, and Museum of
Outdoor Art. RTD will be at Union Station Plaza
to inform people on all the ins and outs of
using the shuttle, light rail and buses,
including how to put your bike on the bike rack.
Folks will also take in the art of metro Denver,
free for the viewing. There will be drawings for
free RTD tickets every half hour.
The Cherry Creek Business Alliance (CCABA) in
conjunction with the Greenway Foundation and
local citizen Ted Kenny are undertaking a long
term plan for Cherry
Creek between University and Colorado Blvd.Not
the shopping district per se but the creek
itself. Ted says, "Over the years it has been
somewhat overlooked and neglected. The
possibilities for its use as a treasured amenity
going far beyond flood control are endless. They
encompass just quiet enjoyment to access to the
creek bed for both young and old. The vistas and
four waterfalls are hidden from sight except
from the most inquisitive or adventuresome. By
thinning out brush and trees in selected areas
we will be introduced to nature at its best
right in the middle of the city. Further usage
as venues for entertainment or picnics with the
distinct possibility of a separate
walking/running path will be just some of many
ideas to be incorporated in the future
landscape. Money is being raised to set out the
plan and provide for public input. Jeff
Shoemaker who has been so instrumental in
bringing his expertise to the cleanup of the
South Platte through the Greenway Foundation
will be at the drawing board. Ted says, we
eagerly await the plan's completion and
execution."
The CCABA has organized a CHERRY CREEK GREENWAY
CLEAN-UP DAY on Saturday September 26th from 8
am-12 noon. "We need your help to clean-up and
restore the Cherry Creek Greenway. Volunteer
groups will assist with a number of projects
including planting trees, cleaning out overgrown
shrubs, picking up trash, and painting the
fountain. It is free to attend, but
registration is required. Breakfast and lunch
will be provided. Please bring work gloves,
shovels, & rakes if you have them (labeled).
Let's join together to reactivate our beloved
creek." More at:
The RTD Board of Directors awarded a $140
million two-phase contract to Balfour Beatty
Infrastructure Inc. (BBII) to design and build
theSoutheast Rail Extension. Design
work will begin this fall with construction
expected to start in spring 2016. The
construction phase is dependent on a Full
Funding Grant Agreement from the Federal Transit
Administration. BBII commits to completing
construction of the line by early 2019. Built
in 2006, the Southeast Rail Line currently
serves E and F trains, from the Broadway station
at I-25 and Broadway and runs parallel to
Interstate 25 ending at Lincoln Avenue in Lone
Tree. The construction project will extend the
light rail line 2.3 miles farther south to
RidgeGate Parkway in Douglas County with parking
for 1,300 vehicles. It also will include stops
at Sky Ridge Medical Center and the future Lone
Tree City Center.
As RTD continues to expand service, the first
station to open for the future A line to the
airport is Central
Park Station. This
new Park-n-Ride will open for bus service on
Sunday, September 13, 2015 and will replace the
existing Stapleton Park-n-Ride, which will
permanently close. You're invited to celebrate
the opening of the new Central Park Station on
Saturday, September 26, 2015. RTD and Denver
Transit Partners will host an open house from 11
a.m. to 1 p.m. at 8200 Smith Road in Denver.
Spanning 9,533 feet, the Skyway
Bridge along
the N line will be the longest bridge in the
state. The bridge is part of the 18.5-mile
commuter rail line that will open in 2018 and
will run from Union Station to 124th Avenue,
connecting Denver, Commerce City, Thornton,
Northglenn, and eventually Adams County. The
Skyway Bridge will exceed San Francisco's Golden
Gate Bridge which is nearly 8,980-feet, the
Brooklyn Bridge at 5,989-feet, and America's
highest suspension bridge, the Colorado Royal
Gorge Bridge at 1,260-feet.
The Regional Transportation District (RTD) Board
of Directors recently approved a five-year, $5
million naming rights agreement allowing theUniversity
of Colorado System
(CU) to promote its name and logo on the A
Line --
the commuter rail line under construction from
Denver Union Station to Denver International
Airport -- and on Flatiron Flyer buses, which
begin service in January along U.S. 36 between
Boulder and Denver. CU will place ads on the
exterior of airport trains, along with its name
and logo, and on other promotional and
informational materials associated with the A
Line and Flatiron Flyer.
The RTD Board of Directors will host a series of
live telephone town hall meetings and they want
to speak with you. Fifteen sessions will be
conducted from Sept.28 through Oct. 22, each
hosted by the director of his or her RTD
district.
The agency employs this innovative technology to
reach 450,000 residents throughout the metro
region. Residents will be called and invited to
remain on the line to be included in the live
telephone town hall event. You'll learn the
latest about bus and light rail service, the
FasTracks transit expansion program and other
RTD projects. Learn how you can participate in
the telephone town halls at:
Workforce Initiative Now (WIN),
pioneered by the Regional Transportation
District (RTD), has been awarded nearly $700,000
in Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Ladders
of Opportunity funding to strengthen efforts to
train Coloradans for long-term careers in the
transportation industry. RTD is among 17 public
agencies awarded a combined $9.5 million in FTA
grant funding to advance workforce development
initiatives to train, employ and support workers
seeking jobs on large transportation
infrastructure projects and in maintenance and
operations after they are completed. WIN will
use the grant, part of the FTA's 2015 Innovative
Public Transportation Workforce Development
Program, to build on existing strategies to
recruit participants from underserved
communities and implement a mentorship
initiative for other public transportation
agencies interested in learning from RTD's
experience. The FTA administers the grant
program through its Ladders of Opportunity
initiative, which funds significant regional or
national public transportation workforce
development projects.
The Mall Experience: The Future of
Denver's 16th Street Mall, a study led
by Denver Community Planning and Development in
partnership with the Downtown Denver Partnership
(DDP), is aiming to guide improvements to the
16th Street Mall. "We want people to enjoy the
mall; come more often, and stay longer. To
achieve that, we are studying mall activity and
conducting public outreach to identify ways to
help the mall reach its full potential as a
welcoming place for everyone, in the heart of a
vibrant downtown." This summer, the DDP hosted
five "Meet in the Street" events on Sundays to
activate the mall through live music, kids'
activities, extended patios, arts and culture.
RTD's Free MallRide service was detoured onto
15th and 17th streets to allow for diverse
programming on the mall. Meet in the Street
events allowed planners to test and observe a
variety of mall-activation tactics that could
inform future recommendations for the mall.
The Regional Transportation District is
acquiring 36 new electric shuttle buses for the 16th
Street MallRide in
downtown Denver. The cost for the 45-foot long
coaches is $27.1 million. The buses will have
wide doors and low floors to accommodate easy
passenger access. A Chinese company, BYD Motors
Inc., will build the coaches and assemble them
in California.
RTD staff is participating in Denver's
Alternatives Analysis/Environmental Clearance
study to consider East
Colfax transit options between
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 Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)
in exclusive lanes during the peak periods. The
next step is an Environmental Clearance phase
which kicked off in May 2015 and is anticipated
to be completed in late 2015.
RTD has received a Federal Ladders of
Opportunity grant to fund a capital project to
reduce travel time and increase security and
ridership for 15L bus route. 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. The project includes East
Colfax from Broadway east to Potomac (near
1-225). It is important to note that from
Yosemite to Potomac the project will only
include improved stop amenities. RTD staff is
working closely with the City of Denver to
coordinate the two Colfax projects.
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.
OnDeck Capital will
expand its Denver operations, adding about 400
jobs and leasing 72,000 square feet in the
Denver Post building at 101 West Colfax Avenue.
The New York-based financial services company
provides small business loans online. It will
move from 20,027 square feet nearby in the
Denver Place building at 999 18th Street. OnDeck
will occupy two floors in the Denver Post
building and plans to complete the move in early
2016.
The former
Virgin Megastore space
in the Denver Pavilions retail and entertainment
center in downtown Denver has been leased to
four tenants. The 25,000 square foot space
became vacant when the retailer closed
operations in 2009. Gart Properties acquired the
center at Welton Street and the 16th Street Mall
in 2008 and has been renovating the property and
attracting new retail and restaurant tenants.
The vacant Virgin Megastore space will be
occupied by Harry's Tavern, Forever 21, Native
Foods Cafe and It'Sugar, a candy shop.
The mixed-use Z Block project under construction
in LoDo has been renamed Dairy
Block. The new name honors the
inclusion of the historic Windsor Farm Dairy
buildings in the project which is being
constructed in the block bounded by 18th, 19th,
Wazee and Blake streets. The project is being
developed by McWhinney and will include about
250,000 square feet of office space, 60,000
square feet of retail and a 172-room hotel.
A partnership of
Zocalo Community Development and the Emily
Griffith Foundation announced plans to build an affordable
apartment building in
downtown Denver. The project will be located on
what is now a parking lot at 1811
Lincoln Street. Tentative plans call
for a structure of up to 20 stories. The
building would provide about 200 affordable
apartment units, a day care center and a
workforce development center operated by the
Emily Griffith Technical College, which is
located across Lincoln Street from the site.
Construction is expected to begin in the second
half of 2016.
Co-working space manager WeWork leased
72,000 square feet in the Triangle building at 1550
Wewatta Street near
Denver Union Station. The ten-story building is
being developed by East-West Partners and is
nearing completion. The developer previously
announced that Liberty Global leased 70,000
square feet in the Triangle.
The Colorado
Health Foundation is
planning to occupy a new headquarters in Uptown.
The organization submitted plans to Denver
planners for a 31,340 square foot building at East
18th Avenue and Pennsylvania Street.
Upon completion of the building in late 2016 the
foundation will relocate from its current
headquarters at 501 South Cherry Street in
Glendale.
Construction was completed on the conversion of
a former hotel near Sports Authority Field at
Mile High into 179 micro apartments. TheTurntable
Studios is
located at 1975 Mile High Stadium Circle and is
Denver's first project to offer micro
apartments, units that are smaller than standard
studio units. The 13-story building was
constructed as a hotel in 1969. Nichols
Partnership is developer of Turntable Studios.
Denver Water plans
to redevelop its 34.6 acre property south of
downtown. The agency provides water to 1.3
million customers in the City and County of
Denver and some suburbs. The Denver Water
property is lies generally between West 6th and
West 12th avenues near the South Platte River.
The $195 million project will be accomplished
over four years and will stress sustainability
and energy management. Construction is scheduled
to begin in late 2016 with real estate developer
Trammell Crow Company as project manager.
Denver Health will
construct a six-story office building at West
6th Avenue and Broadway, adjacent to the
hospital's main campus. The $65.2 million
project will contain about 180,000 square feet
and will allow the hospital to relocate some of
its administrative and physician offices. A $150
million ambulatory care center will replace the
hospital's current administrative offices at 600
Bannock Street once the new building opens in
2017.
Greystar Residential may develop a 16-story
apartment building onSpeer Boulevard at
Bannock Street in
the Golden Triangle neighborhood. The
Charleston-based company may start construction
on the as-yet unnamed project by the middle of
2016, pending planning approvals. Tentative
plans call for about 300 apartment units and
32,000 square feet of ground-level retail space.
Legacy Partners plans to begin construction in
early 2016 on a 322-unitapartment
building in
the Golden Triangle neighborhood near downtown.
The seven story building will replace a parking
lot at 1306
Speer Boulevard. The
project was submitted to Denver planners with a
tentative name of Speer Tower.
Urban Ventures and White Construction Group will
renovate an 87-year old warehouse into a 65,000
square foot office building. The project atWest
14th Avenue and Zuni Street is the
initial development of a 3.2 acre site that will
be called Steam on the Platte. Future phases may
include additional office space and possibly
residential uses. The initial phase in the
former Johnson and Bremer Soap Factory will be
anchored by NIMBL, a technology consulting firm
that will occupy 20,000 square feet.
Invent Development Partners started construction
on Backyard
Residences, a
14-unit townhouse project on Blake Street
between 30th and 31st streets in the RiNo
neighborhood. The townhouses are part of the
larger Backyard on Blake mixed-use development
that will include office and commercial uses.
Sale prices for the residential units will begin
at $469,000.
Four Winds Interactive leased the former
Deep Rock bottling plant in
Five Points. The software company, which
recently leased space at 1221 Broadway as its
new headquarters, will use the 26,000 square
feet at 2501 Welton Street for warehouse and
support facilities. Rick Door and Chad Kollar of
Cresa Denver represented Four Winds while the
property owner was represented by Chris Coble of
Black Label Real Estate and Tom Welsh of Welsh
Commercial.
The developer of the Industry co-working space
at 3001 Brighton Boulevard is adding a second
location in north Denver. A 150,000 square foot
building is being constructed at 38th
and Blake Streets by
Wink, Inc. and is scheduled for completion in
mid-2016. The building is adjacent to the future
RTD commuter rail station and involves the
renovation of an existing building into
co-working office space and construction of a
new section. The site has room for a 300,000
square foot expansion in a future phase.
Trammell Crow Residential is planning to develop Alexan
Arapahoe Square, a
353 unit apartment building at 2200 Welton
Street. The 12-story building will be located
along the Welton Street RTD light rail line and
if approved by Denver planners will join a
series of new apartment buildings under
construction or planned along Welton Street
between Broadway and Five Points.
Construction began on The
Brownstones at King Stroud Court, a
26-unit townhouse project in the Five Points
neighborhood. The development is located at 2400
Washington Street. The developer reported that
24 of the townhouses were presold.
Greystar bought 1000
Broadway South, a recently completed
262 unit apartment community in south Denver.
The seller was the developer, Fore Property
Company. The project is located at the northeast
corner of South Broadway and East Mississippi
Avenue on what was once part of the Gates Rubber
Company industrial complex. Greystar paid $64.6
million for 1000 Broadway South, or about
$240,000 per unit. Pam Koster and David Martin
of Moran and Company were listing agents for the
sale.
Gables Residential bought a 1.3 acre site at 351
South Jackson Street in the Cherry Creek East
neighborhood. The company plans to developGables
Jackson, a 242 unit project comprised
of two towers, one of eight stores and the other
of twelve. ARA Newmark was the broker for Gables
Residential in the acquisition of the site.
Mill Creek Residential Trust plans to begin
construction in August onModera
Observatory Park, a
275-unit development near the University of
Denver. The units will be contained in two
buildings on the east and west sides of South
Josephine Street at East Buchtel Boulevard. The
Dallas-based developer expects construction to
be finished in early 2017.
A center for digital health-related businesses
will be developed on a 1.5 acre site in RiNo. Catalyst
Health-Tech Innovation selected
the site on Brighton
Boulevard between 35th and 36th streets
on which it will develop a 300,000 square foot
campus. The first phase will contain 180,000
square feet and is scheduled to begin
construction in mid-2016. Catalyst is being
developed by Koelbel and Company and Mike
Biselli with landowner Larry Burgess as a
partner.
Mill Creek Residential Trust plans to start
construction in September onModera River
North, a
362-unit apartment development at Brighton
Boulevard and 28th Street in the emerging RiNo
neighborhood. The Dallas-based company has been
quite active in Denver, with several apartment
communities under construction or planned.
Conscience Bay Company bought the Colorado
Trade Center, a
700,000 square foot industrial complex at 5151
Bannock Street in north Denver. The property was
acquired by the Boulder-based company from the
Bannock Street Limited Partnership for an
undisclosed price. The transaction was handled
by DTZ brokers Jim Brady, Craig Myles, R. C.
Myles and Tyler Smith.
The recently started Crossroads
Commerce Center in
north Denver signed its first tenant. Empire
Staple Company will occupy a 61,870 square foot
building in the park on Washington Street at
East 55th Avenue. Trammell Crow Company is
developing the $85 million industrial park on
the site of the former Asarco mill and smelter.
Empire Staple distributes tools and
manufacturing and packaging supplies. The
Crossroads location will replace smaller
quarters at 1710 Platte Street.
The expansion of The
Source mixed-use
development on Brighton Boulevard in north
Denver will include 19,000 square feet of
additional retail space. The Market Hall will be
built adjacent to the previously announced 100
room hotel. Zeppelin Development will also
construct a 300 space garage, with all of the
work to be finished in 2017.
The Lynd Company plans to start construction in
late 2015 on a 277-unit apartment building in
the Industry mixed-use
development in RiNo. The nine story building
will be located at 30th Street and Brighton
Boulevard adjacent to the co-working and
creative offices in the Industry complex.
Zeppelin Places plans to develop a 100,000
square foot office and retail building in the
RiNo neighborhood of north Denver. Gauge will be
located at 35th and Wazee streets, east of
Brighton Boulevard. The four-story building will
contain 20,000 square feet of ground level
retail space and 80,000 square feet for office
uses. Construction is scheduled to begin in
early 2016. Gauge will
be located several blocks from the RTD commuter
rail station at 38th and Blake streets, which
will open in 2016.
Trammell Crow Company plans to begin
construction on the first phase ofCrossroads
Commerce Center, a 36-acre project at
East 55th Avenue and Washington Street in north
Denver. The site is the former Asarco smelter in
the Globeville neighborhood. The initial phase
will contain 640,000 square feet of warehouse
and industrial buildings, with completion set
for the spring of 2016.
The Denver Planning Board approved the general
development plan for the site of the former
Denver Post printing plant at
4400 Fox Street in north Denver. The plan calls
for a mix of residential, retail and office
uses. Ascendant Capital Partners bought the
41-acre site in 2007 and will clear the land of
buildings and make the site available to
residential developers. The property is about
three blocks north of the RTD commuter rail
station at Fox Street and West 41st Avenue. Its
location in the southwest quadrant of the I-25
and I-70 interchange restricts vehicular access
only to the south on Fox Street and West 44th
Avenue.
Consolidated Investment Group plans to develop a
140 unit apartment building at East Colfax
Avenue and Corona Street in Capitol Hill. The
company bought the existing Route
40 apartment building, a
28-unit property that was renovated by
Slipstream Properties. On an adjacent parking
lot Consolidated will build the eight story
addition. ARA Newmark Grubb Knight Frank
brokered the acquisition from Slipstream
Properties of the existing building and the 0.7
acre tract of vacant land. Construction on the
addition is due to begin in the spring of 2016.
Johnson and Wales University completed
a $32 million renovation project at its east
Denver campus. The university, which offers
programs in several professional and culinary
arts fields, plans to expand enrollment from the
current 1,500 students to 2,000 over several
years. The renovation work at the campus on
Quebec Street at East Montview Boulevard
included the historic but long-vacant Treat
Hall, which originally housed the Colorado
Women's College. Denver is one of four campuses
for Johnson and Wales, with others in Charlotte,
Miami and Providence.
Construction started on the expansion of Colorado
Center, a mixed-use development at I-25 and
South Colorado Boulevard in southeast Denver.
Lincoln Property Company, in partnership with
ASB Real Estate Investments, is adding a 210,000
square foot office building and 40,000 square
feet of retail space. A second phase will
contain 269 apartment units. Colorado Center is
adjacent to an RTD light rail station.
The City and County of Denver Department of
Public Works completed construction on the pedestrian
and bicycle bridge over I-25 east
of South Colorado Boulevard. The bridge will
improve access for residents and employees of
businesses north of I-25 who wish to connect
with light rail trains and buses at the Colorado
Center station south of the freeway.
A review committee selected Studiotrope Design
Collective as the architect for the planned Levitt
Pavilion amphitheater in Ruby Hill Park in
southwest Denver. The outdoor music and
performance venue will be located in the
northern part of the park on West Florida Avenue
near South Platte River Drive. The facility will
seat about 7,500 people on the grassy areas near
the stage and will offer about 50 free concerts
annually. The Denver amphitheater is the seventh
of its type in the US and is being funded by the
nonprofit Mortimer and Mimi Levitt Foundation.
Construction is scheduled to be completed in
2017.
Encore Multi-Family LLC announced plans to
develop a 225 unit apartment project near the
West Evans Avenue RTD station in south Denver. Encore
Evans Station will
be located on a 5.8 acre site at the northwest
corner of West Jewell Avenue and South Bannock
Street, about three blocks from the RTD station.
ARA Newmark brokers Chris Cowan and Steve O'Dell
represented the property owner in the sale.
Construction is scheduled to begin by the end of
2015.
A showroom building in the Denver
Design Center in
south Denver is being converted into office
space oriented to creative tenants. The 60,000
square foot building is located at 575 South
Broadway. The Denver Design Center is part of a
75-acre future mixed-use transit-oriented
community that will be developed by D4 Urban.
The company currently is finishing work on
Denizen, a 275-unit apartment project adjacent
to the Alameda Avenue light rail station on the
western edge of the property.
The City of Glendale reduced the size of Glendale
180, an entertainment and retail center
planned along Cherry Creek between South
Colorado Boulevard and South Cherry Street. The
reduction was due to the exclusion of property
at the southeast corner of South Colorado
Boulevard and East Virginia Avenue from the
scope of the project. The current plans call for
about 270,000 square feet of space, and possibly
a hotel, to be developed for the City of
Glendale by Houston-based developer Wulfe and
Company. Construction is scheduled to begin in
2016.
A New York investor bought five
apartment properties in Glendaleand in
adjacent Denver locations. The properties on
South Birch, South Cherry and South Clermont
streets and East Mississippi Avenue contain a
total of over 530 units and were purchased for
$70 million, or about $132,000 per unit on
average. ARA Colorado handled the sale for the
owner, Blueline Properties. The identity of the
buyer was not revealed.
King Soopers recently
opened the first full-service grocery store to
open in downtown Denver. The 46,476-square-foot
store, developed by Greystar and located at 20th
Street and Chestnut Place on
the ground floor of the 314-unit Elan Union
Station residential develop
