JRES is pleased to announce our new website!
now includes easier
access to our publications and more information
about our real estate appraisal, market analysis
and consulting services. The format of the
website now provides easy access from hand-held
devices. Shortly our popular publications will be
similarly redesigned.
- Real Estate Perspective - a weekly free
compendium of news articles about economic and
real estate developments and events in metro
Denver. The website also includes a searchable
database of similar articles posted since 2001.
- Cherry Creek Perspective - will return to a
monthly report of real estate, housing and
transportation related developments and events in
central and southeast Denver by Bill James who is
on the Boards of Directors of the Regional
Transportation District, Housing Colorado and
Transportation Solutions.
- Apartment Perspective - a quarterly analysis
of apartment market conditions in metro Denver
including rents and vacancy, and a comprehensive
inventory of projects above 50 units proposed,
started, under construction and completed.
Please take a look at our new website and give us
your comments and suggestions.
Bill James
Events
Rutt Bridges: Driverless Car Revolution
November 16, 5:30-7:30pm
Alliance Center - 1536 Wynkoop Street
Imagine a future without congestion, car crashes,
smog, or road rage. It's coming sooner than you
think. Summoned with an Uber-like smartphone app,
driverless cars will revolutionize transportation.
Owning a car means car payments, insurance,
registration, maintenance, gas prices, smog,
tickets, accidents, finding parking and dealing
with the stress of traffic. Buying miles instead
of metal means you'll save thousands a year. In
addition to lowering stress and regaining the use
of 5 percent of your waking hours, preventing tens
of thousands of annual highway deaths and hundreds
of thousands of serious injuries will compel this
change.
Brought to you by the Jake Jabs Center for
Entrepreneurship at CU-Denver, and the Alliance
for Sustainable Colorado.
Sustainable Denver Summit
You may want to attend the upcoming Sustainable
Denver Summit on Thursday, December 3. The
Summit, hosted by Mayor Michael B. Hancock and
Denver's Office of Sustainability will bring
together leaders from across the city to develop
and announce commitments for new and expanded
initiatives that will help Denver achieve its 2020
Sustainability Goals.
WHEN: 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Thursday, December 3,
2015
WHERE: University of Denver
AGENDA:
9:00 - 10:00 a.m. - Opening plenary session -
Remarks from Majora Carter and Mayor Michael B.
Hancock
10:00 a.m. - Breakout Sessions -
* Energy
* Water
* Materials
* Mobility
12:30 - 1:30 p.m. - Luncheon and Sustainability
Awards - Awards will be presented to the 2015
Sustainable Denver Award winners
1:45 - 3:45 p.m. - Breakout Sessions Reconvene
4:00 - 5:00 p.m. - Closing Plenary Session -
Report out on commitments
Transportation
On Nov. 3, the FasTracks program hosted a
celebratory event to kick off construction for the
2.3-mile extension of the Southeast
Rail Line. Officials from RTD, the cities
of Lone Tree and Parker, Douglas County and the
Federal Transit Administration gathered at the
Lincoln Avenue light rail station to offer
congratulatory remarks. This $207 million
design-and-build project will be managed by
Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Inc. The line will
be extended south along I-25 from its current
terminus at Lincoln Avenue to RidgeGate Parkway in
Lone Tree. The extended line is expected to open
in 2019.
More than 30,000 area residents interacted with
RTD board members during live interactive town
hall meetings. Between Sept. 28 and Oct. 22, more
than 30,000 residents from RTD's eight-county
district participated in the agency's 2015 telephone
town hall meetings. The live,
interactive forums allowed residents to pose
questions and to submit comments and suggestions
to district directors and RTD staff. Participants
expressed a wide variety of interests and asked
questions about bus and light rail operations, the
new fare system and the new transit lines RTD is
opening in 2016.
April 22, 2016, has been set as the opening date
of the commuter rail line between Union Station
and Denver International Airport. The train
service is being sponsored by the University of
Colorado through a naming rights agreement
negotiated by RTD's corporate partnership program.
The new service will be known as the University
of Colorado A Line. The new 23-mile
commuter rail line, the first of its kind in
Denver, is part of RTD FasTracks Eagle P3 project,
the nation's first full public-private partnership
for transit. Along the University of Colorado A
Line, commuters will be able to board trains at
eight new stations (including Union Station), park
at six new Park-n-Rides and take advantage of the
addition of more than 4,000 parking spaces.
Testing along the new University of Colorado A
Line requires some road crossings to be closed for
longer periods of time. As a result, people
sometimes get impatient and push the safety
envelope. Since safety is RTD's number one
priority, it's important that everyone remember:
When railroad crossing arms are down, crossing is
not allowed as a train could be coming. If you see
an incident, a mechanical malfunction, or a delay
at a crossing along the University of Colorado A
Line, look for the blue signs and the
1-800-848-8715 number you can call.
One of the features of the new commuter rail
trains at RTD is positive
train control technology,
a Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)
requirement for all passenger rail systems in the
country. RTD is proud to be the first in the U.S.
to have PTC built into a commuter rail system
"from the ground up," complying with the new
federal requirements. "This system is literally
life-saving and will prevent the use of unsafe
speeds on the rail alignment, train-to-train
collisions, trains unsafely crossing rail
switches, and unsafe train operations in the
vicinity of maintenance workers who are on or near
the alignment," according to Gret Straight,
Project Manager of the A Line. PTC prevents these
failures through use of a complex
GPS-and-communications-based system. GPS verifies
the position of the train so that the train
"knows" what speed is appropriate to follow on
different parts of the alignment.
Last week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony
Foxx visited RTD to learn about Workforce
Initiative Now (WIN),
the agency's workforce development program, and
toured the LEED Gold-certified commuter
rail maintenance facility (CRMF). Starting
next year, workers at the CRMF will service, clean
and warehouse the commuter train cars that will
run passengers between Union Station and Denver
International Airport, as well as the B Line to
Westminster and the G Line to Wheat Ridge/Arvada.
The commuter rail trains will also serve the North
Metro Rail Line, which will travel through
Commerce City, Northglenn and Thornton when that
line joins the RTD transit system in 2018.
Partial funding for the CRMF was included in a
$1.03 billion Full Funding Grant Agreement the
Federal Transit Administration awarded the Eagle
P3 project in 2011.
Denver Transit Partners is RTD's
design-build-operator contractor on the Eagle P3
project, which encompasses construction of the A,
G and B commuter rail lines and the CRMF. These
three lines account for 36 miles of new commuter
rail construction scheduled to open in 2016.
Secretary Foxx also learned more about RTD's
Workforce Initiative Now (WIN), which is
considered by federal transportation officials and
peer transit agencies to be an innovative and
industry-leading workforce development program.
Founded in 2011, WIN recruits, trains and places
skilled transportation workers in the job force.
In August, WIN received a federal workforce
development grant worth nearly $700,000 to build
upon and serve as a model for other U.S. public
transit agencies.
Watch a video
about RTD at:
The American Public Transit Association reports
that in a show of overwhelming bipartisan support,
the House of Representatives voted 363-64 on Nov.
5 to pass a six-year, nearly $340
billion surface transportation bill. The
House action is an important step toward achieving
enactment of the first long-term authorization for
public transit and highways since 2005. Of the
more than 100 amendments that were debated, the
House approved amendments to increase bus funding
through a shift of other FTA funds and to improve
funding availability for fixed guideway capital
investments. In addition, the House adopted a
proposal by Reps. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) and Bill
Huizenga (R-MI) to replace some revenue provisions
of the bill with a drawdown of the Federal
Reserve's capital surplus account. The amendment
could provide billions of dollars in additional
funding. Now the House and Senate must reconcile
the differences between their respective versions
of the bill. The current short-term authorization
expires on Nov. 20, but it is unclear whether a
final House-Senate compromise can be completed by
that date because the House is in recess next
week. As a result, another short-term extension
may need to be passed.
Central-Southeast Denver Real Estate
Many of the following articles and others may be
found in the Real Estate Perspective searchable
database of news events about real estate and the
economy in metro Denver available at:
Denver Public Schools reports that students,
families and team members cut the ribbon to reopen
the new and improved Bromwell
Elementary School. Thanks to nearly $3
million in renovations -- made possible through
the 2012 voter-approved bond -- the school
features new walls to reduce noise, a new
gymnasium and increased natural light in the
building, among other improvements. Bromwell's
improvements are among hundreds of renovations at
DPS schools made possible by the DPS bond,
approved by voters in 2012.
Downtown Denver Partnership reports that Denver
Public Works has begun installing parking-protected
bike lanes on
Arapahoe Streets and Lawrence Streets in Downtown
from the Auraria Campus to 24th Street, replacing
existing bike lanes along these corridors. These
are the first bike lanes in Denver to be protected
with a row of parking, which provides an
additional buffer between bicycle and vehicle
traffic to enhance safety. To make Denver a
bicycle city as outlined in the Downtown Area Plan
(DAP), the Partnership has been a strong advocate
of building a robust bicycle transportation system
that includes more protected bicycle facilities in
and around Downtown Denver. The goal is to
"provide clear bicycle connections into and
through Downtown, and incorporate services and
facilities that address the whole trip." Over the
past few years, the Downtown Denver Partnership
helped secure $155,000 to design protected bicycle
lanes in Downtown Denver with the help of the
Gates Family Foundation, the Downtown Denver
Business Improvement District, the 14th Street
General Improvement District, and a crowdfunding
campaign.
Denver Union
Station was
selected as one of ten real estate development
winners of the 2015 Urban Land Institute (ULI)
Global Awards for Excellence, widely recognized as
one of the land use industry's most prestigious
award programs. This year's winners-five in North
America, three in Europe, and two in Asia-were
honored at the 2015 ULI Fall Meeting in San
Francisco.
Civic Center Conservancy reports that as part of
The Outdoor Downtown planning process, Denver
Parks & Recreation and the Downtown Denver
Partnership hosted a second public meeting on
October 13 to outline the concept, vision and
development strategy of Denver's master
plan for downtown parks and public spaces.
At the public meeting, 120+ participants reviewed
the survey results and were polled to provide
direction on planning priorities.
Denver City Council
Member Robin Kniech reports that Denver's 2016
budget will include $8 million for affordable
housing to
fill the gap until permanent funding is adopted,
and an expansion of two new composting routes.
Research and planning for expanded public
restrooms in
central Denver continues. The Parks department
has reopened the restroom in Skyline Park with an
attendant, and planning is underway to convert the
seasonal restroom in Commons Park into a
year-round facility. The goal is to install a new
temporary, pilot restroom somewhere in central
Denver before the end of the year, along with
funding in the 2016 budget for additional
restrooms based on the lessons learned from the
pilot.
Council Member Kendra Black reports that the Grand
Re-Opening of theSchlessman Family YMCA has
been changed from November 14 to Saturday,
November 21. This will be a free celebration for
all ages, and members and the community are
invited to experience all the good things the
space has to offer, including fitness classes,
youth sports, water activities, senior programs
and family-friendly activities. Additionally, all
YMCA of Metropolitan Denver's 5 locations are
celebrating the milestone by offering one-week
free trials and waiving of joining fees for new
members between November 21-30.
Confluence Denver reports that the City of Denver
and the Downtown Denver Partnership are studying
the 16th
Street Mall in
an effort to get more people to stay for longer
periods of time in the city's urban core. The
study, "The Mall Experience: The Future of
Denver's 16th Street Mall," was led by the city in
partnership with the Downtown Denver Partnership
with assistance from global consultants Gehl
Architects. It's one of three city initiatives
designed to activate Denver's urban core. The
other projects are "The Next Stage: The Future of
Denver's Performing Arts Complex" and "The Outdoor
Downtown: The Future of Denver's Parks and Public
Spaces." The guiding principles Gehl has
identified for the study are:
- Provide a series of experiences
- Provide transportation choices
- Make invitations for people to spend time
- Encourage lively edges
- Support a wider network of investment
- Think beyond the boundaries of 16th Street
- Create a strong and integrated network
- Continue to evolve
Last summer, the Downtown Denver Partnership
diverted the Free Mall Ride shuttles to 15th and
17th streets for five Sundays for "Meet in the
Street," an event that filled the Mall with
special events, activities, artwork, food and
drink. An analysis of the event found that:
- The number of
pedestrians overall increased by 30 percent
- Positive
feelings about the Mall increased by 200 percent
- The number of
children increased by 77 percent, and the number
of women increased by 65 percent
- 88 percent of
the activities programmed on the Mall resulted
in an overall increase in time spent there
The study is designed to measure, test and refine
ideas to ensure the Mall remains a vibrant place.
Confluence Denver reports that the Urban Land
Conservancy is leading an effort to connect the
Park Hill neighborhood to the A Line through an
art-themed trail. 303
ArtWay will
feature art commissioned by the community and
provide a platform for activities such as parades
and group bicycle events. It also will lead people
to many of the small businesses in the
neighborhood. The first phase of 303 ArtWay will
start at the commuter rail station at 40th and
Colorado and will end at Holly Square at 33rd and
Holly. The second phase will continue from Holly
Square through North Park Hill to South Park Hill.
The third phase will include destinations such as
the Denver Zoo and the Denver Museum of Nature and
Science. "You typically don't see trails like
this in a working-class neighborhood," says Aaron
Miripol, ULC's executive director. "It is
providing this connection to the station and the
rest of Park Hill."
Shea Properties plans to start construction in
December on 1776 Curtis, a 29-story mixed-use
development in downtown Denver. The project,
originally called 999 17th Street, will contain
359 apartment units, 108,000 square feet of office
space and about 17,000 square feet of ground floor
retail space. The $110 million development is
scheduled for completion in early 2018.
More details were revealed for The
Coloradan, a
19-story condominium building planned in downtown
Denver by East West Partners and Amstar Advisers.
The project was initially announced in late 2014.
The $200 million building will be located at 1750
Wewatta Street adjacent to Denver Union Station
and will contain 342 units. Sale prices are
expected to range from $250,000 to $3 million,
although 10% of the units will be
income-restricted and sold at below-market prices
under the City and County of Denver's affordable
housing requirements. The Coloradan will be the
largest condominium project constructed in metro
Denver in about five years.
Continuum Partners announced plans for the
redevelopment of theformer RTD Market
Street bus
station at 16th and Blake streets. The project
will contain 197 multi-family units, 89,500 square
feet of office space and 88,000 square feet of
retail and restaurant space. It will occupy the
block bounded by 16th, 17th, Blake and Market
streets including the RTD office building which
will remain as the agency's headquarters.
Riverpoint Investments LLC bought 2300
15th Street. The 49,212 square foot
building was acquired from Garvin Partners for
$21,380,000, or approximately $434 per square
foot. The buyer is an affiliate of Golf Capital
Partners. The four-story building was constructed
in 1901 and overlooks the South Platte River.
East West Partners and Starwood Capital Group plan
to develop 16
Chestnut, a 19-story office building near
Denver Union Station. The 420,000 square foot
building will be constructed on Chestnut Place
between 16th and 17th streets. The initial tenant
announced for the building is Davita, the
healthcare company whose headquarters are nearby.
Construction on the $190 million building is
expected to begin in mid-2016.
Health care company Davita will
expand its Denver headquarters, taking 265,000
square feet in 16 Chestnut, a new office building
planned by East West Partners and Starwood Capital
Group near Denver Union Station. Davita will
retain its existing headquarters at 2001 16th
Street. The company currently employs about 1,700
people in Denver and the expansion will allow
Davita to house another 1,200 workers. Completion
is expected in October of 2018. Davita moved its
headquarters from California to Denver in 2010.
Antero Resources is expanding its Denver
headquarters, leasing 37,000 square feet in the
office component of A Block, a mixed-used
development underway at 16th and Wewatta streets
adjacent to Denver Union Station. The expansion is
adjacent to Antero's headquarters at 1615 Wynkoop
Street. A Block is being developed by Continuum
Partners and will contain 51,000 square feet of
office space and a 200 room Kimpton Hotel.
The City and County of Denver will begin work
shortly on improvingpedestrian crosswalks
on Speer Boulevard. The
crosswalks at the intersections with Wewatta,
Larimer and Lawrence streets will be will be
widened and reconstructed with patterned pavement.
In addition, new bicycle lanes will be installed
on Arapahoe and Lawrence streets between Speer
Boulevard and 24th Street. The Speer Boulevard
crosswalks are heavily used by students at the
Auraria colleges.
An investment entity sponsored by Evan Makovsky
bought the former
Cottrell's clothing store
building at 601 16th Street in downtown Denver.
Kin Yon LLC paid $8.7 million for the 20,000
square foot building and an adjacent parking lot
from several owners. The site is likely to be
redeveloped by Makovsky although no plans were
revealed. The sellers were represented in the
transaction by CBRE agent Tom Mathews.
Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo will
replace Barnes and Noble as an anchor tenant in
the Denver Pavilions shopping center on the 16th
Street Mall in downtown Denver. The book store
will close at year end and Uniqlo will remodel the
two-story space for a fall 2016 occupancy.
A partnership of City
Street Investors, Stars Investments and Urban
Renaissance Group bought Market
Center, an historic office and retail
property at 1350 17th Street in downtown Denver.
The property contains 121,000 square feet of space
and was acquired for $29 million, or about $239
per square foot. Market Center is a collection of
five buildings constructed in the late 1880s and
early 1890s. The seller, Jonathan Rose Companies,
was represented by HFF. City Street Investors is
based in Denver, Urban Renaissance in Seattle and
Stars Investments in Santiago, Chile.
White Lodging began site work for the construction
of a 491-room hotel at 15th and California streets
near the Colorado Convention Center. The 20-story
building will contain two hotels with separate
entrances and lobbies, an AC
Hotel by Marriott and a Le Meridien Hotel.Construction
is scheduled to be completed in 2017. White
Lodging is currently completing work on another
dual-branded hotel, combining Hyatt Place and
Hyatt House brands, at 14th Street and Glenarm
Place.
The City and County of Denver began construction
on a $6 million renovation and upgrading program
for the historic McNichols
Buildingin Civic Center. The 105-year old
building on West Colfax Avenue at Bannock Street
was originally constructed as the central branch
of the Denver library system. When the new central
branch was built in 1956 the McNichols Building
began to be used for municipal offices. The
renovation work, funded by a 2007 bond issue
approved by Denver voters, will create art gallery
and event spaces when completed in about a year.
Richman Ascension Group plans to develop a 201-unit
apartment building in
Capitol Hill. The project would replace a surface
parking lot on the west side of Grant Street
between East 9th and East 10th avenues.
Construction on the five story building is
scheduled to begin in mid-2016.
Simpson Property Group bought The
Boulevard, a
290-unit apartment building at 150 West 9th Avenue
in the Golden Triangle neighborhood south of
downtown. The nine-year old property was acquired
from Sentinel Real Estate Corporation for $85
million, or about $293,000 per unit.
Pending approval of a ballot issue by Denver
voters in November, theColorado Convention
Center will
undergo a major expansion and renovation. Plans
call for an addition of 85,000 square feet of
meeting and ballroom space, a 50,000 square foot
rooftop outdoor terrace and 120,000 square feet of
service space. A master plan for the convention
center is currently being designed by MIG and
Fentress Architecture. The Colorado Convention
Center occupies the downtown blocks bounded by
Speer Boulevard and 14th, Champa and Welton
streets.
Construction started on the new Kirkland
Museum of Fine and Decorative Art in
the Golden Triangle section of downtown Denver.
The 19,000 square foot building will be located at
West 12th Avenue and Bannock Street near the
Denver Art Museum and the Clyfford Still Museum.
The museum will move from its current location at
East 13th Avenue and Pearl Street in 2017.
A 60 unit apartment building offering small studio
units is planned for a site in 2250
Champa Street in
the emerging Arapahoe Square neighborhood. The
building will be developed by iUnit, which bought
the 0.36 acre site for $1,250,000, or about
$20,800 per unit. Apartments in the building will
be about 350 square feet in size. iUnit currently
is building a smaller property at Eliot Street and
West 32nd Avenue.
The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless plans to
develop Renaissance
Downtown Lofts, a
101-unit apartment building at 2075 Broadway in
downtown Denver. The six-story building will
provide transitional housing and, pending site
plan approval from Denver planners, begin
construction in mid-2016.
Construction started on 21
York, a
ten-unit rowhouse project at the southwest corner
of York Street and East 21st Avenue, across from
City Park, in east central Denver. The project is
being developed by MLA2 LLC. Units are being
marketing in a price range of $499,000 to
$565,000.
BMC Investments announced plans for a 165-room
hotel in
the Cherry Creek North neighborhood of east
central Denver. The project, for which a brand has
not yet been selected, will be located at 240
Josephine Street. The hotel is described as being
a limited service micro-hotel concept.
Schnitzer West plans to start construction in 2016
on Civica
Cherry Creek. The
105,000 square foot building will be located at
230 to 250 Fillmore Street in Cherry Creek North
and include five and seven story sections, plus
ground floor retail space and underground parking.
Unico Properties
bought four office buildings in Cherry Creek North
for an undisclosed sum. The properties are located
on a 1.4 acre site on East 2nd Avenue between
Columbine and Josephine streets, including2401
and 2415 East 2nd Avenue, 201 Columbine Street and
220 Josephine Street. The
properties also contain some ground floor retail
space. Unico Properties is based in Seattle and
owns a portfolio of about two million square feet
in Denver.
Shea Properties submitted plans to Denver planners
for a 212-unit
apartment building near
City Park. The as-yet unnamed project will be
located on the west
side of York Street between East 17th and East
18th avenues. Plans
also call for some retail space to occupy part of
the ground floor.
Los Angeles-based Urban Commons bought two east
Denver hotels. The acquisitions are the Renaissance
Denver Hotel with
400 rooms at 3801 Quebec Street and the 300-room Holiday
Inn Denver East Stapleton at
3333 Quebec Street. Purchases prices were not
announced. Urban Commons bought the Renaissance
Denver from Westbrook Partners and the Holiday Inn
from Holualoa Companies. Cushman and Wakefield
brokers Stephen Michels and James Escarzega
represented Westbrook Partners.
Taubman Centers opened the expansion of Cherry
Creek shopping center on East 1st Avenue at
Fillmore Street. The 70,000 square foot four-story
wing replaces a former Saks Fifth Avenue
department store that closed in 2011. The major
tenant in the expansion is RH,
formerly known as Restoration Hardware, which
is expanding from smaller quarters in the mall.
Tessler Developments began construction on 2450
South University Boulevard, a
252-unit apartment building in the University Park
neighborhood in south Denver. The five-story
building will contain underground parking and
31,000 square feet of ground floor retail space.
New York City-based Tessler expects construction
to be completed in the spring of 2017.
Mill Creek Residential Trust began site work for Modera
River North, a
362-unit apartment project at 2840 Broadway in
River North. The five-story building will occupy a
site that was once part of the Denargo Market
wholesaling district north of downtown Denver.
Construction is scheduled for completion in the
fall of 2017.
Construction started on The
Source, a
100-room boutique hotel at 3300 Brighton Boulevard
in RiNo. The hotel is being built by Zeppelin
Development adjacent to the retail and dining
marketplace of the same name. The eight-story
hotel will also connect to a 25,000 square foot
expansion of The Source Marketplace and a
300-space parking garage.
Lynd Development Partners announced plans for a
205-unit apartment building at East
17th Avenue and Park Avenue West in
the uptown neighborhood east of downtown Denver.
The San Antonio based-company will construct the
eight-story building to include about 8,000 square
feet of ground floor retail space. Construction is
scheduled to begin by late 2016.
The Lowry Redevelopment Authority selected Embrey
Partners to develop a 350-unit apartment
project in the Boulevard One section of Lowry. The
San Antonio-based company will construct the
apartments at the northwest corner of Lowry
Boulevard and South Quebec Street. Boulevard One
is under development on the site of a US Air Force
financial services complex and will include a mix
of residential uses with some service retail
space.
The Denver Housing Authority will develop a 72-unit
affordable apartment building in
Lowry. The project will be located in the new
Boulevard One section of the Lowry redevelopment
area at the corner of South Niagara Street and
East Archer Place. DHA will partner with the
Volunteers of America to build and manage the new
facility. Construction is expected to begin in
late 2016.
