Denver’s transit growth has created an explosion of residential, office and retail development near the city’s light rail stations. Dozens of projects are already under way with more planned for the upcoming FasTracks corridors.

By Pete Lewis

Photo by Ed LaCasse

The demand for transit-oriented development—pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use communities integrated with mass transit—is still in its infancy in Denver.

The Center for Transit-Oriented Development forecasts that demand for housing within a half-mile of transit stations in the Denver metro area will reach 155,000 units by 2030. The Denver Regional Council of Governments predicts that by 2025, 548,000 jobs—or 26 percent of regional employment—will be located within a half-mile of transit stations.

“Down the road, Denver will be an example for the whole country in terms of what a metro area can do by working together for smart development,” says Pauletta Puncerelli, former spokesperson for T-REX. “The key is to maximize TOD developments by turning them into long-lasting, vibrant communities and return to the urban village feel of years gone by.”

About 8,500 residential units, 3,000 hotel rooms, 3.1 million sq ft of retail, 2.7 million sq ft of office, and 8.9 million sq ft of institutional space are under construction or proposed within a half-mile of the Regional Transportation District’s existing stations and the stations proposed by FasTracks.

Not all of this development is mixed-use or integrated with transit, but it’s clear that the growth of transit is significantly driving development in the metro area.

“Denver has become a leader in TOD because we have the land and because we’ve taken a bold step in developing transit,” said Marilee Utter, president of Citiventure Associates and the 2006 chair of the Colorado District Council of the Urban Land Institute. “But people want to live and work in pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods with a sense of community. Transit is an amenity that makes high-density, mixed-use development possible. It’s an excuse to create what the public wants.”

Dozens of TOD projects are planned, under way or nearing completion across the metro area, some tied to the recently completed Southeast Light Rail line, others aligned with the city’’s older rail lines or the many FasTracks corridors. The following is a sample of Denver’s key TOD projects.

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District at Southmoor

Pacific Properties completed construction late last year on The District at Southmoor, a three-building, mixed-use development adjacent to I-25 and within walking distance to the Southmoor light rail station. The project includes 276 residential units, 20,000 sq ft of retail and a 450-car precast parking structure. The Mulhern Group designed the project, which is owned by Pacific Properties. CFC Construction was the general contractor. ADG Design and APT Systems served as the engineers and design consultants.

Louisiana Station Lofts 

In January 2006, the Louisiana Station Lofts burned to the ground while still under construction. A majority of the prospective buyers decided to retain their contracts, and Trammel Crow rebuilt. Construction is almost complete and most of the 29 condominium units have been presold. The four-story project also includes 3,000 sq ft of retail. Denver’s Buchanan Yonushewski Group designed the lofts, with Maxwell Construction as the general contractor. KL&A is the structural engineer, and DMCE is the mechanical engineer.

Vallagio Inverness

Metropolitan Homes is developing Vallagio, a 30-acre residential site within the Inverness Business Park. Vallagio is connected by a pedestrian bridge to the Dry Creek light rail station and located adjacent to the Inverness Golf Course. When complete, the development will include 240 condominiums, 84 lofts, 111 row townhomes, 34 attached golf villas, 18,000 sq ft of commercial and 22,000 sq ft of retail.

Fifteen buildings are now under construction, and some models should be ready by this April. The project team includes Nuszer-Kopatz, landscape >> design; Meeks & Partners, commercial/mixed-use architecture; Kephart Architects, residential architecture; Mulhern MRE Inc., engineering planning and design; and Sullivan Hayes, commercial brokerage.

Lincoln Station 

Westfield Development and long-time landowners, the Bradbury family, broke ground this February on a 35-acre, mixed-use development at Lincoln Station, south of Park Meadows mall and north of Sky Ridge Medical Center.

The first phase of construction includes Station Street, a pedestrian-friendly plaza; a 72-unit, four-story residential building; a three-story building with about 21,000 sq ft of offices; and a six-story office building. All three buildings will have street-level retail and the six-story building will have a LEED rating based on its underfloor air distribution system and other sustainable features. Construction of this first phase should be complete by spring 2008.

The Weitz Co. is the general contractor. The office buildings were designed by klipp, and the residential portion of the project is by Paul Bergner. ABS Consultants is the mechanical engineer. The residential portion will be sold to Level Development.

Trammel Crow purchased 10.7 acres at the site and is developing 430 units of high-density housing.

The entire Lincoln Station site is about 53 acres. Phase II will be two mid-rise office buildings east of Park Meadows Drive and a possible apartment building. Because of its proximity to Park Meadows, the project will concentrate on office and residential, says Gary Woods, a spokesman for the Bradbury family.

Belleview Station 

Continuum Partners will begin construction this fall on a 19-acre site near Belleview Station, where it eventually plans about 2.3 million sq ft of development. The first phase will include a pedestrian-friendly main street flanked by two buildings: a five-story, 250-unit apartment building, and a seven-story office building with structured parking. Both buildings will have street-level retail. Construction should be complete in 18 months. Shears Adkins and Zimmer Gunsel Frasca are the architects for the first two buildings. A general contractor has not been selected.

Continuum is developing the project with the Bansbach family. When complete, the 19-acre site should include four buildings with about 600,000 sq ft of offices, 250,000 sq ft of street-level retail, 1,100 residential units and at least one 240-room hotel.

The entire Belleview Station site is about 50 acres and eventually will contain 2.6 million sq ft of offices, 336,000 sq ft of retail and 1,900 residential units.

One Lincoln Park 

Osborn Development broke ground in March 2006 on One Lincoln Park, a 32-story, five-sided, high-rise across the street from the 20th Street light rail station in downtown Denver. The building features 186 residential units above street-level retail, and six levels of parking (two below ground and four above the retail level.) Buchanan Yonushewski Group is the design architect and design-builder. Swinerton Builders is constructing the core-and-shell. Construction should be complete in Sept. 2008, with some residents taking occupancy April 2008.

The building is the first of a five-phase, mixed-use development that Osborn envisions for the two-block area. Over the next six to 10 years, Osborn plans to build 1,000 residential units on the site.

I-25/Broadway Station/Gates 

The site of the former Gates rubber factory at Broadway and I-25 is about 80 acres. Master developer, Cherokee Denver owns 50 acres west of Broadway. Lionstone Group owns about 30 acres east of Broadway. RTD also owns about 18 acres adjacent to the site.

David Owen Tryba is Cherokee’s master planning architect. KBG, a division of Peter Kiewit Sons, is the construction manager, and Nolte Associates is the design manager.

In spring 2006, Cherokee agreed to sell a 24-acre site between Santa Fe Drive the railroad tracks to Joseph Freed and Associates LLC of Palatine, Ill. Freed plans to build 15 to 17 buildings on the site, including a 200,000-sq-ft office tower, two anchor retail buildings and a hotel. At completion, the project, dubbed Metropolitan Gardens, will include about 300,000 sq ft of offices, 900,000 sq ft of retail and about 1,500 housing units.

Construction should begin this fall. The architects for Freed’s development are Rosetti and Perkins Eastman. Communication Arts is designing the streetscape. PCL Construction Services is doing preconstruction. Nolte Associates is the civil engineer. Thornton Tomasetti is the structural engineer, and M/E Engineering is the mechanical engineer.

Lionstone is renovating two buildings east of Broadway, creating about 300,000 sq ft of office. It then will begin >> developing 12 acres of mostly multifamily units with some retail. Lionstone is also designing a parking garage. David Own Tryba is the architect for the development. Martin/Martin is the civil engineer, Jirsa Hedrick & Associates is the structural engineer and Integrated  Mechanical Systems is the mechanical engineer. When complete, Lionstone’s site will have 1,000 to 1,200 residential units and 50,000 to 100,000 sq ft of retail.

McStain Neighborhoods currently is building 43 single-family homes on 3.25 acres that it purchased from Lionstone. Trammel Crow also plans to build 350 multifamily units and about 16,000 sq ft of retail at the Gates site.

Village Center at Arapahoe Station 

With the Coors Amphitheater as the focal point, the 55-acre Village Center at Arapahoe Station hopes to become the entertainment and cultural destination of the south metro area. The city of Greenwood Village has designated 8.6 acres as open space with plans to develop pedestrian access between the light rail station and concert venue.     

“Our focus is less on cars and more on people, less on buildings and more on the space between buildings,” says George Weaver, director of community development for Greenwood Village.

Construction will begin this spring on four buildings east of 1-25. Developers George Betterman, Steve Roitman and Walter Isenberg will build a 15-story Renaissance Hotel with 180 rooms and 15 condominium units. ING Clarion Partners will build a 200-room hotel with 25 condo units next to the Plaza Tower One office building. Developer John Madden will begin construction on Palazzo Verdi, a 285,000-sq-ft office high-rise. Fentress Bradburn is the architect, and Kiewit is the general contractor on that project. Shea Properties is also expected to announce plans for a mixed–use development.

Koelbel Development is master planning a 16-acre site it owns on the east side of I-25. Koelbel’s site eventually will contain 1.5 million to 2 million sq ft of mixed-use development.

Landmark at Orchard Station
 
Landmark is a 1 million-sq-ft, mixed-use development on 15 acres being developed by Everest Development. Construction in under way on two 13-story residential towers and about 160,000 sq ft of retail development. The retail portion should be open by July 2007. One tower should be ready for occupancy in December 2007 and the other six months later. Phase II will be The Brownstones at the Landmark, 160 attached single-family units and eight to 10 single-family custom homes.

Arista 

Wiens Real Estate Ventures is developing Arista, a 200-acre, mixed-use community on Highway 36 in Broomfield. Arista features the new Broomfield Event Center, an RTD bus station and a proposed FasTracks light rail stop. The 6,000-seat, 180,000–sq-ft events center, built by Denver’s Saunders Construction and designed by Sink Combs Dethlefs, opened in late fall 2006.

Wiens also built a 15,000-space parking structure shared by RTD and event center patrons. Construction began this spring on 150,000 sq ft of offices and 50,000 sq ft of retail and some high-density residential along Arista’s three-block-long main street.

Wiens also plans to build a 160-room hotel. A pedestrian bridge eventually will connect Arista to the proposed rail station across Highway 36. Arista’s team includes Lowe Enterprises, development manager; klipp, project architect; Norris Dullea, landscape architect; Taylor Kohrs, general contractor; and Martin/Martin, civil engineer.

Trammell Crow also plans to build 200 condominiums, 246 apartments and 7,200 sq ft of retail. Hibernia will build 116 condominium units, and Sunburst Design/New Design Logic will build 13 live/work condominiums. When complete, Arista will include 600,000 to 800,000 sq ft of retail and about 1,200 residential units.

Colorado Center 

Colorado Center is an example of how transit can influence an established development. The 14.6-acre site already has two 12-story office towers, a four-story office building, about 123,463 sq ft of retail/theater and 1,544 surface parking spaces.

Lincoln Properties plans to add another 220,000 sq ft of offices, 78,055 sq ft of retail, a 208,120-sq-ft hotel, 332,870 sq ft of residential and 1,370 parking spaces. David Owen Tryba Architects is the master architect for the project. While still in its design phase, a Class-A office tower with street-level retail will be first up, with construction beginning some time in 2008. Trammel Crow also owns a 1-acre site nearby on Emerson Street, where it plans to break ground this summer on a 43-unit project that will include about 3,000 sq ft of retail.

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