Posts from — November 2006

…each additional hour spent in a car per day was associated with a 6% increase in the odds of being obese, while each additional kilometer walked per day was associated with a 4.8% reduction in the odds of being obese. - R.E.Andersen, 2003; U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996

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Okay, so I am still trying to get us all out of our cars and into trains. And here is just one more possible item to affect Denver..

Rail proposed Casper to Albuquerque
By The Associated Press
Article Last Updated:11/30/2006 12:46:14 PM MST

Front Range Commuter Rail, a non-profit group, wants to study the possibility of creating high-speed rail lines running from Casper, WY, through Denver to Albuquergue, NM.

At a total cost much cheaper than the proposed Super Slab concrete roadway, the high-speed trains would run on existing railroad rights-of-way.

The group says the study will cost about $4.4 million. It will examine existing rail lines, the cost of improvements and the cost of relocating existing coal and freight train traffic.

Front Range Commuter Rail wants to collect money from Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico to pay for about half the cost of the study in order then to be eligible for matching money from the federal government.

Randy Bruns, chief executive officer of Cheyenne LEADS, said Wyoming would be crazy not to participate in the study.

“This is not pie in the sky,” Bruns said. “Somebody could be physically running passenger service to Denver tomorrow.”

Completion of the high-speed rail project is set for the year 2016. It’s intended to meet the transportation needs of the rapidly growing Rocky Mountain region.
“You just can’t build lanes of highway fast enough to alleviate congestion,” said Bob Jensen, CEO of the Wyoming Business Council.

The study must be completed before Congress could designate the Casper to Albuquerque line as a high-speed corridor.

Congressional designation of the high-speed corridor would allow the rail project to seek federal money. There are already 10 such designated corridors in the country.

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Denver officials released a preview Tuesday of what a home-grown Justice Center Courthouse will look like.

The design has been the subject of anticipation and speculation since famed New York architect Steven Holl was removed from the project and local Brian Klipp took over as the lead designer.

But even as city leaders mourned the loss of a “signature” building, Klipp’s firm worked furiously to keep the courthouse on time and on budget, Justice Center policy manager James Mejia said.

“It is a design with a high aesthetic,” Mejia said, adding, “It is gratifying to see a design with our entire program included - which sounds basic, but it hasn’t been done until now.”

Triangle Neighborhood Association president Dennis Humphries previously worried that the city would end up with “a big rectangular box” without Holl.

But on Tuesday, he said, “I think there are some very exciting moments in the building … I think overall the building is very dynamic.”

Humphries said he still has some concerns. The building “doesn’t quite have the spirit” of the Holl design, he said. But he described it as “bold, fresh” and “a step in the right direction.”

This fall, the $127 million courthouse became the most controversial of the three planned buildings that will make up the $378 million Justice Center campus.
City officials complained that Holl’s design was more than $30 million over budget and did not meet the functions, or program, requested. In early October Klipp announced Holl was off the project, shocking the local architectural community.
Holl has since disputed claims that his design did not meet the program, and he said his plans would have been only about $3 million over budget.

To ensure the courthouse lives up to the signature status Humphries and other residents had hoped for, Mayor John Hickenlooper last week announced a review panel of local, national and international architects to assist Klipp.

“The process of getting there, and continuing to improve, is one that is being embraced by Klipp,” Mejia said. “We are already very happy with (the design). And with the process that is in place, there is a chance that we could get even more.”
The Peer Review Committee is scheduled to meet with the Klipp firm Dec. 12.

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Human history is a race between education and catastrophe - H G Wells

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Seniors to get riverfront digs
Cosmopolitan Club to have amenities of five-star hotel

By John Rebchook, Rocky Mountain News
November 24, 2006
Louisville-based Balfour Senior Living plans to build a $110 million building for active seniors in downtown Denver’s Riverfront Park, in the Central Platte Valley.

Construction of the luxury 264- suite, seven-story, age-restricted Cosmopolitan Club building next to the historic Moffat Train Depot at 15th and Little Raven streets is scheduled to start in February.

Monthly rents in the club, one of the few age-restricted developments in the country in a downtown, are expected to range from about $3,500 to $8,000 a month. The club also will charge a one-time entry fee of $10,000.

“The Cosmopolitan Club will have all of the amenities of a five-star hotel,” said Michael Schonbrun, CEO and founder of the 10- year-old Balfour.

“In today’s day and age, people over 60 are very active and want to be part of the buzz and energy of the city,” said Schonbrun, a lawyer by training, who was president of National Jewish Hospital from 1981 to 1991 and worked for former Gov. Dick Lamm after coming to Colorado in 1974.

The Cosmopolitan Club will be a welcome addition to Denver, said Tami Door, president and CEO of the Downtown Denver Partnership.

“We want to ensure that we have a great diversity of people living downtown,” she said. “That is very important for the vibrancy of downtown.”

Door said she suspects that many people living there will want to participate in downtown as mentors and volunteers.

Charlie Woolley, head of the St. Charles Town Co., has put his planned 37-story senior high-rise at 14th and Stout streets on hold, saying he has too many projects on his plate.

But he said there’s room for both the Cosmopolitan Club and his development, which he hopes to resurrect next year.

“Our site is very different from their site, but I like their location very much, too,” Woolley said. “They’re going to do great. These urban locations for seniors are more appealing, as far as activities and lifestyles, than ones in the suburbs.”

Harry Frampton, CEO of East West Partners, the developer of Riverfront Park, is a small investor in Balfour and may invest in the Cosmopolitan Club.

Frampton first pitched the site to Schonbrun when they bought the property from Trillium Corp. in the 1990s.

“I think this is really pretty cool,” Frampton said. “Balfour has been successful financially, but even more important, it builds communities that are just wonderful places for people to go to when they age.”

The land was initially sold to Archstone-Smith, the Arapahoe County-based apartment real estate investment trust, but the -REIT decided to sell most of its Denver portfolio to concentrate on other parts of the country.

Schonbrun will renovate the depot and use it as the “great room” for the development.

The long-vacant 100-year-old building was partly destroyed by a fire in 1995.

Balfour may also open the 1,200-square-foot depot for an occasional public forum or event, although the retirement community also will have a separate building for that function, Schonbrun said.

When completed in 2008, the 369,000-square-foot Cosmopolitan Club building will include 214 independent-living rental apartments, ranging in size from 600 square feet to 1,900 square feet; a European- style piazza with a garden; and four dining areas, including a bistro/pub and a gourmet-style restaurant. It also will sport a a rooftop garden, a library, a billiard room, a movie theater, a performance hall, a business center, a card room, a hair and beauty salon, and an arts and crafts room.

The amenities don’t stop there - a high-end spa is also planned.

There will be around-the-clock concierge service and 130 underground parking spaces, although Schonbrun said he suspects that most residents will find they don’t need a car. They will have private town cars to ferry them to Cherry Creek, sporting events, shopping, golf and other events.

The club will be designed by a New York firm, Robert A.M. Stern Architects. Stern is dean of the Yale School of Architecture.

His firm has designed a luxury condo at 15 Central Park West, next to the Time-Warner building, in New York; a new Ritz-Carlton hotel/condominium project in Dallas; and Aspen Highlands Village. Stern, working in Denver for the first time, will be joined by Denver- based klipp Architecture.

The interior designer, Carleton Varney, CEO of New York City- based Dorothy Draper Inc., is perhaps even better-known than Stern, at least in New York City.

Varney, known for his use of color and contrasts, has been the interior designer for such properties as the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, New York’s Waldorf Towers and Plaza and the Grand Hotel of Mackinac Island, in Michigan.

He even has his own brand of coffee.

“We went to the theater with him in New York, and you can’t walk two feet in New York without somebody stopping him,” Schonbrun said. “He told me he is at a stage in his life where he only works on projects that he thinks will be fun and special.”

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Unless we change direction, we are likely to end up where we are going - Chinese proverb

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Turkey Trot Gobble, gobble!

Join us for the Mile High United Way’s 33rd annual Turkey Trot, an exciting tradition for many Colorado residents who spend Thanksgiving Day morning working up an appetite at Washington Park. Mile High United Way encourages runners, walkers, families, friends, out-of-town guests to get some exercise in this FUN 4-mile run/walk to support Denver’s Road Home.

All entrants receive a long-sleeve, 100% cotton Turkey Trot T-shirt. Fees are $25 for adults who register before November 22 and $35 on race day. Children 12 and under and adults 60 and over pay $15 to participate.

Learn more here

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Wayback Wednesday, a great way to get ready for Thanksgiving tonight

DenverMix.com and Slim 7 have launched WAYBACK WEDNESDAYS. Get down as we take you back to the era of cheap drinks and Cheap Trick. All the songs you know and love, but never hear– a unique blend including everything from old-school hip hop to rock n’ roll! Digital Underground to Duran Duran; Bon Jovi to The Beastie Boys; Led Zepplin to L.L.!

Never A Cover Charge

Bottle Service- $95 Bottle Of Absolut

For the Ladies Only:
Absolut Drinks- $3 ALL NIGHT
$4 Floot Champagne
$6 MUMM Champagne Splits
1/2-Price Bottles Of

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Who said there was enough places to get a beer in Denver didn’t know about the North Star Brew Pub, recently opened in the Highlands on the corner of 32nd and Tejon.

It has a neighborhood pub feel in a sunny space, with a staff that is there to createa Cheers like atmosphere (for those old enough to remember that show)

Brewer Kyle Carstens is the beerman at North Star. He spent 15 years brewing at Wynkoop before opening his own place and he knows his beer.

Kyle will have his beers for you, or you can have some of the Micro’s they personnally select. I heard they have PBR’s Schlitz and Hamm’s if you want to go back to old school.

Want some food, great lunch and dinner will be served as well.

North Star Brewpub, 3200 Tejon in Denver. They open at 11am.

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Sorry for the delay in blogging, I took Monday and went up to Vail for the day to get in some skiing. The Mountain was nice, with most of chair 3 and 4 open plus some runs under chair 2. Wednesday will mark the opening of North Star and North Woods as they get ready for the Thanksgiving rush.

Vail needs some snow before those Thanksgiving tourists arrive or it will be one crowded mountain.

If you go up Bridge Street, make sure to take a look at the gigantic development hole that is going on there currently.

Other mountain topics right now include a big political battle between Vail Resorts and the residents of Beaver Creek over a possible sled run to be installed. This is not a snow sled run (well it might be that too) but is instead a concrete sled run on the face of the mountain.

Can’t say that I blame the residents.

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