Posts from — November 2006

Structure to tower over LoDo
Developers of 1800 Larimer tout energy-efficient design of 22-story office high-rise

November 17, 2006
Westfield Development Co. plans a $150 million, 22-story, 500,000-square-foot office tower at the edge of lower downtown.

The 1800 Larimer building, the first new high-rise office building downtown since 1999 Broadway opened in the mid-1980s, will be the most energy-efficient high-rise in downtown Denver, said Rich McClintock, president of Denver-based Westfield.

The building is expected to receive a silver LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. The council today is ending its three-day Greenbuild 2006 conference at the Colorado Convention Center, which attracted more than 12,000 people.

“If it is not a sustainable building, it is outdated,” McClintock said.

Increasingly, companies are demanding that their office space be in a LEED-rated building, which not only lowers utility bills for them but increases worker productivity, he said.

The building will include numerous energy saving features, including a subfloor air distribution system; 9-foot, 6-inch floor-to-ceiling windows; a state-of-the-art health club for tenants; and almost a half-acre parklike environment on a terrace 20 feet off the ground.

“It just made sense to us to only ‘condition’ the air around people, rather than the entire volume of space, especially as tenants demand higher ceilings,” said Don Slack, executive vice president of Westfield. “Basically, we’re cooling two-thirds of the space we would with a conventional system. And an added benefit of the system is that the tenants can manually control the temperature immediately around them.”

The architect is Denver-based RNL Design. In addition to the blue and grey glass facade, a design feature will be a 30-foot high “wall of water” inside the lobby. The lobby will have trees inside and immediately outside a large glass wall.

Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp., said he is courting a Fortune 500 company, which is considering moving its headquarters to either Denver or two East Coast cities.

“If they choose Denver, they want a building in the LoDo area,” Clark said. “And it is important for them to be in an energy-efficient building.”

McClintock said that the overall office vacancy rate in LoDo is about 5 percent but in Class A buildings it is 2 percent.

There are about a half-dozen office buildings planned for LoDo, but McClintock isn’t worried about competition.

He notes the site is a block from the Ritz- Carlton hotel under construction, two blocks from the Tabor Center and Coors Field, and four blocks from Denver Union Station.

It also is on the route of a future circular bus system that will serve downtown and Denver Union Station.

Construction will start in the spring with an opening in 2009. He already is close to inking deals with some tenants that will take at least 20 percent of the building. They’re speaking with law firms, energy companies, financial institutions and others.

Keep posted on this building by watching it at…
Urban Brain Wiki Entry for 1800 Larimer

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Train yourself to find another way to work
With the launch of light rail, RTD drops some bus lines, reroutes others and starts a call-n-Ride service
By Jeffrey Leib
Denver Post Staff Write

Commuters fill the early-morning 90X bus from Aurora to downtown Denver on Thursday, the route s second-to-last day. Commuters will now be able to take light rail downtown. Today after 11 a.m., rides on the new southeast line will be free. On Saturday, the entire light-rail system will offer free rides. (Post / RJ Sangosti )

VIPs celebrate completion of T-REX
Karen Jackson waited Thursday in a long line of fellow commuters to catch the 6:30 a.m. 90X express bus from RTD’s Nine Mile park-n-Ride to Civic Center station.
After today, the 90X and many other express routes will be eliminated and replaced by the Regional Transportation District’s new southeast light-rail line, feeder bus service to rail stations and a new, taxi like call-n-Ride service.

Not everyone is pleased with the changes, but for Jackson and some other commuters, the switch from express bus to rail is advantageous.

She works near 13th and Lawrence streets in downtown Denver, just a few blocks from a light-rail station. She’ll have an easy walk from the train to work. Using the bus, she’d often take the 16th Street Mall shuttle to get to Lawrence.
“I’m excited about it,” she said. “It will be better in bad weather, when the buses are never on time.”

But other commuters say the replacement of express and regional buses with light-rail service will add time and hassles to their trips.

Joann Goss, another RTD bus rider, typically has taken the 90X from East Hampden Avenue and South Chambers Road to Civic Center, only two blocks from her job. It’s about a 33-minute trip.

With the elimination of the 90X, Goss expects to catch a feeder bus to Nine Mile from Chambers and East Yale Avenue, take light rail to 16th and California streets, and then get on the mall shuttle to work.

“It’s not quite as convenient,” Goss said. She said she’ll have to start her commute at 5:45 a.m., about 15 minutes earlier than the current routine.

Some riders at Nine Mile have counted the stairs at the station, calculating whether they can descend 52 stairs from the train platform and walk 50 yards or so in a tunnel under Interstate 225 and through the Nine Mile garage in time to catch the local bus.

Bus rider Dee Charlifue said she’s worried about stairs to the Nine Mile rail platform that are open to the weather and likely to be slippery in winter. There are elevators for those who need them.

Agency spokesman Scott Reed said that with the start of new train service, “the vast majority of people will have an improved commute, either from the thousands of additional service hours in the southeast area or the actual time saved.”

And, he added, “light rail doesn’t get bogged down in traffic.”

RTD is counting on expanded call-n-Ride service in the southeast area to help funnel many commuters to light-rail stops. Call-n-Ride vehicles will pick travelers up at home who call to arrange a trip, RTD said.
Commuter Lesa Robinson, who also rode the 90X Thursday,

Early-morning commuters take the 90X bus Thursday. Starting Monday, 90X riders will take light rail instead.

Robinson needs to be at work near 17th Street and Broadway at 6:30 a.m. and has been taking the 5:50 express bus that gets her to Civic Center at 6:15.

The 5:48 train from Nine Mile will get her to 16th and California at 6:21, Robinson said, and then she’ll have to jump on the mall shuttle. “That’s cutting it close.”

Metropolitan State College of Denver freshman Austin Schult didn’t have to do any math to know that his commute will get easier Monday.

Schult missed the 7:39 express bus downtown Thursday morning from Nine Mile and waited quite a while for the next bus, the 8:14. Had the train been running, he said, “I wouldn’t have missed my first class.”

Bus routes change
Starting Sunday, many express and regional bus routes will be replaced by local routes that connect to the new light-rail stations. There are some new local routes, and others have been modified to better mesh with light rail. For details, visit southeastlightrail.com/ schedules-commute.cfm or call RTD at 303-299-6000

DISCONTINUED BUS ROUTES
Express: 11X, 17X, 23X, 24X, 25X, 26X, 35X, 39X, 78X, 85X, 89X, 90X, 91X Regional: P, T, W
Local: 46L, 169, 426, 473, Link, B Line

ROUTES ALTERED IN SOME WAY
Express: 6X, 63X
Regional: U
Local: 11, 12, 15L, 21, 24, 27, 35, 40, 52, 56, 65, 66, 73, 77, 79L, 83L, 105, 121, 169L, 401, 402L, 403, 470L
Source: RTD

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Swoosh Swoosh Swoosh, time to go hit the mountains. Vail is my favorite Colorado Ski Resort. How about you?

My favorite path is straight up the Vista Bahn from Bridge Street, drop down into Sun-up Bowl, hop the lift up to Genghis and drop down there. On to Blue Sky Basin and then as many little Ollie, Heavy Metals as I can. If you follow the ridge line you can drop down past Iron Mask and get some DEEP and STEEP in and then cut over to continue down the bumps.

Of course, this may not all be open today but gotta love it on a powder day.

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It’s official. The Continuum/East West Partners team has been
selected to enter into exclusive negotiations for the purchase of
Union Station and the 19.5 acres of development land.

Wiki Entry at Denver Union Station - New Proposal

Here is the official article

————————————————-
Union Station developer chosen
The Denver Business Journal - 12:32 PM MST Wednesday
Print this Article Email this Article Reprints RSS Feeds Most Viewed Most Emailed
The successful bidder emerged Wednesday for the redevelopment of Denver’s Union Station.

A team headed by East West Partners and Continuum Partners was chosen as the master developer of the project, which involves adding office, retail and residential space to the lower downtown train station and the surrounding 19.5-acre site.

The two companies have created a partnership called Union Station Neighborhood Co. LLC.

The decision was made by the Denver Union Station Executive Committee, a partnership made up of the City and County of Denver, the Denver Regional Council of Governments and the Colorado Department of Transportation and Regional Transportation District.

The project has so many players because the idea is to make Union Station the hub of RTD’s FasTracks transit system, which will involve light rail, commuter rail and the city’s bus system.

Union Station Neighborhood said it could have the project done by 2011 at a cost of about $300 million, or $75 million less than the competing proposal offered by Union Station Partners LLC, led by Cherokee Investment Partners and including Hensel Phelps Construction and Beyer Blinder Belle LLP.

“With opportunity comes responsibility,” Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper said at a press conference Wednesday morning to announce the decision. “We’re going to hold them to the highest standard and make this the greatest infill project in the United States.”

Union Station Neighborhood’s proposal was more modest than what Union Station Partners offered, which emphasized dramatic additions to the surrounding skyline, including high-rise residential and hotel structures and a bold, two-block-long, curving roof line as a backdrop for the historic Union Station terminal.

Union Station Neighborhood’s plan calls for the construction of two 23-story buildings to the west of Union Station that will contain office space and residential units. The project will add 950,000 square feet of office space, 300,000 square feet of retail space and 950,000 square feet of residential space, along with another 1,980 parking spaces.

They also recommend keeping light rail lines above ground, reducing the financial cost of having to build underground facilities for all three transit modes: light rail, heavy commuter rail and buses.

The main facets of the project would be finished by 2011.

Union Station Neighborhood said its team includes transportation engineering company DMJM Harris; contractor Kiewit; architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; the law firm of Kaplan, Kirsch & Rockwell; construction-management companies PACO Group Inc. and Civil Technology Inc.; DRG Construction; and Ronald A. Straka Urban Design.

The FasTracks program is a 12-year, $4.7 billion effort that’s expected to wrap up in 2017. The project will create six new commuter rail and light-rail lines, extend three existing lines, expand bus service and add 21,000 parking spaces.

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Help Colorado Share the Road

One year ago the State Patrol capped bike events because they observed motorists and bicyclists not sharing the road. Bicyclists and events made changes (and continue to do so) and the State Patrol lifted the event cap.

Now we need to spread the message beyond events and include motorists. That’s why Bicycle Colorado is launching a Share the Road license plate campaign to reinforce that bicycles are welcome on roads and to fund bicycle safety education programs.

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I was walking to Larimer this morning when “POP” I noticed a brand new fence and sign where the Sugar3 building is going up. Apparently this popped up quickly, because the folks walking next to me were saying that when they went into the restaurant it was an open lot, when they came out it was fenced in. Now that would be disturbing.

Another growing development in Denver. I love to see this growth and infill, our city is truly becoming more active and social with the evolution of our downtown.

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PORTLAND, Ore.

Peter Yates for The New York Times
There are no parking spaces for Mary Stonecypher-Howell at the Moda condominiums in Seattle.
ANNEMIEKE CLARK and her boyfriend, Daniel Pasley, do not spend a lot of time driving. Ms. Clark, a 29-year-old nursing student at Oregon Health and Science University, takes the bus to school. Her boyfriend is a “crazy bike rider,” she said.

So when they decided to buy their first home last winter, they chose a one-bedroom unit in the Civic, one of the first new developments in Portland to market condominiums without parking spaces.

Ms. Clark said they bought the $175,000 condo, which will be ready next summer, because “it was absolutely the cheapest one selling.” Mr. Pasley also hoped a unit without parking would inspire Ms. Clark to sell her 1992 Subaru.

“So, part of it was idealism — that we would get rid of the car,” Ms. Clark said.

Although condominiums without parking are common in Manhattan and the downtowns of a few other East Coast cities, they are the exception to the rule in most of the country. In fact, almost all local governments require developers to provide a minimum number of parking spaces for each unit — and to fold the cost of the space into the housing price.

The exact regulations, which are intended to prevent clogged streets and provide sufficient parking, vary by city. Houston’s code requires a minimum of 1.33 parking spaces for a one-bedroom and 2 spaces for a three-bedroom. Downtown Los Angeles mandates 2.25 parking spaces per unit, regardless of size.

Today, city planners around the country are trying to change or eliminate these standards, opting to promote mass transit and find a way to lower housing costs.

Minimum parking requirements became popular in the 1950s with the growth of suburbia, said Donald Shoup, a professor of urban planning at the University of California at Los Angeles and the author of “The High Cost of Free Parking” (American Planning Association, 2005). “They spread like wildfire,” he said.

But in the 21st century, skyrocketing housing prices and the move toward high-density urban development are bringing scrutiny to the ways in which cities and developers manage the relationship between parking and residential real estate. Once a tool of government, parking requirements are increasingly driven by the market.

Last year, for example, Seattle reduced parking requirements for multifamily housing in three of the city’s major commercial corridors. Next month, the City Council will vote on a proposal to eliminate minimum parking requirements in Seattle’s six core urban districts and near light-rail stations. In June, San Francisco replaced minimum requirements downtown with maximum standards allowing no more than 0.75 parking spaces per unit. In Portland, where central city parking minimums were eliminated six years ago, developers are breaking ground on projects with restricted parking.

“In the future,” Dr. Shoup said, “we will look back at minimum parking requirements as a colossal mistake. Change will be slow, but it’s happening now.”

The Civic, a 261-unit project, includes 24 condos without parking. The building is six blocks from downtown and near a major bus and light-rail line, and will offer residents a rental-car-sharing arrangement.

“We’re always looking for ways to promote smart growth,” said Tom Cody, a project manager of the Gerding/Edlen Development Company, which developed the Civic. “We decided to test the water and see if there was a market for units without parking spaces.” The 24 condos sold out, he said.

In San Francisco, more downtown housing has been approved over the last few years than in the last 20 years combined, said Joshua Switzky, a city planner. The booming real estate market there inspired local officials to revoke minimum-parking requirements in the central core, Mr. Switzky said. “The city’s modus operandi is ‘transit first,’ ” he said. “Everyone recognized the existing rules didn’t match the policy.”

Under San Francisco’s new parking maximums, downtown developers are also required to “unbundle” the price of parking from the price of the condo. “Buyers aren’t obligated to buy a parking space, and developers don’t have the incentive to build spaces they can’t sell,” Mr. Switzky said.

Sustainable development is not the only factor driving changes to parking standards. “We talk about affordable housing as the most critical thing facing cities and the nation,” Mr. Cody said. “But we never talk about the costs of the automobile.” Since individual parking spaces cost about $40,000, reducing or eliminating parking is an effective way to lower housing prices, he said.

At the Moda condominiums, a development under construction in Seattle, only 43 out of 251 units have assigned parking. Eighty-three units have no parking and the remainder have access to a permit parking system. The building is in the downtown Belltown neighborhood, where the average condo has one and a half parking spaces.

Peter DaSilva for The New York Times
In San Francisco, One Rincon Hill allows for one space per unit.
“I wanted the least expensive unit,” said Mary Stonecypher-Howell, a computer database specialist who bought a Moda studio without parking for $170,000. Ms. Stonecypher-Howell said it was the only downtown condo she could find for less than $200,000. “In the city, it’s simpler not to have a car,” she said. Moda units with parking cost about $30,000 more than units without.

Lenders traditionally balk at financing projects without parking, said David Hoy, who developed the Moda condos. The concern is that they would be difficult to resell. “But in a high-density urban environment, there’s a strong demand and a shortage of supply,” Mr. Hoy said. Moda, which is financed by United Commercial Bank, sold out in less than a week, he said.

Other cities are also reconsidering parking standards. In Houston, for example, a committee is reviewing parking minimums along the light-rail line, according to Suzy Hartgrove, a spokeswoman for the city’s planning and development department.

But not everybody is enthusiastic about the piecemeal changes taking place around the country, especially because often-arcane parking codes vary from district to district and city to suburb.

In the Rincon Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, where the new luxury tower One Rincon Hill is selling for $1,000 a square foot, parking standards allow a maximum of one space per unit. Just a few blocks away, downtown requirements undercut that figure by a quarter, making One Rincon Hill more attractive to buyers with cars.

“It gives them a marketing advantage,” said Victor Gonzalez, director of development for Monahan Pacific, a local company that has built condo properties downtown. “You’d be killed if you tried to do a project in the suburbs without parking,” he added.

Others point to the free-market parking situation in Manhattan, where monthly rates now exceed $500 a month.

Planners are undeterred. In the United States, “housing is expensive and parking is cheap,” Dr. Shoup said. “We’ve got it the wrong way around.”

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Well Denver, its time we had a good directory of our buildings, neighborhoods, restaurants, bars and more that was populated by our local community.

So.. announcing The Urban Brain Wiki. For those familiar with Wikipedia this will be our local Denver site for information. So if are a wiki person, please contribute as this grass roots wiki site starts TODAY!!

Check it out here!

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Our new art museum has been the basis for discussion and arguement. It doesn’t seem to have much of a middle ground as folks either love or hate the new design.

If you have strong feelings, this Tuesday is the day to share them (and of course comment here). Don’t miss The Precarious Balance between Architecture & Art: A Critique of the New Denver Art Museum Complex talk on Tuesday, November 14th at 5:00 pm. Organized by the Design Council, the architecture of the Civic Center complex will be explored at this symposium.

Have fun and learn more at www.denverartmusuem.org.

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Time for some fresh fruits and vegetables! The new Vitamin Cottage at the corner of 15th and Platte street is officially going to open on this coming Tuesday, November 14th.

So get your shopping bag ready and look forward to walking, not driving, the next time you need groceries. Anyone who has been to a Vitamin Cottage before share your feedback on their goods!

Yum!

Vitamin Cottage is a Natural Food Grocery Store based in Lakewood, CO with 24 locations in Colorado and 2 locations in New Mexico.

The Vitamin Cottage sells the highest quality natural and organic products, believes in low-cost healthy nutrition, and offers free in-depth nutrition information to all customers.

The people of Colorado have been visiting VC stores since 1955. It was then that Margaret and Phillip Isely borrowed $200 from Margaret’s mother and started the business. They began by going door-to-door in Golden, Colorado, selling whole grain bread and lending nutrition education books to the people they met. The Iselys knew that as people learned about good nutrition, they would need to order vitamins and bulk foods. They would return a week later to take orders for vitamins, supplements, and whole foods.

Their door-to-door business was successful enough that they were able to open their first retail storefront within six months. In 1963, they purchased a store in Lakewood, Colorado that looked like a country cottage. At the time, they were primarily selling vitamins and supplements, so they named the new store “Vitamin Cottage.”

In the 1960s, living a healthy lifestyle wasn’t always very fashionable. Mr. and Mrs Isley struggled to make a living selling vitamins, natural foods and related products. During this time, their son Zephyr joined the business and began investigating ways of buying products at better prices. He developed a low-cost buying method, in partnership with our suppliers, which we still use today. Buying products at better prices has allowed Vitamin Cottage to always offer every day affordable prices and still remain profitable.

Education and customer service have always been cornerstones of the Vitamin Cottage mission. VC believes that in order for people to achieve optimal health, they need to have access to the best health and nutrition information available. VC also believe that consumers should be able to afford to buy the products you need in order to take care of your own health. Therefore, selling quality products at every day affordable prices is extremely important to Vitamin Cottage.

In addition, every product it sells goes through a strict review process to ensure it meets quality and safety standards. There are some products VC will not carry because they contain certain ingredients that are of questionable quality or safety (please see the tab “What Products Vitamin Cottage Does Not Carry).

Margaret died in 1997, but the business is still owned and operated by her children and grandchildren. Over the years, Vitamin Cottage has grown from a “Mom and Pop” business to a 26 store chain (Aug 2006) with over 700 employees in Colorado and New Mexico. Every year VC adds more stores which reflects its ability to continually meet its customers’ needs.

The company’s owners are Zephyr, Kemper, Heather and Liz Isely.

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