The Central Platte Valley Metropolitan District approved funding for the new pedestrian bridge across 18th street so it is only a matter of time before this becomes a reality. If you look at the beautiful pedestrian bridge that connects at 16th with the integration into the Promenade building it is only logical to assume that the upcoming groundbreaking of the City House building will kick off some sort of movement for this bridge to begin as well.

Residents of Glass House are going to really love this access point as it creates the newest access point for the city. I am looking forward to a short cut for a sunny afternoon Rockies game. But don’t get your hopes up yet, with the time it takes to complete and the infrastructure that still has to be added for the street scape in that area it will probably be some time before you can walk across. Perhaps if City House wraps up in 2009 then the bridge will be ready at the same time. One can only hope.

Either way this is one more pedestrian bridge addition that is make Denver even better. Maybe not as exciting as the Pedestrian bridge over I-25 connecting the Highlands and Riverfront, but still cool.

Anyone have any idea what it will look like?

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Some friends and I were trying to think of a nice spot for dinner last night. We had 7 people, voracious appetites, and were craving some good wine. Add to that the fact that we didn’t want to take multiple cabs but instead preferred to walk and we were left with one clear choice…. Vita.

Vita is a new restaurant that opened up two weeks ago. It is located by Lola in the lower highlands area, just over the two pedestrian bridges from Riverfront Park for our walkable group trek. It was a good thing we called for a reservation because it was packed.

Cozy and warm, with subtle lighting and floor to ceiling glass walls that look out to the city, Vita is a wonderful addition to the neighborhood. We had a large table right on the glass [Read more →]

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It’s snowing.

I have been back in Denver for less than 24 hours and the snow is falling again. Reports started at 8 to 12 inches and now I have heard quotes of one to three feet. I only have one thing to say about that.

Awesome!

I am a true snow lover. I love the pure white, the falling flakes, the blanket across the city. I love it so much that I think I may be a snow beacon. A snow beacon is someone who calls to the snow, when they are there the snow will fall. When I still lived up in the mountains last October, November, and December we got some major, and I mean major, snow dumps that allowed me to enjoy one of the most spectacular ski months of my life. I had just wrapped up one chapter of my life and had time in December to do nothing but ski, and so I called to it. And the snow came.

Then… I move to Denver and the winter comes and I miss the snow. So I call to it and we get a terrific snow storm just before I leave town. Then I get back and miss the snow and I must miss me too because it has returned. I have been told that this snow is unusual for Denver, not since many many years past has it been like this. And hence, I think I am a snow beacon. And I am loving it, so don’t mess with my fantasy.

That is not the real purpose of this post. This post is all about people, not snow. It is merely snow that draws people out and makes them a bit more real, pure, and approachable. The best description I heard was someone commenting on all the good will that existed in the streets, the cafes, and the gathering places around our city. I saw people helping others shovel their cars out, helping others push their car our of stranded trenches, and helping others by holding open doors and welcoming them to their table for a cup of tea. And the observation someone made, which stayed with me, was how wonderful everyone seems to be with each other when we are all in contact with each other, by foot, by sharing a table, sharing a seat on the light rail, by passing on the street compared with the attitudes and distance that exist when we travel inside our steel automobiles. Can we learn something from this blizzard?

During Blizzard #1 my lady and I got a chance to play in the snow. We cross country skied to breakfast at Gallop Cafe, using the streets as our trails and getting a few chuckles from folks we passed. We relaxed in their cozy environment with open faced sandwiches and what has to be the best bloody mary I have had in Denver. No kidding, it was huge with a literal vegetable garden inside (pickes, peppers, veggies, yum) and it was also served with a small beer chaser. Talk about cozy, I was in heaven. And everyone was so nice… everywhere. People were on the streets, walking to get coffee, or food, or perhaps stocking up on spirits for an evening by the fire. Whatever they were up to they were right there and they was a real connection with them as we traveled the city by foot. And that mattered.

For dinner we hiked back across the new Highland Pedestrian Bridge and hit Z Cuisine for some cozy dinner, a glass of wine, and some delicious food with our friend Pat. Pat had hiked her butt down from farther up the Highlands after being stranded in DIA for over 24 hours and had similar stories of meeting total strangers and bonding, sharing a meal and a glass of wine. I think she even got a date out of it.

So, my point is to welcome this second snow storm and wish with all your might that we get three feet or more. And if that does happen, go out and xx ski, snowshoe, or hike across your cubby in the city. Explore the local restaurants, meet your neighbors. Remember that two types of restaurants seemed to be open in the first round. One was the hotel restaurant, which is a fail safe that takes care of its lodgers. The other and even more special spot is your true local bistro. The staff and owner usually live within a few blocks, and they tend to be there for their neighborhood. As the folks at Z cuisine said, this is their neighborhood and it was important for them to be open. You wont find that with the big chains (except Starbucks, they are ALWAYS open and do get some kudos for that).

So go enjoy a Gallop Bloody, go have a french dessert with a congnac, go laugh with friends and walk home in knee high snow.

And when the snow has all melted and the roads are open again, try and remember what was so special and keep repeating it.

Happy skiing folks, and lets hope it really dumps.

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Yesterday you got a post about the Highland Bridge lighting. Well today you get the pictues from last night’s lighting ceremony. Someone I was speaking with me today talked about how the I-25 expressway once divided our city. Yesterday a bridge united it.

As the temperatures dropped yesterday, what felt like ten degrees per hour, the crowds were active in attending the most colorful part of the Highlands Pedestrian Bridge opening… the lighting ceremony. With large spinning light displays striking into the sky and dancing across the clouds everyone in the surrounding area knew that something was going on. And that something was a colorful display of the bridge, with the bridge sections illuminated with multiple colors that shifted throughout the night. It was pretty spectacular to see, and a fun photo event so I grabbed a few shots (okay a couple hundred, but who’s counting).

While I was there I witnessed Santa cruising by on the back of a sled (that photo really didn’t come out.. sorry) and an endless parade of bikers, walkers, strollers, and other denver urbanites out for the evening. it was just plain fun and the party on Platte street carried on into the night even with the dropping temperatures.

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Events, ribbon cutting, and more. I cruised by during the ribbon cutting ceremony and you could just feel the excitement in the air. Which is good because you really couldn’t hear the speakers at all. Someone was commenting about how years ago none of what surrounds us was there. That is certainly true, and if you think about how much the area will be growing and evolving with the Union Station expansion, the growh in the Highland area, and RTD… it won’t look anything like it does today very soon.

Denver is growing up, and the Central Platte Valley is growing along with it in terms of the elements I love (Architecture, new restaurants, new culture, and walkable infrastructure). Very cool.

So go check out the bridge and enjoy letting your feet carry you to your next cup of coffee, glass of wine, tasty appetizer, or just a casual stroll You will be among the company of the crowd of happy locals I saw there, just looking at another milestone in our urban growth.

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Its not just the new pedestrian bridge that opens on Saturday the 16th, but also a new restaurant called Vita. I would give you a review, but it’s not open yet. If you get a chance to visit make sure to come back here and comment. With all the great restauants in the Central Platte Valley and the Highlands, this one should hopefully follow suit and be a treat.

Check out more information here.

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Starting with an opening ceremony Saturday, December 16th the new Highland Bridge connecting the Central Platte Valley and the Lower Highlands will open across I-25. No more scary walks across the 15th street bridge, this opening ceremony will be FUN!!

Be There!

10:30 AM - 12:00 PM Ribbon Cutting
12 PM - 9 PM Winter Stroll -Merchants offering refreshments
1 PM Groundbreaking of HIghland Bridge Lofts
3 PM - 7 PM Hodiays in the Highlands
4:30 PM Lighting of the way parade
5:30 PM Light up the bridge

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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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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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I just had breakfast at Mona’s and saw the workers cleaning the glass at the new Vitamin Cottage and you can see the inside is almost set up. Ah, fresh fruits and veggies in the downtown area…. about time don’t you think.

Here is the story from the Rocky Mountain News.

Vitamin Cottage moves into Riverfront area
New grocery in trendy district is No. 24 for family owned chain
Steven R. Nickerson © News

Cheryl Raff stocks vitamin shelves in preparation for the opening of the Vitamin Cottage store at 15th and Platte streets in Denver’s Riverfront neighborhood. The 10,000-square-foot natural foods grocery will open Nov. 14.
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By Janet Forgrieve, Rocky Mountain News
November 4, 2006
Liz Isely was doing one of her favorite parts of the job Friday afternoon - setting up store No. 24 in her family business.
Isely is a Vitamin Cottage vice president and part of the second generation team that runs the growing Lakewood- based chain of natural markets their parents started in 1955.

“I love opening new stores - I like organization,” she said with a grin, her work-gloved hands poised to move more boxes at the company’s first real urban location.

The 10,000-square-foot space at Platte and 15th streets likely will lure more walk-in traffic from the increasingly trendy neighborhood, said marketing director Nancy Flynn.

So, while most of the space will look much like the company’s other locations - vitamins and supplements on one side, grocery on the other - there will be some tweaks, she said.

The center of the store will hold more convenience food items - ready-made sandwiches, drinks and snacks - that customers can grab and go. Also, it’ll be the first Vitamin Cottage store to stock fresh meats.

The spot is within walking distance for residents in the Highlands and Riverfront neighborhoods.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it became a top store for us because the area has been so underserved for so long,” Flynn said.

There are two main entrances. Near the Platte Street side, two express registers will help speed pedestrians on their way, Flynn said.

The door on the other side opens onto the store’s parking lot - customers enter through a high-ceilinged lobby and can use either stairs or an elevator to get up to store level.

When the store opens on Nov. 14, manager Daniel Masias will supervise a staff of 22, about half of them from other stores in the chain.

Chris Smith, who coordinates all the natural health and beauty offerings in the stores, has made a few changes as well.

In a nod to the younger residents of the area, Smith has downsized the baby products sections to fit more shower gels and more upscale products, she said.

At 7 a.m. Thursday, about 50 vendors and workers descended and began unpacking. By Friday afternoon much of the packaged goods were in place, and the team was still chugging along.

Vendor Roger Simmons, which has sold Now Foods supplements to Vitamin Cottage stores for 14 years, said the chain is now his company’s No. 1 customer.

“The expansion has been huge,” Simmons said. “Now, with all the renovation and revitalization of this neighborhood, they’ll get a very metro clientele.”

Vitamin Cottage grows

• What: Vitamin Cottage Natural Market, the 22nd in Colorado and 24th for the Lakewood-based chain

• Where: 2375 15th St., Denver

• When: Opening Nov. 14

• Next up: The company is scheduled to open its next store in January in Dillon.

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