Walk Score
The above “Walk Score” is for the address of 1610 Little Raven Street, Denver Colorado 80202, the home of Zengo Restaurant and the heart of the plaza in Riverfront. The score (at least today when writing the post) is 83 or “Very Walkable”. How cool is this tool!!! 8-)
Walk Score calculates, on a scale to 100, how pedestrian friendly (walkable) your address is. If you are looking [Read more →]
June 10, 2008 6 Comments
What the FRAK!! Okay that’s it
Loading ...Today Oil prices jumped over $10 a barrel, although I really don’t know how big that is but according to the New York Times it is the BIGGEST JUMP EVER. Just Frakking Great.
How did I know something was up, I noticed the stock market was taking a nose dive. So now everyone’s savings, 401K, [Read more →]
June 6, 2008 2 Comments
Where to live if you don’t want to Drive
It might mean Pedestrian Friendly with everything within walking distance, it might mean bike trails, it might mean public transportation. But the question is, with gas pricing going exponentially up, where is the best neighborhood to live without a car. Back up your vote with a reason.
Loading ...June 2, 2008 No Comments
Ballpark views up for debate
What is more important, land rights and an individuals right to maximize their property value or the preservation of our city landmarks? Then again, who has a right to decide what constitutes a city landmark?
This topic might get more comments than any others so in advance I’ve set up a forum discussion. The trick in the mix is that the owners have also pointed out that if the Rockies and the city advocate groups feel that strongly about preserving the views they can always buy the land away from them. That’s not such a crazy argument and I would think that if the city OR the rockies started to approach local developers they just might find some interested parties who would love the idea of developing the Coors Field lofts.
It has branding, it has some panache, it has some great possibilities (anyone out there who decides to do it give me a call :) ).
Really, just think about it. There is no need to step on property rights or to ruin the views for the stadium folks. Every challenge is an opportunity. First of all, just build the building to the maximum height that still keeps the Rockies owners and the advocate groups happy. That is still a fairly high range and I expect that several floors of condos could go in there.
Secondly, if the Rockies and their advocates are a partner in this to preserve their asset (The stadium views) they could also come up with some killer marketing idea that makes the units unique and increases the price per square foot they obtain and work to make it not just a winning move for the stadium, but also a profitable one for the group involved. What would that perk be…. who knows. What about those units carrying a 10 year season ticket package and rights to renew beyond that for each unit. What about a Rockies affiliated restaurant in the base. What about a rooftop Rockies sports lounge. Heck, you can even throw in autographed Rockie jerseys and baseballs for each owner as a welcome gift at almost no cost but a huge value.
Forget fighting about it. Someone take this bull by the horns and make it the opportunity it should be. My guess is a lower building with a Rockies tie in would sell better ane more profitably than a generic taller building that is in contention with the city. PR matters. Branding matters, and this just begs for a flip from bad to good. Let’s also get the city to do their part with a pedestrian bridge over to the stadium across the tracks from that building. There are always options to make it a home run (had to have at least one pun).
So lets do a little marketing and development feedback here on my crazy little idea. The land looks to be 
for sale from this info I found when I googled 2010 Delgany so this fiction can become reality. Any buyers out there?
November 11, 2007 No Comments
Art, Parking & Traffic
I got a chance to attend a very small affair at the new Museum of Contemporary Art space on 15th and heard about the great new plans that have gone into the museum. I’ll save a great deal of those tidbits for the Museum itself to roll out but did want to share a few neighborhood tidbits.
The first ties into art. They have an artist who works in an almost Comic Book/Sin City sphere who has created some video pieces for display. They are going to be positioned in such a way that they will be visible from outside the Museum through one [Read more →]
October 13, 2007 No Comments
Bridge Steps get face lift
The single most photographed bridge in denver is getting a much needed facelift over the next few months.
Originally designed to look beautiful, which it did, the bridge also collected water on the stairs causing a rust. Over the past couple years it has been repainted, and repainted, and repainted.
Well now it is getting a full overhaul with some beautiful granite stairs. It will be looking beautiful!
Here is that schedule for those of you who live or use the bridge regularly. The good news is that only one side gets the face lift at a time so you don’t have to worry about going around. Schedule from Riverfront Park.
DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE
Weeks beginning:
* 8/6 – Close Bridge Stairs and open temporary stairs for pedestrian access
* 8/6 – Remove center railing on Bridge Stairs
* 8/6 – Set up supports for bike ramp
* 8/6 – Begin removal of treads* 8/13 – Continue removal of treads/landings/decking
* 8/20 – Continue removal of treads/landings/decking
* 8/27 – Remove outside railings/decking/structural support angles
* 8/27 – Start installation of new steel angles and tube steel* 9/4 – Continue installation of new steel angles and tube steel
* 9/10 - Continue installation of new steel angles and tube steel
* 9/17 – Continue installation of new steel angles and tube steel
* 9/17 – Start installation of granite treads* 9/24 – Sand blast existing white/rust colored structural steel
* 9/24 – Painting of existing steel
* 9/24 – Continue installation of granite treads/landings* 10/1 - Continue installation of granite treads/landings
* 10/8 - Continue installation of granite treads/landings
* 10/15 - Continue installation of granite treads/landings
* 10/22 - Continue installation of granite treads/landings
* 10/29 – Completion activities/demobilize/punchlist
Which means it will be open just in time for Halloween. Lets all have a spooky celebration there.
And for those who don’t know the exact details of this famous Denver bridge here is the quick scoop…
Denver Millennium Bridge Opens
Date: 26/04/2002
The Denver Millennium Footbridge was officially opened by the Denver Mayor, Wellington Webb, on Monday 22 April at a ceremony attended by city and state dignitaries as well as engineers, architects, and local residents.
Arup provided civil and structural design services from the beginning of 2000, and were present on site throughout the construction phase. The design team overcame the significant challenges presented by the complex geometry of the cable-stayed structure’s 200ft (61m) tall steel mast and unusually wide deck (80ft / 24m) to produce this spectacular structure.
and…
Millennium Bridge in Denver
One of the greatest hurdles architectural engineers faced in creating this beautiful bridge in LoDo was developing a clear span across 125 feet of railroad track while keeping the vertical elevation gain at less than 30 feet. They decided to develop a unique “cable stayed” solution using a tall mast to hang the deck. The mast was placed on the city side of the bridge visible from downtown. The cables to both the bridge deck and grade were arrayed from there. To make the structure as thin as possible a steel frame that derives its stiffness from tension applied to the thin structure of the deck was conceived. This “post-tensioning” was achieved by installing beams with engineered sag, then using the mast as a lever to pull up the deck with the cables into a shallow bow while the opposite end of the bridge is held down by two steel rods. Concrete was then applied pushing down the deck and applying tension to the cables. The combination of tension in the cables and the rods form a thin, stiff and stable deck assembly. The Denver Millennium Bridge was the first cable stayed bridge in the world to use this post-tensioned structural concept.
August 2, 2007 No Comments
Union Station Neighborhood takes shape
There are some very cool things going on with the new Union Station Neighborhood. Today I got a chance to see the model for this great vision on display over at the Union Station Neighborhood Co. office (which is, conveniently enough, in Union Station). With the lights on in this building people can’t help themselves but to poke their head in with curiosity (just like me).
This just looks cool. A great pedestrian plaza down the Union Station corridor takes shape along with the transit lines and building shapes. Wow!
Visit and contribute to the wiki detail for Union Station Neighborhood Co.
or check out a poorly done video at
March 20, 2007 1 Comment
Funny tag line
I have to say that this marketing cracks me up. Yesterday I blogged about the Hash at Lola. The other photo I took, which turned out better, was of the sign across the street for some new lofts near the Highlands Pedestrian Bridge. [Read more →]
March 5, 2007 1 Comment
Denver’s Best Neighborhood for Architecture (4 of 10)
Cool buildings, cool lofts, pedestrian bridges and more are one aspect of Denver that makes it such a great city to live in. Today’s poll is about where the best of the best is. [Read more →]
February 23, 2007 No Comments
Pedestrian Bridge on 18th funded
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?
February 18, 2007 No Comments
