Denver Day 2

So today was my driving day. By chance, I received a small SUV for today, which whether by chance or reality appeared to fit the scale of Denver rather well. Compared to Omaha, this city operates on a far larger scale, in part due to population, in part due to the plains being unrestrictive and the sprawl of the car centric city. I spent most of my day looking at some of the new developments in the area, some of which were incredibly successful and some which were not so great. I'll go development by development and share some of my observations about it all.

Belmar Colorado: This is a really interesting project because It seems to be phased in an appropriate way. What I mean by that is that density is being built in a progressive way that feels right to me. Certain parcels are fully developed while adjacent parcels are still greenfields. The downtown area is built with a mix of densities from a 10 story luxury condo building to a 2/3 story retail/office space. The form factor of the streets feels right (the character is good and the dimensionality of the space is urban enough without being daunting. They have also created a really great public plaza which is multi functional as a outdoor lounge, cafe area in the summer and in the winter it is transformed to an ice skating rink. The elevation change of the central area is subtle but meaningful. The street furniture (light poles, parking boxes, planters, benches, ect) is also used in such a way as to delineate the space to make it feel intimate while leaving other spaces large enough to accommodate crowds. There is also quite a mix of product types from condos apartments and lofts to 2 story courtyard homes. Parking is also really smart: if you want to park on the street it costs money while adjacent surface lots and garages are free. This combines convenience and neighborhood feel of parallel parked cars while still accommodating the volume used for this development type. I also forgot one thing, and that is that the west Denver geographic placement positions this development in Denver's preferred quarter: proximate to downtown and at the same time on the mountain side for easy access.

Cherry Creek North: This is an interesting development because it mediates between an old walkable town center and a mall. Originally the site of a Sears and parking, the 16 block site merges the mall and the town together with mixed use retail/housing. Theres an evident mix of products from gated upscale condos to some apartments and hotels. The unique thing about this one block by 16 block development is the greater density that it has to either side of it, yet it all seems to work. It also serves to attract day to day business because the end is a whole foods. This project is the only one I've seen on this trip that is large scale and at the same time integrates a wide range of projects and eras of construction in it, and the Sears is still there, with the autocenter in a parking garage.

Denver Tech Center: I visited the tech center because it is this suburban high density office park that is one of the most important centers of industry. Its pretty much as terrible as billed. Talking to development investors yesterday they point out the fact that its very successful because it is close to CEO's residences and therefore when making location decisions is preferable to the long drives to the city. The odd part about the tech center here is that it is just that, its not really a metropolis in its own right, it's simply a gathering of parking lots and large buildings, and hotels. Its on the ring road that supports the airport, and served by the light rail.

Stapleton: The site of the former airport, this site really wasn't right for a few reasons. The North and South Parcels both were too spread out and didn't have the right street form factor. Parking lots still cover the area directly beyond the street, and the north parcel has succumbed to the large box retailers, and the creation of large parking lots to support them. The concentration seemed to be on dense single family homes, which might be right for the area, but seems a little artificially dense.

Lowry: While its located on the opposite side of town from the preferred quarter, this former aircraft base seems to be starting in an interesting way. Hints of heavy industrial language are on some of the townhomes, and a former steam plant has been transformed into luxury lofts. but the most unique part of the development is the remaining aircraft hangers in the center. One hasnt been redeveloped yet but the other is a museum. The juxtaposition in scales is really fascinating between the space required for plans and scale of people. I guess thats where some developments struggle is to maintain the density for walkable urbanism in places that exceed scale.

That was the greatest resonating point from today is that the change in scales between large parcels and single buildings is necessary and is done to various successes. The most developed and sustained project I visited was the Cherry Creek Project, where scale was challenged and was successful.