DENVER | Main Development Thread #7

[DenvertoLA]

Originally Posted by DenverInfill

21,559 homes in 107 multifamily projects
5.52 million square feet of office space in 32 projects
5,031 hotel rooms in 23 hotel projects
4.26 million square feet of civic/cultural/education space in 20 projects
53 buildings (any use) of 10 stories or more

I wonder how many whole blocks of parking that equates to. It's probably an impressive number.

[DenverInfill]

Originally Posted by DenvertoLA

I wonder how many whole blocks of parking that equates to. It's probably an impressive number.

I'll have a special bonus post coming up where we visualize that...

[spr8364]

Originally Posted by The Dirt

And 100% of Denver was grazing land for wild bison. Things change. Single family homes shouldn't be sharing the block with Broadway. Those back yards should be replaced with 2 story ADUs at a minimum.

I guess if someone wants to buy them up and convert them, they certainly can. I doubt it though. Doesn't seem too likely in the near future.

[twister244]

Not sure if this RiNo project has been accounted for or not yet....

https://businessden.com/2020/01/09/s...ghton-in-rino/

I kinda feel like RiNo needs it's own infill page at this point lol

[SirLucasTheGreat]

For as much as RiNo has already developed, the next wave of construction seems even more significant. There were some sizable projects that came in before the opportunity zone deadline last summer that will change the area. In particular, Carmel Partners bought the lots near 38th and Brighton from Pepsi for more than 30 million. That alone is almost 4 acres of parking that will turn into apartments with ground floor retail right near the commuter rail station.

[The Dirt]

Am I the only one here that kind of hates RiNo (except the area immediately around the rail station)? I mean, it's a shitty industrial area that's barely walkable/bikeable, but it's sucked a bunch of office projects that should have been built in downtown proper.

[twister244]

Originally Posted by The Dirt

Am I the only one here that kind of hates RiNo (except the area immediately around the rail station)? I mean, it's a shitty industrial area that's barely walkable/bikeable, but it's sucked a bunch of office projects that should have been built in downtown proper.

In some ways, it can be. But... it's getting better with time. Brighton Blvd is a great example of turning what was a shitty road into a completely bikeable/walkable road now. Larimer has a bike lane too, though not like Brighton. I think you will see improvements with time as more investment comes in. In some ways though, I kinda like the gritty character of the neighborhood. One thing I love about Denver is each neighborhood has a unique feel to it (Cap Hill, US, Uptown, RiNo, etc).

[Sam Hill]

Originally Posted by The Dirt

Am I the only one here that kind of hates RiNo (except the area immediately around the rail station)? I mean, it's a shitty industrial area that's barely walkable/bikeable, but it's sucked a bunch of office projects that should have been built in downtown proper.

No, I'm not a fan of RiNo either. It's a hideous, unwalkable industrial area but for some reason someone decided it's hip. I don't get it.

Maybe it's because I've worked in transportation/warehousing my whole life. It just looks like work to me, but the hipsters think the "industrial" vibe is quaint or something.

[Jmc84]

Originally Posted by The Dirt

Am I the only one here that kind of hates RiNo (except the area immediately around the rail station)? I mean, it's a shitty industrial area that's barely walkable/bikeable, but it's sucked a bunch of office projects that should have been built in downtown proper.

I have to disagree on this one, although I see where you're coming from. I agree that the neighborhood is a bit disjointed with the train tracks separating the Brighton side of the neighborhood from the Larimer/Blake side of the neighborhood.

That being said - if you're on the Brighton side of the neighborhood and need to bike downtown, it's pretty easy to jump on the South Platte trail and be at confluence park in under 10 minutes.

It definitely has a very heavy industrial presence, although I agree with the above poster that it makes the neighborhood more interesting. It's much more unique than some copy-paste neighborhood like 44th/Tennyson or certain areas of Jefferson Park and the Highlands.

Also, if a substantial portion of the announced projects in Rino actually go through, the neighborhood will look completely unrecognizable.

5+ years ago I went to a Downtown Denver Partnership meeting that was specifically focused on the buildout of Rino. This was just after the Source opened in 2013 when it was really the only thing on Brighton that wasn't an industrial yard. At the time, I thought that the folks showing the renderings and "vision" for Rino were completely full of shit. Fast forward to 2020 and the majority of those projects have come to fruition and it looks like the City is starting on one of the (IMO) most exciting projects - the cleanup and revitalization of the space fronting the South Platte.

[Sam Hill]

I didn't mean to call twister a hipster who likes gritty things. He posted that while I was still editing my post.

[SirLucasTheGreat]

I think the revitalization of the South Platte River is critical. That could really enhance the desirability of the neighborhood. My interest in RiNo lies largely in how it'll look in 5-10 years. As of right now, it's not my favorite neighborhood to walk around, although I do really like Larimer Street.

[The Dirt]

I don't consider anything east of the tracks RiNo. That part is fine. It's the crap along Brighton that I'm not fond of. It just feel sterile and uninviting. Something I want to speed by in a car, not get out and walk around in.

[Agent Orange]

We really need a different name for the hood west of the tracks. Maybe just call it "Brighton Boulevard" or the "Brighton Corridor". Or the area east of the tracks needs to revert to being "Upper Larimer", or maybe "Five Points West". The two areas are so distinct and cut off from one another. If I'm at Our Mutual Friend and a friend wants to meet up at Mockery, they may as well be in Lakewood.

[Stonemans_rowJ]

IT's hard to mention Rino or Brighton Blvd in the same breath as Berkeley. The former is pretty homogenous right not only in scale of buildings (barge) but demographics? Who lives there? Isn't it mostly 1 bedroom apts? Whereas the former is a vibrant, complete neighborhood, with an organic diversity of people, architecture, housing types, etc.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by The Dirt

Am I the only one here that kind of hates RiNo (except the area immediately around the rail station)? I mean, it's a shitty industrial area that's barely walkable/bikeable, but it's sucked a bunch of office projects that should have been built in downtown proper.

It's a valid criticism. Zeppelin's TAXI development is a festering pile of shit- a suburban office park dressed up with buzzy millennial ideas like open-concept, incubator, and naval gazing Friday's. It's wonderful to see the sea of parking lots surrounding those sheet metal buildings with their goddamn roll-up garage windows. Everything sans Brighton Blvd is a disjointed mess with lousy streetscapes, pedestrian connections, and cycling options.

That said, the streetscape improvements that are coming along 33rd and 35th, the addition of River North Park, the River North Promenade, and the slew of office and mixed-use projects that are set to kick-off will completely change this area. Going further down Brighton Blvd towards downtown will likely remain a homogeneous mess from 31st to Blake, but 31st towards 38th has a lot of potential. It will go transform from shitty industrial area to another Union Station/Riverfront-esque neighborhood over the next decade.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by Stonemans_rowJ

IT's hard to mention Rino or Brighton Blvd in the same breath as Berkeley. The former is pretty homogenous right not only in scale of buildings (barge) but demographics? Who lives there? Isn't it mostly 1 bedroom apts? Whereas the former is a vibrant, complete neighborhood, with an organic diversity of people, architecture, housing types, etc.

The white transplant yuppies haven't completely driven out the Latinix yet? What's the holdup?

[SirLucasTheGreat]

The train tracks do not divide what the Rino Arts District, the city, Google, or any vendor on Larimer Street or Brighton Boulevard consider to be RiNo. Most of RiNo lies within Five Points. People that have lived here longer than five years I think typically think of Larimer as Five Points. However, Brighton Boulevard is technically Five Points as well.

[Stonemans_rowJ]

Originally Posted by wong21fr

The white transplant yuppies haven't completely driven out the Latinix yet? What's the holdup?

I guess maybe haven't gotten the right offer yet, or perhaps they are one of the unlucky ones zoned SU. The zoning code can be so fickle

[mr1138]

Originally Posted by SirLucasTheGreat

The train tracks do not divide what the Rino Arts District, the city, Google, or any vendor on Larimer Street or Brighton Boulevard consider to be RiNo. Most of RiNo lies within Five Points. People that have lived here longer than five years I think typically think of Larimer as Five Points. However, Brighton Boulevard is technically Five Points as well.

A lot of this stems from the fact that Denver neighborhoods always line up with Census geography. The "Five Points" neighborhood you mention that technically includes Brighton Boulevard is really just Census Tracts 24.02, 24.03 (historic Five Points), and tract 16 (Curtis Park west to the river) awkwardly lumped together. This isn't all that different from Elyria-Swansea, which was historically two neighborhoods and became one when Denver decided that Census Tract 35 would just all be considered a single neighborhood. Five Points, Globeville, and Elyria-Swansea were all largely overlooked by the city from the era of redlining until the current gentrification wave, so I don't find it surprising that historic cultural nuance - much less a modern idea like the "RiNo Arts District" - is missing from the current boundaries.

Of course these tracts have more to do with grouping population together to achieve the correct tract population as opposed to acknowledging social geographic features like the RR that separates Larimer from Brighton. Industrial areas often seem to be lumped together with residential tracts simply because there often isn't enough population there to warrant a separate tract. Future census updates will almost surely split these particular tracts up due to the dramatic population increases in the area. Perhaps new census geography could lead to new neighborhood delineations as well? It seems like a no-brainer to draw a new line at the RR tracks to create two separate neighborhoods, though I don't know if the Census takes local social considerations into account when drawing these boundaries.

[SirLucasTheGreat]

I will grant you every factual allegation that you made regarding the map-drawing practices of the census bureau and my objection still remains. The train tracks do not divide RiNo. The River North Arts District is a registered neighborhood organization with the city. They include Larimer in their boundaries. Every business that I've seen on that stretch of Larimer identifies itself as being located in RiNo. Search the RiNo tag on Instagram and you will find people all over the east side of the tracks because they obviously think that they are in RiNo. The street murals are emphasized on Brighton and Larimer in a way that is uniquely prominent when compared to adjacent neighborhoods. My position is that Larimer is in the River North Arts District, which is also located in the greater Five Points neighborhood. The center of gravity of Five Points historically is on Welton.

However, the train tracks help delineate the RiNo general improvement district. This is more of a tool for channeling infrastructure improvements that, in my opinion, is due to the historically industrial nature of Brighton Boulevard and other nearby areas West of the train tracks.

Curtis Park, Ballpark, and Arapahoe Square also are all technically and colloquially considered Five Points. I'm curious how many people will exclusively call 21st and Lawrence Five Points when Arapahoe Square blows up and forges a more prominent identity for itself.