Before I get to the point of this post, let me be clear that I totally and enthusiastically support all the development that has occurred in and around the Central Platte Valley. From the Riverfront Park and Union Station districts to the powerhouse that is Lower Downtown, the scale and quality of development that has occurred over the past decade to the northwest of Denver’s Central Business District has been nothing short of phenomenal.
However, having said that, I am concerned that the attractiveness of these areas and the intensity with which they are drawing new development is resulting in what I call CBD Sprawl. A Central Business District is generally defined as the place where primarily office and commercial uses concentrate, supplemented by residential, hotel, and other uses, at a scale unmatched in the city. The definition of sprawl is generally considered to include, among other things, new development occurring in outer areas while good sites are still available in inner areas.
Denver has, to our good fortune, a strong and sizable CBD, commonly defined as being bounded by Speer, Colfax, Sherman, 20th Street, and Larimer. I argue that the development taking place in Lower Downtown and Union Station represents the expansion of the CBD into these areas. The fact that Gates, IMA Financial, DaVita, Van Gilder, and other firms have chosen LoDo/Union Station for their corporate headquarters and that LoDo/Union Station is the new hotspot for traditional 17th Street-type firms in general, is evidence of this trend, and given the public investments being made in these areas, that trend is likely to continue and accelerate. In fact, the appeal of the Union Station district is so strong that it may capture an overwhelming percentage of whatever commercial development Downtown Denver is likely to see for the next decade or more. Then there is Arapahoe Square, the 30-square-block annex to Downtown that is so ripe for redevelopment, it hurts. Planning is underway for Arapahoe Square that will position it to be the next Central Platte Valley.
Meanwhile, our existing Central Business District has no shortage of development opportunities. Because of the parkinglotification of Downtown that occurred during the last half of the 20th Century, by my count, there are at least 40 sites within Denver’s CBD (as defined above) that are vacant and suitable for high-rise development. Depending on the footprint of a project, that number could be closer to 60. The checkerboard distribution of parking lots in Downtown Denver results in a Central Business District that is remarkably vibrant and successful notwithstanding, but lacking a single cluster of blocks where there is an uninterrupted and cohesive fabric of development. With the exception of the half-block-long Cheyenne Place, there is not a single named or numbered street in Downtown Denver that doesn’t have at least one vacant lot fronting it.
It’s not that our CBD didn’t see a decent share of development activity during the recent boom. Spire, Four Seasons, 1800 Larimer, Solera, Embassy Suites… they all greatly added to the cohesiveness of Downtown. There were many others, like 1401 Lawrence, 999 17th Street, 1501 Tremont, Makovsky’s Block 162, Two Tabor Center, and the DAC Hotel & Residences, that fell victim to the economy or, for whatever reason, failed to materialize. But my concern is for the dozens of other parcels in our Central Business District that have not been proposed for development in decades. Just to name a few:
- The corner of 17th and Welton (Block 174), where the old Kenmark Hotel once stood, that has been sitting vacant since the mid-1990s. Owned by Gary Cook, infamous for his refusal to do anything with his properties, ever, the weedy gravel lot sits smack-dab in the middle of the “Wall Street of the Rockies”.
- Block 176 (the “Shelby’s block”) located one block from a light rail station. Nothing.
- 16th and Lincoln (Block 029-B) located one block north of the state capitol, owned by the Dikeou family (the other infamous family known for their unwillingness to do anything with their properties). Zilch.
- The depressing Block 207, owned by a half dozen different property owners, across the street from the Webb Building. Nada.
- Block 159, also a block from the 20th & Welton light rail station. TOD anyone?
I could go on as there are dozens more to choose from, but I won’t. My point is… we need to have a strategic plan for where private sector development occurs in Downtown. I’m not saying we need to delay the development of areas like Union Station and Arapahoe Square until the CBD is complete, or to usurp the entire free market system but, on our current trajectory, 30 years from now we will end up with a Central Business District twice the area of the one we have today, but it will still be a fragmented checkerboard of buildings and parking lots. We need to target key parcels in our historic CBD and do whatever we need to do to get them developed so that the positive impact of development is spread strategically across the entire CBD to maximize the overall vitality and success of Downtown. It just doesn’t make sense for parcels at prime locations in our historic CBD to sit fallow for decades and hinder the fulfillment of Downtown’s promise while billions of dollars are spent to create what are essentially new extensions to the CBD. With some calculated thinking and political fortitude, we can simultaneously complete the infill of our historic CBD to allow it to finally achieve the greatness to which it is so close, while still giving new life to places like Arapahoe Square.
To accomplish this effort, to purposefully direct where some of the private sector development goes in Downtown Denver, strong leadership will be necessary. While that leadership will certainly come from a variety of sources, at the top of that leadership chain must be the mayor of Denver. That is one of the characteristics I’m looking for in our next mayor: to express the political will to do what it takes to capitalize on the huge investments made in Downtown Denver and to realize the great opportunity that our Downtown holds by ensuring that infill development occurs where we need it. This is not the only initiative our next mayor will need to take to move Downtown Denver up a notch on the urbanity scale, but it is an important one.
