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Have a question about
DenverInfill.com? Here's the place to look for the answer.
But, if you can't find the answer you're looking for, or if you have a
comment, correction, or suggestion, please send an e-mail to:
feedback@denverinfill.com.
DenverInfill - Frequently Asked Questions
(click on a question to jump to the answer):
What
is DenverInfill.com?
Who
created this website?
Why
did you create this website?
Is
this website a part of the City of Denver or the Downtown Denver
Partnership?
Do
you provide custom research or consulting services related to infill
developments?
Do
developers pay you to include their projects on your website?
What
are the geographic criteria for including a project on your website?
What
is the date range for including projects on your website?
What
is the minimum size criteria for including a project on your website?
What
about "scrape offs" or building additions?
What
about building renovations or conversions?
How
do you differentiate between a "rumored" and a "real" project?
How
do you obtain information about the infill projects?
How can
I submit a project to be included on your website?
Do you
guarantee the accuracy of the project information presented on your
website?
May I
use or copy some of the photographs found on your website?
May I
link a photograph or image found on your website to another website
or message board?
When
were the street elevation photos in the Downtown section taken?
Why
don't you update your black and white aerial photos to the more recent
color aerials available on Google Earth?
Where
do the block numbers come from that you use throughout the main Downtown
section?
Do you
have a Site Map?
What
are some of the technical specifications behind your website?
What is
your contact email address?
What
is DenverInfill.com?
DenverInfill is a not-for-profit website that provides information
about the urban infill development projects within a defined area around
Downtown Denver.
Who
created this website? DenverInfill
was conceived, designed,
and produced by Ken Schroeppel, an urban planner, downtown enthusiast, and avid
Denver booster who lives and works in the Mile High City.
Ken works as a project manager
and urban planner at Matrix Design Group, a Denver-based consulting firm
offering professional services in major asset redevelopment, land
development,
transportation, water resources, environmental assessments, economic
analysis, and infrastructure engineering and design. At Matrix, Ken specializes in
conducting and managing projects related to downtown
revitalization, urban redevelopment, and infill development planning, blight studies and urban renewal planning, site
and facility assessments, and data collection and quantitative analysis methodologies. For more about
Matrix Design Group, please visit their website at:
www.matrixdesigngroup.com.
Ken received his Master
in Urban and Regional Planning degree from the University of Colorado-Denver and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners,
the American Planning Association, the Urban Land Institute, the Colorado Community Revitalization
Association, and the International Downtown Association. Ken also
serves as an honorarium instructor at the College of Architecture and
Planning at the University of Colorado-Denver, where he annually
teaches Planning Methods I, a graduate course that explores the various
quantitative methodologies involved in urban planning.
In addition to
developing
DenverInfill.com, Ken recently was a
contributing author to Urban Renewal in Colorado, a publication
produced by the Colorado Municipal League, and has given presentations
about Downtown Denver's urban development to a number of organizations. Ken is also an active member
of the Center City Housing Council of the Downtown
Denver Partnership.
Why
did you create this website?
I created
DenverInfill.com for several reasons:
1. To create a one-stop
resource for those interested in the many infill developments
recently completed, under construction, or planned in
the Downtown Denver area. With so much going on, I was finding it
difficult keeping up on all of the different infill projects, their
locations, statistics, renderings, etc., without a
comprehensive single point of reference focused on Downtown.
So, I figured I would create such a resource, and share it with everyone
else via the internet while I was at it.
2. To provide a
means of tracking our progress in repairing Downtown Denver's built
environment and restoring the urban intensity of our city center.
The aerial photos I've used throughout this site were taken in April
2000, which serves as the baseline for this website. By
documenting all the urban infill developments that have been announced,
started, or completed since that point in time, we can quantitatively
and geographically understand the scope and nature of infill development
in the Downtown area since then. The cumulative effect of the
graphical markers representing an infill project placed on those baseline
aerial photos provides a visual indication of the progress we've made
since 2000.
3. To demonstrate the
vast investment opportunities in Denver's urban center and to encourage
developers and their investors to seize those opportunities.
Despite all our progress, one doesn't have to look too far to find an
ugly surface parking lot that detracts from Downtown's visual appeal,
disrupts the continuity and character of Downtown's built environment,
and diminishes Downtown's pedestrian experience. But each of those
ugly parking lots also represents a great opportunity to create a new
and exciting urban place. The potential for even greater things to
happen in Downtown Denver is tremendous, and I want the international
development community to understand that.
4. To promote
Denver and its vibrant urban core to the world. Denver has one of
the best downtowns in the country and it's only getting better, but I
felt Denver's downtown revitalization story needed additional and
continuous publicity, and that the best way to do that would be to
create a permanent presence on the web that focused solely on the
remarkable transformation taking place in Downtown Denver.
5. To inspire and
encourage my fellow Denver citizens to envision and work toward a
Downtown that achieves the pinnacle of urban excellence. I want
metro Denver residents to realize what an awesome Downtown they have and
all the exciting things that are happening there, and to
create a buzz about Downtown Denver that will hopefully motivate
Denverites to take an active role in fostering their Downtown's
revitalization.
6. To provide a
virtual tour and photographic record of Downtown Denver. Ever
wonder exactly what is located at a particular corner, or what buildings
are found along a particular block in Downtown? I wanted to create
an electronic means by which a person could answer those questions and
view not just the standard "postcard" scenes of Downtown Denver, but
absolutely all of it -- every block, every building, in every direction
-- the good and the not-so-good.
7. To accomplish
it personally. Being somewhat of a techno-geek, I wanted the
experience of creating and maintaining my own website. I figured if I'm going to do it, I might as well focus
it on my passion (Downtown
Denver, urban planning, etc.) and have fun and possibly enhance my
career along the way.
Is
this website a part of the City of Denver or the Downtown Denver
Partnership?
No. This is a personal website. However, because the City of
Denver and the Downtown Denver Partnership also work to spread the good
news of Downtown Denver's growth and development, I do often work
cooperatively with them in developing, sharing, and providing
information related to Downtown. In fact, I conceived this website
with the idea that it should serve as a complement to the resources
provided by the City and the Partnership, and that this website's
independent and private-citizen perspective combines nicely with
their public-sector and business-organization perspectives to create a triad of
advocates for Downtown's growth and revitalization.
Do
you provide custom research or consulting services related to infill
developments?
It depends. Send me an email with what you are looking for and
we'll see. I may be able to help you out or it may be something
better suited to be handled through my work at Matrix Design Group.
If not, I may be able to refer you to someone else who can help you
out.
Do
developers pay you to include their projects on your website?
No. This is a not-for-profit website that does not accept money to
include projects, nor does this site contain any advertisements. I
am not associated with any developer or broker or any particular
project, and I'm not trying to sell real estate. But, I am
trying to "sell" Downtown Denver and all its various infill developments
in general, and so I
attempt to be as objective as possible and to include every infill project that meets the minimum project criteria. In fact, I believe it is the
comprehensiveness and inclusiveness of this website and its attempt to
treat all projects with equal enthusiasm that contributes to its
popularity and integrity.
What
are the geographic criteria for including a project on your website?
Check
out the aerial photo map on the main page of the
Center City
Neighborhoods section. The core Downtown is within the
red boundary, and the Center City neighborhood areas are within the blue
boundaries. All projects within these areas are covered by this
website. Projects outside these areas are not, regardless of how
big or important they may be. Keeping track of all the projects
within this site's defined boundaries is a big job.
I have to draw the line somewhere, so if a project is outside of these
boundaries, you won't find it here.
What
is the date range for including projects on your website?
The
infill projects profiled on this website are those which have completed
construction, have begun construction, or have been proposed since April 2000, the date of the black and white aerial
photos used throughout this site. If the infill project was
completed prior to April 2000, it is not identified on this site as an
infill project, and it is not included as such on any map or in any
table. In a few cases, the completion date for a project was determined
as only "Spring 2000" or "early 2000." In those situations, the
aerial photos were used to determine if a project "looked complete" or
not, and was either included as a project on this site or not
accordingly.
What
is the minimum size criteria for including a project on your website?
The
minimum size for a residential project to be included on this site is 4
units. New triplexes, duplexes, or detached single-family homes
within the Downtown area are not tracked by this website. I made
an exception early on for a couple of 3-unit "stacked flats" projects,
but now I'm sticking to the "4-unit" rule to keep the workload
maintaining this site somewhat manageable. For commercial or other
non-residential projects, the general minimum project size is
approximately 5,000 square feet.
What
about "scrape offs" or building additions?
Generally,
an addition to an existing building is not included as a project on this
website unless the addition consumes a relatively large area of adjacent
land. New construction projects located
on a site where an existing building was "scraped" or demolished to make
way for a new building generally are included as infill projects on this
site. In those cases, the new buildings usually have a greater
scale and density than the building being removed, and with typically larger
building footprints too, consume adjacent vacant land as well.
What
about building renovations or conversions?
DenverInfill
does not track or list any project consisting of the renovation or
conversion of an existing building into a different or higher use.
This decision was made for two reasons: First, there are so many new
construction infill projects that are tracked on this site, that to also
include all renovation or conversion projects in the Downtown area as
well makes this website effort just too much work. Second, this
site focuses on the fact that vacant or undeveloped parcels destroy the
physical cohesiveness of an urban area, and that the construction of a
new building on a previously undeveloped site helps repair a city's
built environment and intensifies its urban character. Thus, while
renovation and conversion projects are certainly significant
contributors to the overall vitality and physical quality of the
Downtown area, they are nevertheless not included on any map or in any
table on this site as an official infill project. This does not mean
they are ignored entirely though. Occasionally I will mention them
in my Blog or elsewhere on this website as part of a general discussion
about the character of a particular block or area.
How
do you differentiate between a "rumored" and a "real" project?
Another
way of asking that question is, "How much, or what kind of information
do you need to have on a project before you include it as an official
project on your website?" Distinguishing between a land
development project that is "legitimate" or "real" versus one that may
be simply someone's grand vision or sketchy idea can be difficult,
because even the "real" ones were once just a concept. But in
general, the criteria I use on this website requires knowing: 1.)
the exact project location and 2.) details on at least two other
attributes of the project. Examples include: location and project
name/number of units, or location and developer name/number of stories,
or location and number of units/project type (rental vs. for-sale), etc.
With at least that amount of information in hand, it seems to me that a project appears to be far
enough along in the planning and design process for it to be considered a relatively
serious infill proposal, and therefore worthy of being placed on this
website.
How
do you obtain information about the infill projects?
Typically
from one of two ways: I regularly research various real estate,
planning, architecture, or development-related resources and obtain news
about an infill project from them, or a developer or other knowledgeable
party contacts me and provides me with the information. For the
projects I discover, the majority of the information comes from
publicly-accessible internet sites, such as the websites maintained by
architects, developers, contractors, or brokers, or public-record
websites maintained by the City. I make the assumption that information that can be
found on a publicly-accessible internet site is not privileged or
confidential in nature, and is fair game to be reported on or discussed in some manner on another
publicly-accessible website such as this one. However, having said
that, I take the confidentiality aspect inherent in real estate
development very seriously. The last thing I want to do is to post
something on this site before its time and have it blow a real estate
deal. When I am given information about a project before it is
ready for public consumption, or if I am unsure about the status of the
information I discover, I will hold off on making the information public
until I have received explicit permission to post it on this website.
Finally, if information about a project is vague or widely known to be a
rumor, I may mention it in my Blog, but I will always characterize it as
a rumor and nothing more.
How
can I submit a project to be included on your website?
It's
pretty simple... send me a email. As long as the project meets the
various criteria discussed above, send me the project details and a
rendering if you have one, and I'll be happy to add it as an official
project to the appropriate neighborhood or block page.
Do you guarantee the accuracy of the project information presented on
your website?
No.
The accuracy of the information I present on DenverInfill is very
important to me and I go to great lengths to be as precise as possible
about what I'm presenting. But, I am human and I will sometimes
make mistakes, or I may receive inaccurate information believing it to
be accurate. Your use of the information on this website is at
your own risk. If you spot an error or inaccurate information on
this website, please send me an email so I may correct it.
May I use or copy some of the photographs found on your website?
All
photographs, maps, and diagrams found on this site not credited to
someone else are the property of Ken Schroeppel and are protected under
federal copyright laws. Photographs or images may be used or
reproduced for non-commercial, educational, or personal purposes as long
as credit is given. While explicit permission is not required in
these cases, I do appreciate hearing how you intend to use the images
you've found on this website. Commercial for-profit enterprises
may purchase a license to use imagery from this site for a reasonable
fee. High resolution (2304 x 1728 pixel) versions of all
photographs found on this site are available. Please email me with
your request.
Most of the renderings
and other artists' images of a proposed infill development were obtained
from the website of the project's developer, architect, contractor, or
broker. In those cases, the source of the image is credited and a
hyperlink to the website from which the image was obtained is provided.
If the original creator of an image could not be identified but the
image was copied from some other website, a link to that site is
provided instead.
The alteration or
manipulation of any copyrighted materials from DenverInfill.com
is not permitted, including the cropping of the DenverInfill
copyright watermark from any photo or image.
May I link a photograph or image found on your website to another
website or message board?
No. If you
wish to display an image from DenverInfill on another website
(for non-commercial purposes only, of course), you should copy the image
file and upload it to your own web server space and use your own
bandwidth, not mine. None of the images obtained from other
websites that are displayed on this site are ever linked directly
from those sites, but reside on DenverInfill's server space.
When were the street elevation photos in the Downtown section taken?
The
street elevation photos for all of the Northeast Downtown subarea and
for most of the blocks east of Broadway in the Upper Downtown subarea
were taken in February, March, and April of 2004. The remaining street
elevation photos for all other parts of Downtown were taken in January
and February of 2005. While Denver is definitely not at its
prettiest during these winter months, the lack of leaves on the trees
allowed for maximum viewing of the buildings and other site
characteristics of each block. Also, most of the photos were taken
on a Saturday or Sunday morning. This was a convenient time for me to
walk the streets of Downtown, but it also resulted in a lack of visible
pedestrian activity that otherwise exists during the weekdays and later
in the day on the weekends. The photos for most of the Center City
Neighborhood sections were taken during the Spring and Summer of 2005,
with the site photos of infill projects that have been announced since
then taken at the time the project was added to this website.
Why don't you update your black and white aerial photos to the more
recent color aerials available on Google Earth?
It is tempting to do
so, but as I explained above, the black and white aerial photos taken in
2000 serve as the baseline against which we can compare at any time our
current condition to see how far we've come since that year in
re-urbanizing our Downtown area. However, what I may do in the
future is include a separate "current" aerial image for those areas
where significant change has occurred since 2000 for purposes of
comparison.
Where do the block numbers come from that you use throughout the main
Downtown section?
A full explanation and
historical overview of the block numbers used in the Downtown section is
available on the
Downtown Denver Block Numbers page in the Special Features
section.
Do you have a Site Map?
Yes, and it's
quite nice! Click here:
Site Map
What are some of the technical specifications behind your website?
DenverInfill
was created using Microsoft FrontPage 2002. I don't know the first
thing about HTML, yet I have created 100% of this website on my own,
thanks to the simple FrontPage interface. I found FrontPage to be
a good compromise between more sophisticated web design software that
requires knowledge of HTML and the simple template-driven web builder
applications that, in my opinion, don't offer enough design freedom.
The other main applications that were indispensable in creating
DenverInfill are Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. All
photographs used on this site taken since late 2004 were captured with
my 4 megapixel Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ10 digital camera, which features a
Leica DC Vario-Elmarit 12x optical, 36x digital zoom lens.
Finally, DenverInfill.com is hosted by PowWeb (www.powweb.com),
which offers 20 gigabytes of web storage space and 400 gigabytes of data
transfer (bandwidth) per month, for about $100 a year. I've been
happy with their service so far.
What is your contact email
address?
If you have a comment,
question, correction, or suggestion, please send an e-mail to:
feedback@denverinfill.com.
Thank
you for visiting DenverInfill.com!
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