Let’s finish the month with a La Alma / Lincoln Park roundup. While La Alma / Lincoln Park isn’t experiencing as much development as its neighbor to the east, there is still a bit of activity going on that helps make this a more dense, walkable neighborhood just outside of Downtown Denver.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Art District Lofts. Last year, Katerra construction folded, and the construction site at 13th Avenue and Santa Fe was at a standstill until a new contractor stepped in. Knotty Iron Trading Company picked up the project and has made steady progress. The eight-story building has topped out, with exterior weatherproofing underway.
| Project Description | Developer | Architect | Contractor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 Stories | 115 apt homes | 48 (v) parking |
Leon Cisneros |
OZ Architecture |
Knotty Iron Trading Company |
Nita Santa Fe. Formally known as 1010 Santa Fe, Nita Santa Fe has made great progress. The project has topped out, and some facade elements are starting to go up. In the photos below, we also included a current rendering of the project.
| Project Description | Developer | Architect | Contractor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 / 6 Stories | 207 apt homes | 6,600 sf retail | 213 (v), 125 (b) parking |
Holland Partner Group | Studio PBA |
Holland Construction |
POP Denver. Formally known as Aura Santa Fe, POP Denver has gone from groundbreaking to topping out in less than a year. This is thanks to prefabricated construction, which allowed quick completion of the main structure. An exciting aspect of this project is that it is provides for-sale condos, which we all know Denver desperately needs.
| Project Description | Developer | Architect | Contractor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Stories | 123 condo homes | 9,800 sf retail | 104 (v), 70 (b) parking |
First Stone | Studio Completiva |
Dohn Construction |
Kalaco Apartments. The project site at 1010 West Colfax has been completely cleared, with construction on the horizon. Previously, this site was home to a suburban-style strip mall and a drive-thru Burger King. With demolition now complete, Opus is ready to start their seven-story project, making much better use of this site. In the photos below, we have also included two renderings.
| Project Description | Developer | Architect | Contractor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Stories | 280 apt homes | 10,000 sf retail | 272 (v) parking |
Opus Group | Opus AE Group |
Opus Design Build |
Here is a bonus panorama of the project site showing its proximity to Downtown Denver.
COMPLETED
La Tela. This affordable condo project is now complete. Located just a block East of West 6th Avenue and Santa Fe, La Tela provides 92 for-sale homes for individuals and families earning up to 80% of the Area Median Income. 86 of the 92 units are subsidized with price points below $200,000. This project is a win with a sharp full brick facade and affordable for-sale housing.
| Project Description | Developer | Architect | Contractor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Stories | 92 condo homes | 36 (v), 52 (b) parking |
Shanahan / Elevation Development |
Studio Completiva |
Brinkmann Construction |
PROPOSED
Holland Santa Fe, Phase II. Next to Nita Santa Fe, Holland Partners is proposing a second phase of the project, completing the rest of the city block. Currently, the block is mixed with parking lots, a low-density building, and a vacant historic building. The project is making its way through the permitting process, with the last document filed in early April.
| Project Description | Developer | Architect | Contractor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 / 6 Stories | 225 apt homes | 183 (v) parking |
Holland Partner Group |
TBD | TBD |
Avalon Kanso Santa Fe. Another suburban-style strip mall may get supplanted in the future. AvalonBay, a national developer, is proposing a seven-story building that will make better use of the parcel at 1355 Santa Fe Drive. A concept plan was filed with the city in March, with a transportation plan recently filed on April 20.
| Project Description | Developer | Architect | Contractor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Stories | 222 apt homes | 242 (v) parking |
AvalonBay | Studio PBA | TBD |
That’s a wrap for La Alma / Lincoln Park!
Maps for projects mentioned in this post:
Art District Lofts
Nita Santa Fe
POP Denver
Kalaco Apartments
La Tela
Holland Santa Fe, Phase II
Avalon Kanso Santa Fe
Great to see the round-up! A few other projects making their way through the permitting system as well! The most advanced is 801 W 8th Ave; concept-plan passed review in March and got a bit of press for proposing 5-story prefab-micro apartments (likely to break ground next year). Some of those in the “resubmittal required area”, 944 N Osage is a proposed 7-story Denver Housing Authority apartment complex (with a transportation plan resubmitted this week), 1365 N Osage is another proposed 4-in-1 (notable because that may mean Domo is demolished), 625 W 8th Ave has a proposed 4-in-1 to replace the current auto-body repair (and a few of the houses), and another on 1160 N Sante Fe Dr replacing a one-story commercial space. A large project that is right on the border of Lincoln Park/La Alma in the industrial no-mans land is Aura Sante Fe on 505 N Lipan, crane went up right as they were taking the crane down on POP Denver. Other smaller things – a Town Hall Style Community Event/Bar space is going in on Sante Fe, the VFW is actively remodeling and likely to soon re-hang their historical neon light, and the entire district along Santa Fe and 8th is likely to get a zone overlay mandating first-floor retail. And who knows what will become of the Burnham Railyard – the Legislative session incorporated $13 million for the initial environmental assessment and consideration for what is needed for the Front Range Rail.
Thank you incredibly for continuing to post! I really enjoy this blog and check it out whenever new items are posted.
Thank you for the very detailed comment and filling in the gaps! I did see that new blue tower crane go up recently by POP!
I’m not exactly sure why but your post, besides being incredibly informative really makes me wish that 8thand 6th would be converted to two way streets. It would truly transform the area.
If money were no objective, then I’d propose that the city bury 8th and 6th to still allow quick access to and from Speer to 25 (actually faster because it removes the stoplights and would likely erase the morning and afternoon congestion). The 6th bypass would drop under Santa Fe and the 8th would rise back up on Kalamath right before it joins with 6th. Likely would reduce the high number of accidents at Santa Fe and 8th (high speed on both streets at times, usually about 1 accident every 3 weeks, 1 major accident every 3 months (usually a T-bone, the most recent was a single-vehicle rollover nearly hitting an antique store)) and also improve pedestrian safety. Also at the notorious Broadway and 6th intersection before getting to Speer (if memory serves, a high number of pedestrian strikes occur there), burying that would be a huge boon to traffic flow. The hospital may want to keep the streets one way (overall, it may improve their dispatch times during heavy congestion), but they could then drop the amount of lanes to 2 and do what was done on Santa Fe to slow traffic with more pedestrian-friendly areas. Maybe rope it all into 25’s redesign (because that current 8th onramp to 25 is essentially a right turn right onto 25, that one still blows my mind that it exists).
I realized I didn’t clarify! Still have surface access roads that are the ones dropped to 2 lanes. The buried lanes would likely be the current 3 or 4 lanes wide when removing side parking! Okay, enough of my urban “what-if”isms.
If 6th Avenue east of I-25 was throttled down to 2 lanes the backups on the 6th Avenue Freeway would be horrendous. This would never be allowed to happen.
Ditto for 8th Avenue acting as a conduit for traffic leaving Denver proper and joining the 6th Avenue Freeway via Kalamath. Again, never going to happen.
Ryan, you mentioned that at least a couple of these projects are replacing strip malls. Are any of the projects replacing the lost retail space with new retail on the ground floor?
All the information we have on the projects are in the project tables. The majority of concept plans filed don’t show how much retail until a site dev plan is filed.
The lot between Lipan and Mariposa on the south side of Colfax has so much potential. Any word on why it’s never been developed?
There was a warehouse building on that site until 2010 when it was demolished. Looking at the chain of title, it’s been held by the same entity for a while which is affiliated with Alvarado Construction. Probably land-banking until it’s time to get paid by whatever developer wants to plop several hundred apartments on the site.
R.I.P. Burger King (stay gold Pony Boy).