Sun Valley Roundup NOV 2022

Gateway South. With the incorporation of a ground-floor retail space that became the Decatur Fresh Market, Gateway South offers much more than just new and affordable homes; it brought fresh and healthy food options to a community that has long asked for better food and more options. However, though the Decatur Fresh Market improves food access in the neighborhood, it is certainly not a full-service grocery store. Both Gateways were constructed alongside new townhomes offering homeownership in the neighborhood at affordable prices.

In addition, here are a few more photos of Gateway North and Gateway South.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

DHA Greenhaus. No slight on the completed Gateway projects south along Decatur, but a completed Greenhaus will take the mantle of the true neighborhood gateway as soon as families move in. A bridge connects two separate towers, and the courtyard between them will have some surface parking and a playground. The available height on this site is limited by the Old City Hall view plane. That is not what results in the dual-tower configuration, though. Taking from the architect’s website, the local’s priority was to break up the mass of the building so that natural light would illuminate the central courtyard and invite neighbors into the complex.

Below is a rendering of Greenhaus.

DHA Thrive. Tucked into a once-sleepy street, Holden Place, Thrive exemplifies many of the typical design decisions being made by the Housing Authority. A glance at the 135-home count will mislead; tucked within are 285 bedrooms, including several 5-bedroom units. There is an amenity level above the parking garage, but instead of the typical private-development arrangement (pool, grill, pet amenity, gym, and clubhouse), the Thrive’s third floor boasts a great room, a 10,000 sq ft amenity plaza, planter boxes and trellises for growing food, a half-court basketball setup, and play surface for children. It seems to take its ethos from the large elementary school it overlooks, reaffirming Sun Valley as a place for large families and children. This phase of DHA’s redevelopment requires that an average of 20% of the new units created are offered at market rates, needed to satisfy HUD’s definition of “mixed-income” when speaking about Sun Valley.

Alta Mile High. Prior to the new boom in the neighborhood, the majority of the residents in Sun Valley lived below the poverty line. DHA and other public entities are operating in such a way as to offer amenities and better housing for the residents of the old Sun Valley Homes. At 1450 Morrison, however, we see the type of amenity-rich, bedroom-sparse development you would expect in parts of town that command high rents, not the city’s previously poorest neighborhood. A higher parking ratio per bedroom as well. However, it should be added that as part of this development, the developer agreed to include an additional 26 parking spaces for the use of (the Original) Brooklyn’s.

Here are a couple of renderings of Alta Mile High.

Endzone Hotel. Where there was once a Burger King along Federal Boulevard, there is now a busy construction site. This new Courtyard by Marriott will take the status as the closest hotel to Mile High Stadium and improve the streetscape; it will offer a new hotel bar for pre-game drinks and food. This site was the second fast-food restaurant along this stretch of Federal to be demolished and replaced by higher-intensity land use; the combination of KFC/A&W on 17th Avenue here’s looking at you.

PROPOSED

Sol. The future 10th Avenue through the old Sun Valley Homes will be lined with street-level activation in the form of live/work units (14 in Sol), retail spaces, private open space, and where the new 10th Avenue will end near the South Platte River, a new 11-acre, public park, Riverfront Park. Sol will also have a mid-block pass-through so neighbors can cut through the new blocks to Fairview Elementary. Sol and Joli are together in the next phase of the redevelopment and are expected to break ground very soon. Sol is accompanied by a 4-story, 37-home apartment building to which a bridge connects it and some 16 for-sale townhomes.

Joli. There have been several timelines by DHA on the staging of Sun Valley’s reconstruction and resident relocation; at their most optimistic, Joli was supposed to have started construction in Q4 2021. What is certain, however, is that all buildings in the redevelopment must be under construction by 2024 in order to satisfy the terms of the Choice Neighborhood Implementation grant that DHA was awarded by HUD. So coming soon! This mixed-income community will include live/work units, a restaurant incubator, and open space fronting Alcott Street and Bryant Street. Joli steps through several building heights, measuring eight stories at the tallest. It will also front the brand-new park, Riverfront Park. Again, the redevelopment of this block will bring for-sale townhomes.

Flo. Rounding out the last stage of Housing Authority projects, Flo will be affordable senior housing, bolstering the all-ages community in Sun Valley. It shares the block with Joli and will become the new tallest building in the neighborhood. All three of these DHA developments will correspond to new neighborhood blocks and a reconfigured street grid. Check out this screenshot from an October presentation by the Denver Urban Redevelopment Agency to City Council; it also illustrates the relative size and shape of the DHA buildings to come to this section of the neighborhood.

999 Clay. Little to say for certain about this project. It is only four stories, which is below DenverInfill’s typical metric for coverage. However, interested parties will find it is referred to in the October presentation linked above as the majority of Block 5, so the Housing Authority had some confidence at that time of a project moving forward, which is why it’s reported here after six months without new permitting.

Sun Valley Block 2. A private development has been proposed corresponding to Block 2 of the 5-block redevelopment proposed in the October 3 DURA presentation. This high rise would be defined by the newly constructed Alcott Street, Bryant Street, 10th Avenue, and 11th Avenue.

2506 W Colfax Ave. An apartment building is proposed on a fairly small lot across the South Platte from Raices Brewing Company. The owners claim they’d like to break ground in February. What’s most surprising about this building would be its least surprising features for anyone without kids who have looked for a place to live in Denver these last few years – a parking podium, a sky lounge, a sky deck, and a clubhouse. It’s practically a standard setup for a neighborhood full of working singles with dogs but proposed for a neighborhood whose median age just years ago was 16 years old.

2638 West 13th Avenue. Another private development has been proposed in the neighborhood shortly before the July 1 EHA compliance deadline. Property owners and first-time developers Alicia Svaldi and their family are trying for their second concept proposal in three years. Many of the proposals that came through the city’s e-Permit system by late June have yet to see progress past the concept stage; only time will tell if this is one of the dropped projects or the better iteration of a longstanding plan for West 13th Avenue.

2639 West Holden Place. A six-story development would fit nicely along Holden Place, just across the street from Thrive. After a small pause in permitting, this development is progressing. In 2020, Denverite wrote up a small story on Adam Berger’s development company; combined with this concept’s tag for the Affordable Housing Review Team; we can surmise this building provides some larger home sizes and a considerable number of income-restricted homes.

2420 West 14th Avenue. Technically located outside the Sun Valley neighborhood, the residential phase of Steam on the Platte has finally been proposed. Steam on the Platte was originally conceived to attract some downtown investment into a neighborhood not too far from downtown. It would bring height across the South Platte to match the planned and under-construction height of Sun Valley. The concept proposal describes “common residential amenity spaces,” which we assume means a fitness room, perhaps a pool, or a sky lounge. However, this post might provoke a reader a bit more skepticism of what a “common” amenity space looks like: more residential apartment buildings have been proposed east of I-25 along West 13th Avenue, but those will have to be covered in additional roundups.