Six months after visiting this station area for the first time, we found many apartment buildings topped out and firming up their plans. Everywhere in the neighborhood are FOR SALE signs, typically hawking the lots as a redevelopment opportunity. Some proposals have dropped off, but others have continued to add momentum (looking at you, Fox Park). Check here for a deeper analysis of how often “Fox Island” has been affirmed by the neighborhood and the City as the right place to add more housing and the various projects proposed last summer.
Last Roundup: 41st and Fox Roundup SEP 2022
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Fox Iron Works. The building is topped out, and crews are working hard to add the facade, building sidewalks, and other resident amenities. This is a big building whose backside neatly defines the southern extent of the Fox Park redevelopment. It isn’t always clear on a map, so we’ll spell it out: this apartment building is just steps from the station and overparked, though it avoids surface parking. Eventually, the building will read to passersby as a legible, perhaps even modest, building along the Fox Street residential and commercial corridor. Still, like many of these newly booming station areas, it dominates its surroundings for now.
Project Description | Developer | Architect | Contractor |
---|---|---|---|
5 Stories | 386 apt homes | 355 (v) 213 (b) parking | RangeWater Real Estate | Craine Architecture | MPC |
Alloy Sunnyside. Alloy Sunnyside topped out a couple of months ago. The building’s upper mass steps back from the intersection of 42nd and Jason along the north frontage, but viewed from the south, it seems simply another tall box. Alloy Sunnyside will fill out the street wall along the Jason Street commercial corridor once finished, and we’re glad to see denser multifamily on the west side of the tracks; all up and down Jason lots are being replaced with townhome development, and local retailers will be a boon to the busier neighborhood.
Project Description | Developer | Architect | Contractor |
---|---|---|---|
8 Stories | 209 apt homes | 2,650 sf retail | 186 (v) 108 (b) parking | Prime West | RATIO | Catamount Constructors |
Iota Fox Station. In the last six months, construction has progressed quickly. The building topped out, and crews are at work waterproofing the building and preparing for the application of the building’s facade. Caught on camera tests the facade system constructed and waiting across the street, north of 41st. The unscreened portion of the parking garage will eventually be covered up when 4040 Fox breaks ground. Still, the upper part of the building and its amenity deck will peak above that block-long development.
Project Description | Developer | Architect | Contractor |
---|---|---|---|
7 Stories | 148 apt homes | 83 (v) 132 (b) parking | Highland Development | KTGY | MPC |
PROPOSED
4040 Fox Street. As we took photos for this post, it took a while to notice the property had been cleared, and a fence now surrounds it. It makes sense: with a construction permit in hand, we should see this development break ground soon.
Project Description | Developer | Architect | Most Recent Activity |
---|---|---|---|
7 Stories | 213 apt homes | 120 (v) 106 (b) parking |
Central Street Capital |
Architectural Workshop | Construction Permit (2023-03-13) |
805 W 38th Ave. Six months on, the demolition of the three former warehouses has been completed. Hopefully, the site is fertile ground for this tower, which would become the tallest building on “Fox Island.” The group proposing the development recently purchased the site, another good sign that this project will break ground (eventually). Enjoy the rendering from the architect’s website, which proposes an otherwise Denver-typical tower above a podium with a somewhat-novel jagged treatment of the south face of the building.
Project Description | Developer | Architect | Most Recent Activity |
---|---|---|---|
19 Stories | 398 apt homes | 504 (v) 200 (b) parking |
Continental Realty Group |
Engine 8 Architecture | Storm & Sanitary (2023-03-31) |
735 W 39th Ave. While visiting the site, we witnessed the ongoing demolition of old industrial buildings (and several murals that used to grace these vacant lots), all in preparation for future development. Like its neighboring site, this is a complex development; it will take longer to break ground. Though the sites have different owners, both are being planned and permitted with Kimley-Horn. Realistically, this development isn’t one building at the corner of 39th and Fox but more like three related projects. We can gain a glimpse into the developer’s plans from their Zone Lot Amendment application from January:
“The Site currently consists of light industrial structures and associated surface parking that will be demolished as a part of the Project. The project will include 5 and 7-story residential buildings, up to 8-stories of structured parking and two pedestrian bridges spanning the new street-grid.”
Project Description | Developer | Architect | Most Recent Activity |
---|---|---|---|
5, 7, 8 Stories | 301 apt homes | 379 (v) 150 (b) parking |
Abacus Capital Group |
TBD | ROW (2023-02-06) |
Fox Park. Six months since we last visited Fox Park, the entire site has been cleared completely, and active construction is underway on what will become the future street, sewer, and water infrastructure. Lording over the barren land is the former Denver Post printing facility, which will be renovated and reused as a centerpiece of the site, known as the “Press Room.”
Project Description | Developer | Architect | Most Recent Activity |
---|---|---|---|
2.2m sf Office | 3400 homes| 14 acres open space |
Pure Development |
Tryba Architecture | Transportation Plan (2022-09-01) |
We eagerly await the first residents to move into the new apartment buildings along Fox Street. Still, a word of caution: the construction traffic and the traffic of the existing neighborhood made crossing Fox Street to take photos of the area very uncomfortable. This derives from the noise, traffic speed, and size of vehicles, including many construction vehicles. In addition, there are no traffic lights north of 39th Avenue on Fox Street, and as more residents and cars pour into the (one) neighborhood (street), this will become a source of pain for residents. But be warned, those careless readers, the bike infrastructure through the neighborhood could be better, and aside from the commuter rail at 41st and Fox, no frequent buses circulate the neighborhood.
About the author:
Andy Cushen is a car-free urbanist living and working in Denver; his reporting and analysis of the construction boom in Denver neighborhoods can be found under the handle @BuildupDenver on Twitter. As part of the DenverInfill team, Andy covers neighborhoods north and west of I-25 (such as the Highlands, Sun Valley, and West Colfax) and RTD rail stops with significant developments nearby.
Maps for projects mentioned in this post:
Fox Iron Works
Alloy Sunnyside
Iota Fox Station
4040 Fox Street
805 W 38th Ave
735 W 39th Ave
Fox Park
Nice post. Curious if anyone has an idea what the pressroom will turn into? Will it have a residential component? Or will it be turned into a mix of retail and restaurants? Similar to Stanley being a commercial hub and meetup are for yeah Central Park? It’s proximity to I 70 and I 25 makes it very visible to traffic passing by.
Peruse through the entire Fox Park proposal (https://foxpark.com/location/), specifically on the masterplan: https://foxpark.com/master-plan/ and the Press Room: https://foxpark.com/the-press-room/…. Very interesting project indeed.
There’s also these renderings online of the 38th Ave project: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/qQE1aD
Did the articulated wall get value engineered?
Just curious: Denver is losing residents and the overall metro area is no longer attractive to retaining a growing population. Who are all these people that are going to rush in and buy or lease these thousands of new residences that are springing up? There is no demand for our overpriced city. No one ever addresses the elephant in the room…
Here comes the armchair developer brigade naysaying everything. Denver is not in collapse. Yes, there are drug-addled hobos wandering the streets (as with every US city in 2023), but Denver remains a magnet city with a very diversified economy and above average quality of life. We are hiring young professionals at my firm, for example, who might like housing options that aren’t moldering Capitol Hill rental from the 1930s. It is such a shame that there is a shortage of architecturally acceptable housing options that would meet the stringent requirements of most DenverInfill commentors.
Nevermind that the developers spent years clearing permitting hurdles and securing funding for these projects. They should’ve checked with you to learn that DENVER IS DYING first. Quick! Stop the concrete pumper before they put in TWO PARKING SPOTS PER UNIT (scandal!) and top out at LESS THAN 70 STORIES (yet ANOTHER missed opportunity). UGGGHHHH…
It’s pretty simple supply and demand. The main reason people are leaving big cities is cost of living and lack of affordable housing options. The only way to dig out of that hole is to build more housing. So even if these buildings don’t fill up immediately they will put downward pressure on the cost curve. Ultimately, we all want Denver to be an affordable place to live but as long as we are faced with an extreme housing shortage it isn’t going to happen.
Dutch is onto something. Let me add.
You can put all the high density housing (good thing) in the city possible. But without a subway or some other reliable transit to take you places within the metro area, you will still have cars. The A-line works, when it does. Provided you can access it within how many miles of the station? Then again, I suppose most newcomers to Denver are young and fit. No worries.
Incredible amount of development in this tiny little area. I’m surprised it has taken as long as it has for this area to take off. Between it’s adjacency to Sunnyside, transit and proximity to downtown and the park/trail system, seems like it should have seen development maybe 5-7 years ago. I just hope all the RTD employees who were wise to buy property in this area when the light rail was being planned didn’t sell too soon!