Back in February 2012, Derek announced a new project that would help liven up Speer Boulevard in the Jefferson Park neighborhood. What used to be an area with a couple outdated office buildings surrounded by a sea of surface parking lots is now turning into a 325-unit 2-building apartment project that borders both the Jefferson Park and trendy Lower Highland neighborhoods.
Both buildings will rise five stories divided by Alcott Street. Due to the topography of this area, the views from these apartments will be unparalleled to anything else along this stretch of Speer Boulevard. Here is a rendering of the project to refresh your memory.
Shortly after this project was announced the buildings on site were demolished and then for over six months there was no activity on the site; just the foundations of the old buildings were intact. This project was on my worry list as it continued to sit with no activity leaving even more of an eyesore than before. However, over the past few weeks, construction activity has resumed and excavation has begun.
Since this project was delayed the original completion date will not be met. Assuming the time frame for construction is close to some other similar scaled infill projects, we should see this complete by late 2014. As a reminder, make sure you head on down to Union Station tomorrow morning at 9:50 AM for Ken’s great Denver Union Station tour especially if you haven’t been down there recently!
It’s a beautiful project, but 325 units seems way too dense for the area, adding another 105 from sky-line and 126 from Core-Power, it’ll be hell to get on I-25 or as a matter of fact to move anywhere
in that area, traffic will be backed up all long Zuni (where I live) and along Speer…
You think 500 units is going to shut down Speer? 1/4 probably won’t drive much. Those that do, will usually only be on that road for about 22 seconds before they get on the freeway.
I am pretty sure you will be fine.
I also live off Zuni and 29th and I welcome the density. I doubt traffic will be affected much at all. They might need to increase the duration of the left turn light from Zuni to Eastbound Speer but I’m sure that can be tweaked. There are other intersections that function and handle far greater volume.
I’ve never been to a great city that had easy parking and getting around was a breeze. That is what the burbs are for. This is a website devoted to infill, development, and redevelopment.
I agree.
Hey, can I still call this North Denver? Or is it politically incorrect or something — or just real estate hype, to “enhance” neighborhood re-sale value, to re-name every neighborhood in Denver? NIMBY, chill. You live very close to city-center. This kind of development only makes your own castle more valuable. Big picture, you win, when you sell. The city is not just to “look at,” down the street — it’s where you live. Urban. Get used to it.
I grew up in Denver and that neighborhood has been Jefferson Park as long as I can remember, and Jefferson Park is the official neighborhood name on the city of Denver neighborhood map.
North Denver is the wider area. So the Jefferson Park neighborhood is in the unofficial larger North Denver area. You can still call it North Denver but it will confuse the large percentage of non-locals.
Aaron, almost directly across Speer from this project is North High School. We oldtimers still think Speer Boulevard feeds into North Denver. How confusing is that?