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  #21  
Old Posted Aug 7, 2014, 7:48 AM
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Originally Posted by denconyny View Post
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I think that the area along Broadway from about 18th Avenue going north is awful. Hopefully, Skyhouse will be built and start something along this immensity of surface parking lot hell of Broadway. One Lincoln Park looks so lonely.......

Although my circles probably represent about 11 or so blocks (the lowest big circle is could represent 5 blocks there by itself), this is the area that I would tackle. One could even go up north a few more blocks between 21st and 24th and have at least another dozen or so blocks to work on, and probably more than a couple of dozen going another block both east and west of Broadway.

I feel like I'm in surface parking lots driving along that section of Broadway, an especially important part of this city where the neighborhoods of upper DT, central DT, CapHill, AS and ••••• all merge.........

just my

My five blocks would have to be right in that area also. At one point during my youth, back before I started soaking up information on websites such as this one and I was particularly naive, I just assumed that once a light rail station is built in any urban, downtown-ish area, tons of highrise TOD will automatically spring up all around it. I would have assumed that if I were to travel in time to 2014 and pay a visit to Welton and 21st, I'd find at least a half-dozen One Lincoln Park's surrounding me. Considering Denver’s lack of so-called “last mile” transit, one would think that stretch of Welton would be a no-brainer for developers.

Well, I was recently scouring craigslist for apartments in Denver and hoping to find a Sneaky Joe spot near a light rail stop, because I’m hoping to at least try to get by without a car and still feel connected to the rest of the world via DIA etc. (I own a small e-commerce business that I can locate just about anywhere, so as long as I’m near transit, I can place my business anywhere along a convenient transit line and ensure an easy commute for myself.) Well, I was using craigslist’s map mode to scroll along the light rail lines and click on all the nearby bubbles. At first I was mainly focusing on Baker (and not having much success) but then I thought, ‘hey what about Welton? … except, you know… sort of the south end of it so I don’t have to be in Five Points.’

Yeah yeah I know. Supposedly Five Points is all gentrified and nice now, but I guess I’m an ethnocentric asshole that still can’t get past the stereotype of Five Points being the old, gang-violence plagued, “worst neighborhood in Denver”. Plus I’d rather not be an unwelcome “gentrifier.” (I recently realized this after spending some time in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn and being told on multiple occasions that my white ass needed to get back to Williamsburg where it apparently belonged.)

Anyway, when I zoomed in on the 21st and Welton area, I was surprised to find hardly any bubbles to click on until I remembered, ‘Oh yeah, that’s right. There’s nothing there but a sea of parking. Weird!’

Really, it makes no sense. Considering its downtown location and proximity to mass-transit, that area should be booming. If I had a billion dollars to spare, I would make it boom.
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  #22  
Old Posted Aug 7, 2014, 10:55 AM
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Proximity to transit that doesn't take you anywhere except Five Points, which you're afraid of, and the South suburbs. So useless, in other words.

It's the wrong end of downtown from any of the amenities - is on the edge if everywhere, but nowhere you want to be - and it's zoned for big development, which is a bad combo. I think 20th/Broadway area is behind even Arapahoe Square in terms of development. We need an infrastructure/amenities investment of some sort up there - something to give that place an identity. A reason to be there. Not unlike the square that's missing from Arapahoe Square. I'm not really sure what that would be though. It's an interesting challenge, that area. Arapahoe Square benefits from being Ballpark east. If there was any single area where not having torn down the old buildings would be helpful, it's around there.
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  #23  
Old Posted Aug 7, 2014, 11:14 PM
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Originally Posted by bunt_q View Post
Proximity to transit that doesn't take you anywhere except Five Points, which you're afraid of...
More like embarrassed of, or uncomfortable with. If Five Points ever really was "the worst neighborhood in Denver" that must've been before my time.

But anyway, you're right about that area. It still feels really odd to me though. It's a mass transit stop in the downtown of the major city and nobody wants to build anything there.
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  #24  
Old Posted Aug 8, 2014, 7:35 PM
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Originally Posted by Sam Hill View Post
More like embarrassed of, or uncomfortable with. If Five Points ever really was "the worst neighborhood in Denver" that must've been before my time.

But anyway, you're right about that area. It still feels really odd to me though. It's a mass transit stop in the downtown of the major city and nobody wants to build anything there.
The "Worst" neighborhoods in Denver have definitely moved on from 5 points, though I wouldn't call it necessarily a "safe" area. Areas like Montbello, Green Valley Ranch, and points west of Federal, south of Colfax and north of, say, Jewell, are where the "bad" areas have moved to these days...though statistically the CBD still has the highest crime rate by far.
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  #25  
Old Posted Oct 2, 2014, 7:35 PM
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That portion of Broadway is an eyesore. I would enjoy an 800 footer and some good quality 400 footers in place of those awful parking lots.
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  #26  
Old Posted Oct 8, 2014, 7:35 AM
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1. 17th and Welton

2. 18th and Market

3. Larimer and Speer (Geller's property just south of the creek)

4. 19th and Lincoln

5. 19th and Wynkoop. Lot adjacent to Coors Firld

Five opportunities to add great infill residences, retail, and office options that will plug some obvious holes in our urban fabric.
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  #27  
Old Posted Nov 8, 2014, 3:40 PM
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Tall height restrictions can really delay redevelopment. Charles Marohn recently made the case for height restrictions. It's kind of a long-term multi-century strategy, but it makes a lot of sense.

So anywhere outside the CBD, the suggestions should read 2-3 stories.

Filling in before going up is more cost effective and yields results sooner.

My choice: Imagine something like downtown Littleton in the 5 blocks centered at Bannock and Jewell. With pedestrian bridges over to the new Levitt Pavilion.

Fun fact - These streets used to be radioactive.
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