DENVER | Main Development Thread #7

[SirLucasTheGreat]

Polis is not perfect but COVID has been his biggest test. In that test, Colorado had the 12th lowest number of cases per capita, 9th lowest deaths per capita, and the 12th lowest negative economic impact according to WalletHub. I think he has done pretty decent with a few missteps.

[TakeFive]

Side Pocket Topics

Migration

Millennials really want to live in Denver
Apr 8, 2021 - Axios Denver By John Frank

Denver continues to be a leading draw for ages 25 to 39 to come to Colorado, a recent SmartAsset report looking at 2019 data shows.

• The state saw the largest percentage increase in millennials at 2%.
• Colorado has a larger proportion of millennials than any other state at 23%.

.....
Images courtesy SmartAsset

Where Millennials Are Moving – 2021 Edition
MAR 30, 2021 By Ben Geier, CEPF - SmartAsset

Key Findings

• Moving West and South. Six out of the top 10 cities in the study are located in Western U.S., with the other four in the South. Colorado and Texas each have two cities in the top 10 – Denver and Colorado Springs in the Centennial State, and Austin and Frisco in the Lone Star State.
• Leaving the biggest cities. Millennials are flowing out most from the largest city in the country. New York City lost a net of almost 40,000 from this generational group in 2019. The second-largest outflow came from Chicago, with a net decrease of more than 11,000 millennials. Other big cities with net migration losses, placing at the bottom of our study, include Los Angeles, San Diego, Boston and Miami.
• States with no income tax. Five of the top 10 cities where millennials are moving have no state income tax on salaries and wages: Seattle, Washington; Austin, Texas; Frisco, Texas; Henderson, Nevada and Cape Coral, Florida.

[Sam Hill]

Originally Posted by Agent Orange

Sounds like if we could get rid of setbacks/easements from a zoning perspective, and if developers used better soundproofing, we could do a better job supplying homes that people want at a (semi) reasonable cost. I like the walkable urban life like the rest of the nerds here, but I also can't stand hearing peoples' kids and dogs running around on top of me. I had to go further from the core than I wanted, but I found a small unit in a 1950s fourplex that, while outrageous on a price psf basis, was doable for me. I only share one wall with a neighbor and I get tons more light than I would in a Cap Hill condo (but OTOH not a ton of cool things to walk to). This building would be illegal to build almost everywhere in the City of Denver now.

I live in a concrete-frame building now and it changed everything. (The main reason I moved from my old place was because of a noise-related feud with a neighbor.) I don’t hear a peep from my neighbors above and below. And I only barely hear my neighbors on each side and only if they’re really making noise. Then again, the condos I’ve looked at in buildings similar to this (I’m currently renting) are outrageous on a cost psf basis (and the HOA fees - oh my!)

I’ll be buying relatively soon and I’m hoping to find a place in a truly walkable neighborhood, and I already know, when it comes to neighborhoods like this, concrete frame is where it’s at, so that’s where I’ll be looking. Hopefully I don’t find myself priced out and relegated to something more suburban, because I can already tell you, wood-frame buildings where you can hear your neighbors through the floors/ceilings are not an option.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by Sam Hill

I’ll be buying relatively soon and I’m hoping to find a place in a truly walkable neighborhood, and I already know, when it comes to neighborhoods like this, concrete frame is where it’s at, so that’s where I’ll be looking. Hopefully I don’t find myself priced out and relegated to something more suburban, because I can already tell you, wood-frame buildings where you can hear your neighbors through the floors/ceilings are not an option.

Sorry if I'm being presumptuous but it's in my blood.

There's a fair number of concrete buildings in your neighborhood or nearby. A few good sources for looking:

• 1301 N Speer Blvd
  ------------
• Downtown Condos
  ------------
• Cap Hill Condos

OTOH if you can income qualify @ 80% of the medium income: AMI = $65,000 X 80% = $52,000 you could buy a brand new condo at La TELA starting at $150,000.

[SirLucasTheGreat]

CenturyLink



McGregor Square



One platte



X Denver



The Thompson



10th and Bannock

[Sam Hill]

X Denver is incredibly hideous. It’s incredible. I can’t believe it’s real. I can’t believe some architect thought this would be okay. But there it is.

I normally appreciate ugly buildings - even though I’m disappointed by their ugliness - because at least they’re adding much needed inventory to the market and increasing density in the neighborhood. Background buildings I say. But X Denver is a scar on the city and I wish it didn’t exist.

[Sam Hill]

I think the architect was going for that prison chic.

[SirLucasTheGreat]

"prison chic" lol

[DenverInfill]

On the other hand, the Thompson Hotel... that's a good looking building!

[SirLucasTheGreat]

Thompson looks great. I'm really excited for LoDo. Hopefully, things start to come back to normal and LoDo gets some great retail.

[BG918]

Originally Posted by Sam Hill

X Denver is incredibly hideous. It’s incredible. I can’t believe it’s real. I can’t believe some architect thought this would be okay. But there it is.

I normally appreciate ugly buildings - even though I’m disappointed by their ugliness - because at least they’re adding much needed inventory to the market and increasing density in the neighborhood. Background buildings I say. But X Denver is a scar on the city and I wish it didn’t exist.

I’ve been inside it. It’s just as horrible on the inside, extremely cheap with exposed concrete walls and ceilings, cheap vinyl windows and paper thin walls. Evidently they are bullish that their concept will work well in the Denver market though since they are under construction on the 22 story X3 at 21st & Arapahoe and are still moving forward with an 18 story X4 at 20th & Welton.

[Sam Hill]

Originally Posted by DenverInfill

On the other hand, the Thompson Hotel... that's a good looking building!

This is true. Thompson Hotel is a rather handsome building. Let’s hope - now that Denver has apparently become a top-tier market - we can anticipate a new precedent. I really wish residential real estate would have remained affordable for a blue-collar schmuck like me. But it hasn’t. At this point “the city” has become a playground for well-off techies and the few remaining average folks like me will eventually have to find another place to live. But let’s hope that it at least means the precedent for architectural quality changes, and this city we love becomes more beautiful and fills in with fewer X Denver’s and more Thompson Hotel’s.

I will always love this city - even after I’m priced out. And I will always be offended by X Denver.

[Sam Hill]

Okay, I’m done ranting about X Denver now, lol

[BG918]

The new AMLI 8th & Broadway project made the Biz Journal this morning. 16 stories and 380 units on the half block between 8th and 9th.

https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/n...-broadway.html

[gopokes21]

Sam is right that X Denver is offensively ugly. If you look at their other projects, it appears that ugly towers are their business model. I hope the permitting process is giving them as much or more grief than all the developers trying to do something nice.

Originally Posted by The Dirt

Can we please have a primary challenger to Polis? What a fucking clown.

Polis has a weird way of saying the worst thing possible while still holding his cards close to his chest, so I'm not sure what (if anything) to make of his latest spat with RTD.

We should probably help Boulder leave RTD ASAP so that they can stop blaming Denver for alllllllll of their many problems. (sarcasm, but for real, bye)

[Launch 12]

Originally Posted by gopokes21

Sam is right that X Denver is offensively ugly. If you look at their other projects, it appears that ugly towers are their business model. I hope the permitting process is giving them as much or more grief than all the developers trying to do something nice.



Polis has a weird way of saying the worst thing possible while still holding his cards close to his chest, so I'm not sure what (if anything) to make of his latest spat with RTD.

We should probably help Boulder leave RTD ASAP so that they can stop blaming Denver for alllllllll of their many problems. (sarcasm, but for real, bye)

Did I misread the fine print on this blog that you had to be anti-Boulder, conservative to contribute? Every time I check this blog which is more and more rare it's some anti-Boulder bullsh*t. Boulder deserves the same level of transit service as other areas of the metro-area, but I know most of you won't agree. Feel free to remove me from this blog. Sick of it.

[twister244]

Originally Posted by Launch 12

Did I misread the fine print on this blog that you had to be anti-Boulder, conservative to contribute? Every time I check this blog which is more and more rare it's some anti-Boulder bullsh*t. Boulder deserves the same level of transit service as other areas of the metro-area, but I know most of you won't agree. Feel free to remove me from this blog. Sick of it.

Oh boy......

Que Bunt's head exploding in 3.....2......1...........

Boulder GETS the same level of transit service as other areas of the metro, if not better. Every. single. time I ask a Boulderite how often they would use the train if it were built tomorrow, I have always received a sudden 'deer in the headlights' look because it dawns on them they wouldn't use it. People who live in Boulder don't commute to Denver often (rarely), and for those who commute into Boulder, the train wouldn't serve the areas they need to go (college/downtown/etc). The FF is FAR FAR more convenient for most people commuting than the train ever would be. I suspect with the stops, the time to final destination wouldn't be much different than the FF, even with heavy traffic on 36. Plus, with the different routes, you can hit college, Pearl Street, Boulder Junction Depot, and even the office parks on the east side of town (FF6). Also.... the FF2 is express and runs EVERY 10 MINUTES....

Get over it.

[Cirrus]

Boulder has better transit service than any other place of comparable population in Colorado.

The problem with the train is it goes to the wrong places. It misses the actual places people use transit to reach: Downtown and CU.

Boulder does not need a every expensive train that doesn't serve useful stops and very few people to ride, just to have the status symbol of getting a train instead of a bus. That wouldn't be getting its fair share. That would be prioritizing Boulder's status over its actual transit service, which, um, no.

If Boulder wanted to change its zoning to allow 50,000 or so more people to live by 30th Street station, then there might be a case for the train being worth it. But Boulder would rather push that growth out to the plains.

[The Dirt]

But Boulder deserves things. And what someone deserves trumps any logical, facts based argument. I, for example, deserve a 100K raise. Why is it that every time I visit this "blog", nobody is in support of this? Please remove me from your mailing list.

[mr1138]

As somebody who grew up in Boulder, wishes that community well, and as a major train enthusiast, AND a liberal, I just cannot get over the way that the city (and apparently Gov. Polis) has dug in its heals over this political issue and most Boulderites seem unwilling to have an actual, rational discussion of the merits of the project. A recent CPR article mentioned a $700 million price tag for just 800 estimated riders per day. I don't care where you come from or who you represent - this just doesn't pass any kind of smell test.

Members of this forum have been pointing out the flaws in the B Line since, I don't know, like 2004 when I first signed up. I have long imagined that the best (only?) way to save the project would be to someday integrate it in to something like a Front Range Passenger Rail project - and completely re-think the technology and maybe even the route.

Now here we are, and the fact that some aren't willing to even have that conversation - that Polis insists that the line be built EXACTLY as proposed nearly 20 years ago, complete with all its known flaws - honestly feels like political indignance nearly as egregious as opposing health science in the face of a global pandemic. Does Boulder actually want their long fantasy of a train to be a failure? Meanwhile, nearly every other partner (RTD, Amtrak, CDOT, DRCOG) finally seems willing to perhaps have a conversation and see if something else can be done instead. This is no longer about serving the Boulder public with service that would actually improve their lives. It feels like it has become a hot potato of political score-settling that grinds all further progress on transit in the region to a halt. This is extremely disappointing and it helps neither Boulder, Denver, nor Colorado.