20 / 24
Page 20
— Multifamily Properties Quarterly — January 2015
T
he rapid growth of Denver's
residential urban core is on
most everyone's radar today,
yet as our city's unprec-
edented development boom
continues unabated, a troubling shift
has begun to reveal itself to all but
the most casual observer.
As downtown Denver becomes
increasingly dense with block after
block of repetitive five-story, stick-
framed rental apartments stacked
on top of (or connected to) massive
concrete parking structures, banal-
ity has begun to quietly replace the
well-designed historic buildings
that once populated our urban core.
Meaningless, uninspiring structures
that feature mere
surface varia-
tion rather than
genuine innovation
seem to be the zeit-
geist of the day.
We're talking
about a huge vol-
ume of housing
here. In April 2014,
the Downtown
Denver Partner-
ship stated in its
“Downtown Denver
Economic Update”
for 2014 that, "Resi-
dential develop-
ment in downtown Denver and the
city center neighborhoods continues
to thrive with 7,170 rental units and
1,173 for-sale units under construc-
tion or planned." Of further note, 99
percent of the above units are or will
be rentals.
To put this in perspective, Ken
Schroeppel said on DenverInfill.
com that there were approximately
10,500 residential units built within
Denver's center city from 2000-2009,
while about 5,000 units were added
to the downtown core from mid-
2012 to mid-2014. He notes that's
roughly half the total from the entire
2000s decade – not including any
recently completed units or projects
planned for 2015 and beyond.
Schroeppel concludes, "Assuming
all of the developments under con-
struction will be completed, then a
total of 7,388 new residential units
will be added to downtown Denver
from January 2012 through mid-
2015, (without including proposed
projects). That translates into rough-
ly 11,000 new residents and approxi-
mately $1.5 billion of residential
investment in downtown Denver."
In other words, the 1.5-mile radius
that includes Denver's urban core
is transforming before our eyes
on multiple levels – the size of the
investment pouring into our city to
turn it into a major residential mar-
ket is beyond comprehension for
Design
Downtown Denver’s residential development: Are the current designs the best we can do?Jeff Sheppard,
AIA
Cofounder and
design principal,
Roth Sheppard
Architects, Denver
Photo courtesy: Henrik Boserup
The cascading design of The Mountain in Copenhagen, Denmark, provides all apartments with sun-drenched roof gardens and “amazing” views.