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— Property Management Quarterly — April 2016
W
hether you’re traveling
northeast on Market Street
from downtown Denver
or heading southwest on
Brighton Boulevard after
exiting Interstate 70, you can’t help
but notice the multitude of activity
taking place in Denver’s River North
neighborhood.
Wedged between Denver’s his-
toric northeast neighborhoods like
Ballpark, Globeville, Elyria-Swansea,
Curtis Park and Cole, this former
industrial warehouse district has
been undergoing a transformation
since the area was designated as the
RiNo Art District in 2005 – co-found-
ed by artists Tracy Weil and Hadley
Hooper. The transformation is mov-
ing along at hurried pace since the
Denver real estate market awoke
from recession just a few years ago.
First and foremost, RiNo is an art
district. Going back 15-plus years,
artists and independent creative
businesses have been “activating”
the beautiful, old – and in some
cases, abandoned – warehouses in
this portion of northeast Denver,
making it one of Denver’s most
culturally unique areas. The Tracks
nightclub and EXDO Event Center
are an example of this type of adap-
tive reuse. Opened in 2002 before
the art district itself was formalized,
Tracks repurposed an old film reel
production factory that was active
during the golden age of Hollywood
but had been used for storage for
several decades since.
Following the creative class into
RiNo were pioneering developers
like Susan Powers (Fire Clay Lofts),
Matt Palmer (Dry
Ice Factory) and
Mickey and Kyle
Zeppelin, whose
multiacre, multiuse
Taxi project along
the west bank of
the Platte River
opened in the mid-
2000s has since
been nationally
recognized with a
number of awards
– and rewarded
with an eclectic
group of creative
office tenants and residences.
After it was established that an
off-the-beaten-path neighborhood
like RiNo can be a viable location for
business and residences alike, other
developments followed, includ-
ing the many restaurants, creative
office and retail outlets developed
by Gravitas, Downtown Property Ser-
vices and Focus Property Group on
Larimer Street, the Bindery creative
office project on Blake Street, and
several signature projects on Brigh-
ton Boulevard, including co-working
giant Industry, Great Divide’s large-
scale brewery and tap house, and
the Zeppelin’s nationally renowned
food hall – The Source.
Catalyzing the next wave of growth
in RiNo is the soon-to-be operational
38th and Blake commuter light-rail
station, part of RTD’s University of
Colorado A Line connecting Denver
Union Station to Denver Internation-
al Airport. The line will kick off April
23 with a party hosted by the RiNo
Art District.
Surrounding the station, which
RTD projects will have 985,000
boardings in the first year of service,
are a number of signature commer-
cial real estate projects that include
multifamily, large creative office,
retail, and for-sale condos and town-
homes.
Projects currently under construc-
tion include the Zeppelin’s Source
Hotel; Mill Creek’s Denargo Market
residential project and Alliance
Residential’s Broadstone at RiNo
multifamily project on Brighton
Boulevard; Littleton Capital Partners’
mixed-use residential/retail proj-
ect Link 35 on Larimer Street; the
mixed-use office/retail Backyard on
Blake and The Factory Flats on Blake
Street; and Blue Moon’s brewery and
tap house near the Platte River.
On the docket are a number of
dynamic and exciting projects such
as the mixed-use office-hotel-retail
project HUB from Elevation Develop-
ment, located directly across from
the station platform; Zeppelin’s
office/retail project Gauge, across the
35th Street pedestrian bridge from
HUB; Mill Creek’s Modera apart-
ments on Blake Street; Lynd Co.’s
multifamily project next to Indus-
try; Koelbel & Co.’s Catalyst creative
office dedicated to health care tech-
nology and innovation; an enter-
tainment district connected to the
Blue Moon Brewery; Tom and Brooke
Gordon’s DriveTrain redevelopment;
and Westfield Development’s yet-
to-be-announced plans for adaptive
reuse and new construction on the
multiacre Midtown Industrial com-
plex on Brighton Boulevard, near the
redevelopment of the National West-
ern Stock Show Complex. Even the
newWorld Trade Center Denver will
be relocated in the heart of RiNo, at
38th and Blake Street across from
RTD’s pedestrian bridge.
The challenge for the neighbor-
hood now is, how do we keep RiNo
wild? How do we maintain RiNo’s
cultural uniqueness, creative vibran-
cy and industrial grit and yet make
RiNo a neighborhood that welcomes
future development of all shapes
and sizes?
By passing a new Business
Improvement District in 2015, Den-
ver now has the tools to take on
those challenges, such as the cre-
ation of design review; funding for
distinct way-finding and signage to
make RiNo a more walkable, bike-
able and parkable neighborhood; a
program that connects RiNo-based
artists with art buyers; and a robust
marketing budget to attract more
visitors (read: customers) to those
art galleries and independent busi-
nesses that made RiNo special in the
first place.
s
Andrew Feinstein
Managing partner,
EXDO Properties,
and co-chair, RiNo
Art District
