What might be regarded as a long-awaited proposal has now been aired for transforming a 13-acre Denver parking lot into a massive residential community with substantial office and retail space.
The company East West Partners, which redeveloped the city’s historic Union Station, also has plans for open space at the site, and says the project will be designed to blend in with the surrounding Cherry Creek neighborhood.
That neighborhood has through the years been carefully developed, mixing in new urban office and retail projects with historic 19th century residential structures.
Uniquely, plans for the site also include the construction of an amphitheater with a 20,000-seat capacity.
The property in question is located just to the west of the Cherry Creek Shopping Center near the intersection of S. University Boulevard and E. 1st Avenue, above the Cherry Creek waterway.
Papers for what is expected to be a $1 billion project will be submitted to the City of Denver next month, launching what will likely be a lengthy review.
East West officials have indicated that actual work on the project most likely won’t begin until late 2023, with a first phase construction schedule of 5 years.
The company’s Union Station work, completed in 2014, is regarded as one of the greatest landmark projects in Denver history, seeing the restoration of the Beaux Arts-designed railway station built in 1914.
By Garry Boulard
