Aurora Metro Center

Source: http://jax172.wix.com/riskirenando#!__sketches/albumphotos0=7

Awesome sketch by a very talented architect.  He likes purple trees.  I don't know if these are based on any plans or they are just his imagination.  I would just like to see a 12 or 15 story skyscraper right next to the light rail station.

Aurora Metro Center.  From East Alameda Parkway look south.  Source: Google Streetview Sep 2015

Royal Villa Center

Source:  http://www.colfaxavenue.com/p/colfax-avenue-motels.html

In 1936, a motel called the "Royal Villa Cottages" was built at the southwest intersection of Colfax and Peoria.  Later it was converted to a commercial center.  If you look carefully, you can see the same distinctive blocky false front.  Now, only one tenant remains.  Even the Nick's Liquor store on the corner is gone.  It is only a matter of time until this is demolished and rebuilt.  I would guess next summer.  It is right across the street from the demolished Conoco, and across from the abandoned Safeway, and next to the now demolished Boll-e-ana Motel.

Here is what it looks like now:

Aurora struggles to find an identity beyond the grit of East Colfax

https://www.denverpost.com/2016/06/30/whats-the-matter-with-aurora/

"[Aurora is] a city trying to find an identity, desperate to get out from the shadows of big brother Denver, hampered by a reputation of being crime-ridden, a label the statistics do not necessarily support."

Front Range Spaceport

Front Range Spaceport.  Source: http://archpaper.com/2014/05/boldly-go/

I don't think this will ever be built, so I am not too excited about it, but here is a rendering of a possible spaceport at Front Range Airport near DIA.

897 S Havana St

Abandoned house at 897 S Havana St as of Sept 2014

For many years, there was an abandoned house (that was used as a dentist office at one time) sitting on a 2 acre lot on busy S Havana Street at Kentucky among the used car dealers, auto parts stores, and restaurants. It was finally torn down sometime in 2015.  A new Mitrah's gas station, convenience store, and car wash will be built on the southern portion of the lot.  The northern portion will be designated 857 S Havana St and it will be sold as a vacant commercial lot.  Yea, progress!

The property owner has been trying to redevelop this since at least 2012, as there is a letter of introduction to the city describing it then.  It shouldn't take that long to redevelop land.

The future of North America begins here

Tower Road and 60th Ave, looking west

This is about one mile west of "Aviation Station", the main light-rail station in the Pena Station development area.  The Gaylord Rockies hotel site is about 2 miles to the east.  There are earth-movers on the site now, and the streets should be laid out this summer.  This will be the site of the Panasonic Smart City development.

I like to show the "before" pictures to get an idea of the massive scope of the development planned.

Panasonic City

See also Pena Station.

Stapleton Section 10

Stapleton Section 10

Source: http://www.stapletondenver.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/16_SBN_LUmap_1B.pdf

Stapleton Section 10 is the square mile (actually 534 acres) of now-vacant land bordered by Central Park Blvd/Yosemite St to the West, 64th Ave to the north, and Havana St to the east.  It will be mostly residential, with a lot of open space and parks, and a small area of mixed-use/commercial.  Victory Crossing, which I have mentioned earlier, will be to the west.

"Upon full development, the Section 10 land plan will support about 2,500 residential units, 245,000 square feet of retail, 28,000 square feet of office space, and provide 176 acres of open space. Section 10 will ultimately create a vibrant live-work community with about 7,000 residents and 600 jobs and serve as an extension of the development south of 56th Avenue."
https://www.denvergov.org/Portals/646/documents/Zoning/other_regulations/Stapleton_Section_10_IMP_2014_07_30_Part_1.pdf

Here is what it looks like now:

Dallas & 56th Ave, looking north

What I find very interesting is that the northern residential block, labeled "RES-49" on the map, will be surrounded on 3 sides by wilderness and on the south by open space.  There may be coyotes or deer roaming around.  There are also several lakes to the east, but they may be contaminated with toxic waste.  Hopefully, they have all been cleaned up by now.

Also, can someone please find a better name for this project?

Westminster Mall Fiasco

Another out-of-area post.  Westminster Mall used to reign supreme among shoppers in the northwest part of the Denver metro area.  The Flatirons Crossing mall, which opened in 2000, killed it, but it was a slow death.   It was finally demolished in 2012.

Since then, the 105 acre site has sat vacant, with grandiose plans to replace it.  Other malls have had successful transitions to lifestyle centers, such as Villa Italia becoming the booming Belmar Center, and Southglenn Mall becoming the Streets at SouthGlenn, but this project has lost all momentum.

The "Downtown Westminster" website says that construction was supposed to begin in 2015, but now the construction start date has been pushed back to 2017.  Meanwhile, the huge site just sits there, wasting away, with a couple of earth-digging machines sitting there next to piles of dirt.

Empty former Westminster Mall site, looking south

The EAA

The unromantically named EAA (for East Aurora Annexation) is another mega-project that will be built about 30-40 years from now (my estimate), or about 2050.  When built out, it will have about 12,000 dwelling units (homes and apartments) housing about 30,000 lost souls.

The planning map references yet more future mega-projects: Prosper, to the north,  Eastern Hills (to the west), and Lowry Range, to the south.  The only thing interesting is that circle thing in the middle.  Maybe it will have a fountain, and a statue of President Obama on a horse! (Joke).

Here is what the intersection of Jewell & Watkins Road looks like now, thanks to Google Maps.  It is about in the middle of the above map.

It is looking west, but it is so far out in the plains that you can't even see the mountains.

Update 7/21/16:  This appears to be the same property referred to as "3,000 acres of land owned by the CCSC group located between Prosper and the land owned by the State of Colorado Land Board" (http://www.aurorasentinel.com/news/plans-auroras-new-eastern-frontier-come-heavy-cost-control/).

I-225 Rail Line Tour

Edge Point Phase II

A project named "Edge Point Phase 2" is planned for the northwest corner of 13th & Peoria.  It will have 177 units in five apartment buildings, along with a child care center, on 5.3 acres.  This is the latest version of a project previously referred to as "Mount Nebo Mixed Use".

It should be completed in summer of 2017.

No Conoco

This is a picture of the Conoco at Peoria & Colfax in happier days.  There is currently a chain link fence around it and it appears it will be demolished soon.  No word on what will replace it.

For context, this is catty-corner from the abandoned Safeway, very close to Brent's Place Too, right across the street from the former Boll-e-ana Motel, and close to the ugly blue building that will be a future marijuana shop.  Almost every property in this area is being redeveloped.

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Update:  This will become a 7-Eleven with a 3,000 sq ft convenience store.  There is already a 7-Eleven only 4 blocks away at 19th & Peoria, so that one will probably close.

Buckley & Quincy

Abandoned Safeway at Buckley & Quincy

This is the abandoned Safeway at Buckley & Quincy, which I have mentioned in passing before.  There is a King Soopers right across the street, and a Walmart Neighborhood Market close by and it just couldn't compete.  It may be vacant for many years, unfortunately.

Abandoned Edgewater King Soopers

Another property way outside the scope of this blog, but I don't see anything being done about it.  At 20th & Depew in Edgewater, there is an abandoned King Soopers.  Edgewater keeps talking about putting a natural grocery store there, but that seems like wishful thinking.  Hopefully they will find a use for this site soon.

Mi Barrio

Abandoned restaurant at 11310 E Colfax Ave. (Macon & Colfax).  It has been abandoned at least a year, because this picture was taken in May 2015.

Lowry Boulevard One

See http://boulevardonelowry.com/

Pena Station

Source: http://penastation.com/

A new futuristic village in the middle of the prairie, built around a new light-rail station.

The Train That Saved Denver

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/what-works-denver-rail-system-growth-213905

Very interesting article about how the new light rail system is driving economic development in Denver.

Fan Fair wasteland

Source:  Google Maps at 3rd & Havana in Aurora.

This 12 acre piece of land has a chain link fence around it, lest some urban hiker dare to step foot on it.  It previously was the creepy looking Fan Fair building, built in 1961, and had sat empty since 1985 until its demolition in December 2013, which cost the city of Aurora $4 million.

The city has no idea what to do with it, but is seeking a "visionary developer" for the land.  Hopefully it will happen sometime in the next 50 years.
 
Here is a spooky video of the interior before it was demolished.

9th & Colorado

Source: http://9thandcolorado.com/

This is way outside the scope of this blog, which is focused on Aurora infill projects, but I don't see anything posted on the DenverInfill blog.

Very cool project at 9th & Colorado on the site of the former University of Colorado medical campus.  It will redevelop 26 acres and have about 1,000 residential units plus a lot of retail at a cost of $419 million.  The history of the old medical campus is very interesting to read.

Abilene Station

Source: http://www.davidjerb.com/AbileneStation_files/Abilene%20Station%20brochure%202012.pdf

This map is looking roughly east.  This development will have about 700 condo and apartment units.  It is right next to the light rail and within easy walking distance of many restaurants and shops.  I don't see a timeframe but I would expect it to open about fall of 2017.

The only downside would be the noise from the freeway and light-rail.  There is already a wall, but I think it would still be fairly noisy.

Fletcher Road

In Aurora, Colorado, there is evidence of an old road that would have crossed Colfax between Nome and Oswego, and I am naming it "Fletcher Road" for lack of more information.  It predates Mt. Nebo cemetery that was built in 1902.  All of the streets in this area of town are north-south or east-west, but this road curved to the northeast on the north side of Colfax and to the southeast on the south side of Colfax.  Property lines that still exist show where the road was.

It crosses Oswego north of 16th Avenue, and then any trace of it to the north disappears by 17th Avenue.

However, there is an angled property near Tucson & 30th and near Smith Road and I-225 that may be the same road.

Here is an overhead shot where you can see old "Fletcher Road" being used as a parking lot.

Abandoned Race Track

I have no idea where this is, but a couple of good ole Georgia boys heard about it and made a special trip out to Aurora, Colorado to see it.

Comfortably Numb

On the corner of Monaco and Evans in Denver, sits an enormous vacant big box store.  I think it used to be a K-Mart, then a Sears.  The parking lot is huge, big enough to have its own zip code.  Now it is an enormous disgusting black hole sucking the life out of the area for miles around.

For some reason, the only thing that comes to mind is the Pink Floyd song, Comfortably Numb.

Please, tear it down and make it a park, or maybe convert it into a farm - plant some corn and have some cows and ducks.  It will probably revert to its natural state in a few hundred years, but let's speed up the progress.

Suburban Wasteland

Source:  Google Streetview, abandoned Safeway at Buckley & Mexico

I've mentioned this earlier in my article on Abandoned Supermarkets, but it is worth mentioned again with a picture.  This was in a good suburban neighborhood and it may herald its decline.

Quote: “I know what a vacant, dilapidated building will do to a neighborhood.  It’s not good for the housing market in the area, it invites crime and it’s an eyesore — the first thing people see … is that boarded up gas station. It’s awful and we can’t let it continue.” --Denver Post article about the abandoned Safeway

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Update 3/31/2017:
A new Safeway opened up near Buckley & Mississippi, at the site of an old Albertson's (1200 S Buckley Road).  This is just about 5 blocks to the north, and is a much better location.  So at least there is a Safeway in the area.  But that doesn't help the neighbors near the old abandoned building.

The Royal Palace

In Denver, near the intersection of Colfax & Colorado Blvd, sits the abandoned Royal Palace hotel.  Good riddance.  It was known for its bed bugs, dirty sheets and crack whores.  But it is mentioned in a Jack Kerouac style article here:  Take an end-of-the-summer road trip down Colorado, Denver's boulevard of dreams.

Maybe it could be renovated into affordable housing.

Dysfunction Junction

On the northeast corner of Sable and E Alameda Avenue sits a dysfunctional 7 acre commercial center known as Alameda Center.  It doesn't look that bad from the outside.  It was built in the 1970s, so it isn't that old, and there are cars in the parking lot.  But there is something "off" about it that is hard to describe exactly.

Start with access. There are only 2 entrances on Sable and these will be frequently blocked by the light rail.  However, the nearest light rail station will be several blocks away, so it will not benefit from the light rail being there, at least not as retail. There are 2 or 3 entrances on Alameda but they are only acccessible from the westbound side.

There is a vacancy rate of about 50%, and some of the remaining space is used for non-retail purposes such as churches.  So only about 1/3 of the property is used for retail, and they are probably leased for below market rates.

The asphalt in the parking lot has cracks and is deteriorating.  At the very least, it needs patched and new lines painted for the parking spaces.  The alley in the back is only partially paved and it has ruts.

The property is right in front of the city hall and right across the street from vacant land that the city sees as its future downtown and as a "strategic area which is critical to the city's economy and identity".  There is a large artificial lake behind it, but the property doesn't have a view of and the alley is separated by a chain link fence.

Read the report on the "Alameda Center Urban Renewal Plan".  The plan mentions some of the problems with the site, but doesn't talk about what should happen.

I think the whole site should be torn down and an urban village built with a fountain in the middle, retail on the first floor, and living quarters above.  And build pedestrian bridges across Sable and Alameda.  There is a huge demand for apartments in Aurora, and this would have a nice view of the lake, with the light rail station a few blocks away.

Abandonment Issues

On the northeast corner of 6th Avenue & I-225 sits an abandoned Pizza Hut and an adjacent abandoned car wash.  The locations are very poor as they are hard to access.  The nearest light rail station at 2nd Avenue & Abilene is 4 blocks away and across a busy boulevard.  This is not a good location for housing since it is too close to the interstate.  Maybe it should just be torn down and turned into a park.

Update 6/16/16:  The old Pizza Hut is now being demolished.  No word yet on what will happen next.

Update 7/16/16:  A McDonald's will be built on the two sites.  I don't know how they will handle the access issues.  Maybe a road around the back.

Construction on North Peoria Street

There are 3 new commercial buildings under development north of I-70 on Peoria.  They are:

4388 N Peoria St.  A red building that appears to be a Fazoli's.  Update: It's a Popeye's Chicken.
4390 N Peoria St.  A new Arby's that should be open within a few weeks.
4620 N Peoria St.  A new Golden Meds marijuana shop is under construction.

Abandoned Supermarkets

Abandoned Safeway at 48th & Chambers

There is an abandoned Safeway at Colfax & Peoria, which I have written about before.   There is also one at 48th & Chambers.  And S Buckley & E Mexico.  And 16921 E Quincy.  And 22675 E Aurora Parkway.  And 6 other locations in the Denver area.  And one in Arvada at 58th & Ralston Rd that closed in 2014.

Here is an article from 2010 about abandoned Supermarkets in the Denver area.

It is a shame because the abandoned supermarkets and big box stores just suck the life out of an area.  It only takes a few years for them to become blighted with graffiti and weeds in the parking lot.