The Denver Planning Board on Wednesday approved a rezoning of the west end of Cherry Creek Shopping Center for a huge redevelopment that could bring seven office and apartment buildings — some to 13 stories high— on a site where the old Bed Bath & Beyond store now overlooks University Boulevard.
With the board’s unanimous vote on Wednesday, the Cherry Creek West project moves to the City Council for review and approval, despite worries from neighborhood groups that the planned development might grow larger still as its buildings come out of the ground over the next decade.
Representing a consortium of neighborhood groups, Lou Raders of the Cherry Creek Steering Committee appealed to city planners to better define the size of the project before approval. She and other community members told the board that planned urban development documents comprising the rezoning initiative fail to set specific limits on the scale of the undertaking, including the final numbers of buildings and their possible heights.
Those comments were among other concerns about potential size and density voiced during the hearing. Those worries included traffic congestion to busy boulevards bordering the site, where commuters pass through a gauntlet of intersections en route to downtown.
The board also heard comments from supporters, who advocated for greater "density" as a means to supporting public transportation and expressed support for affordable housing. Some 12% of the apartments to be created at Cherry Creek West would be mandated as meeting affordability requirements of renters earning up to 60% of the area median income.
One resident who phoned in her comments during the hearing told the meeting that she doesn't care if buildings rose to 20 stories, as long as the project delivered new apartments.
Amy Cara, managing partner at East West Partners, developer of Cherry Creek West, told The Denver Gazette she is pleased the project is moving on to the next phase.
Asked whether more guarantees are needed with respect to the eventual scale prior to approval, Cara said that rezoning specifications rarely get specific about such features.
“We haven’t designed the buildings yet,” she said. “They do not typically divide out all of the individual buildings because we don’t know what they will look like yet.”
After the board’s unanimous approval, Raders told The Denver Gazette that board members appeared to assume that the city’s plan review process had been met. She said she is conferring with Cara of East West about a community benefits agreement that could resolve some of the concerns.
“If we complete that, we’ll go over to the support side,” she added.
Like project supporters, Raders and others concerned with the project said they are pleased with developer’s work on the project.
Over a projected buildout that could span a decade, Cherry Creek West, as envisioned, could deliver 1.6 million square feet of offices and apartments to the site, filling a gap that spans from the Cherry Creek North shopping district, south to the Cherry Creek Trail. The project would be virtually entirely served by underground parking.
Community leaders around Cherry Creek have noted the importance of the shopping center and Cherry Creek North to city tax revenues, at a moment when Denver is scouring for sources of income. Cherry Creek has been an attractive revenue generator for the city — more than $112 million in taxes during last year alone.
Comments by supporters at the hearing echoed a rationale that greater density is a solution for many of Denver’s urban problems. The reasoning is encompassed in the “15-minute city” idea — widely quoted in support of Cherry Creek West — envisioning a community where employers, shops, schools, medical care, and recreation all lie within a 15-minute walk, bike or bus ride from where residents live.
Opponents are widely skeptical about "density" as a cure-all, and about rapid transit as a means to enable that. Several earlier cited a kind of circular logic embedded in the idea, along the lines of “we need more residents to serve buses,” and then “we need more buses to serve residents.” They also question the idea that a future expansion of public transportation will allow the concept to succeed.
As presented by East West, buildings at Cherry Creek West would average 10.5 stories in height, and some could tower to 13 stories. That expansion would redouble a huge expansion of office and commercial growth that have occurred north across First over the past decade.
Those new components will likely be well positioned on the market, including a proposed 600,000 square feet of offices that brokers say could command top dollar at a moment when companies, some of them in downtown, are anxious to lure employees back to the office in more attractive settings.
It's precisely that draw that is leading some to worry about the project's potential impact on the city's efforts to revitalize downtown Denver, arguing that limited resources, such as money for transportation infrastructure, is best allocated toward the struggling area — not to Cherry Creek, which, they argued, is best left alone.
The proposed expenditure on Cherry Creek is coming at a time when officials are pressing for tax hikes to generate nearly $200 million in revenue for housing and Denver Health. If approved at the ballot box, they would make Denver the highest-taxed city in the metro area, rivaling only Colorado's mountain resort towns.
Residents and neighbors of Cherry Creek have hunkered down to push for changes and assurances ahead of Wednesday's meeting, even as some expressed disappointment that, despite the worries they have raised, Denver officials appear bent on approving the massive redevelopment.
Critics have complained that planners are missing the impact that large scale projects will have when they open. They also worry that projections will underestimate actual growth in Cherry Creek, just as a 2013 estimate understated the development that materialized over the last 10 years.
Developer David Steel of Western Development Group, who was among the developers who created some 8.5 million feet of offices, hotels and residential buildings that arrived north across First in the Cherry Creek North shopping district since 2014, said the city could end up "tripping over its own feet,” as the buildout impacts the area.
Councilmember Amanda Sawyer, who represents Cherry Creek, and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston did not immediately return a request for comment on the project.
