Office building, condos, apartments, retail to kick-start Central Park Station development in Stapleton
The Denver Post
June 6, 2017
Undeveloped lots south of Central Park Station in Stapleton will begin their transformation next spring into a mixed-use transit-oriented district.
The first phase of the 35-acre development will include Central Park Station One, a 190,000-square-foot Class A office building; a 300-unit apartment building; a 120-unit for-sale condo project; and 60,000 square feet of retail, all around a large public plaza, master developer Forest City Stapleton and real estate firm Newmark Knight Frank announced Tuesday.
“We’re kicking it off with office, multifamily and retail — we think it’s very important to have all those going at the same time so we can really start to create a sense of place and help people understand the context of the ultimate buildout, versus having just one building,” Forest City senior vice president Jim Chrisman said. “This will be a very urban, mixed-use, transit-oriented development.”
The buildings are expected to break ground starting in late first quarter or early second quarter 2018, with delivery in summer 2019, Chrisman said. A hotel is the works, as well.
At completion, Central Park Station could be home to 1 million square feet of office space, 1,000 apartments, 400 condos, 120 hotel rooms and 100,000 square feet of retail.
“Office is the last piece of the puzzle for Stapleton,” Chrisman said. “If you go down the checklist of what an office user is looking for, we believe we can check everything on that list.”
Located at East 37th Place and Uinta Street, Central Park Station One will be six stories in height, with each office floor offering outdoor terraces and balconies. Ground-floor retail will open onto the public plaza via roll-up doors.
Zoning generally allows for buildings up to 16 stories high near the train station, but Chrisman said while they may get there eventually, they thought it would be “a little aggressive” to go that tall right out of the gate.
“We have virtually unlimited expansion capability,” he said.
Forest City is developing the office building, apartments and public plaza, while D.H. Friedman Properties will build the for-sale condos.
And while many office tenants set their sights on downtown Denver, Central Park Station and Stapleton are just a 15-minute train ride from Denver Union Station — with lower rents and more affordable parking, Chrisman said.
“Stapleton was designed to appeal to the workforce of the future who will value the community’s access, amenities, housing and hospitality choices,” Newmark vice chairman Tim Harrington said in a statement. “It’s bigger than you thought and more connected than you imagined.”
The public plaza next to the first office building will be home to unique shade structures meant to emulate clouds floating over the prairie, Chrisman said.
“We’re trying to do something that will be memorable, that will be iconic, when you say Central Park Station, ‘Oh, that’s where that really cool public space is,’” he said. “We’re looking at those elements that can act like the blue bear at the convention center or the milk jug at Little Man.”
