|
 |
Downtown Denver Buildout
Scenarios
|
Twelve Visions of
the Future. In late
2005, the Downtown Denver Partnership and the City and County of Denver
began the process of updating the Downtown Area Plan, which was last
revised in 1986. Your DenverInfill webmaster, who annually
teaches Planning Methods I, a first-year Masters course in urban planning at the
University of Colorado at Denver that explores the various quantitative
methodologies involved in planning, arranged for the Fall 2005 semester class to assist the City and the Partnership in their
Downtown Area Plan effort through this Downtown Denver Buildout
Scenarios project.
The goal of this project was to
envision a number of different "buildout" scenarios for the B-5 Zone
part of Downtown, an area roughly equivalent to the Central Downtown and
Upper Downtown subareas on this website. Within this study area,
77 parcels were identified that are either undeveloped or surface
parking lots. The class was divided into 12 teams of three
students. Each team had to evaluate the 77 parcels and, based on
their vision or concept for how Downtown should develop in the future,
identify the specific use or mix of uses (residential, office, hotel,
retail, etc.) they would incorporate into a proposed high-rise on each
development site. Then, each team had to calculate the exact
development quantities (gross square footage, number of dwelling units,
number of parking spaces, etc.) that would result from a "maximum
buildout" of each high-rise, as allowed by the requirements and restrictions
of the B-5 zoning code.
Each team's report includes an
overview of Downtown and its development potential and a description of
their concept or vision for the future development of these undeveloped
parcels. Each team also prepared a Development Buildout Map
showing the location of each of their high-rise sites and its primary land
use. Accompanying each map is a Development Buildout Matrix, where
each numbered row represents the specific development quantities of the corresponding numbered site on the map.
These scenarios do not
represent the full buildout potential for Downtown, as any parcel with an
existing building on it, regardless of the building's size or condition, was
excluded from the analysis. But these scenarios do provide a peek
into a possible future of Downtown Denver and its capacity to
accommodate residences, hotel rooms, office and retail space, and other
uses, when the last of the surface parking lots has finally been removed.
Is there enough? Do we want more? These are the questions that
hopefully these scenarios may help answer as the Partnership, the City,
and Denver citizens plan the future of Downtown Denver.
|
|
|
|
Click on a thumbnail
to view
the image or document. |
Project Introduction,
Assumptions
and Summary: |
 |
Study Area Vacant Parcels
Map: |
 |
Study Area Vacant Parcels
Data Sheet: |
 |
Study Area B-5 Zoning
Map: |
 |
|
|
|
Development
Quantities Summary Table: |
 |
Acknowledgments:
Thank you to the 36 students, named in the section below, whose hard
work went into creating these 12 different visions for Downtown.
Two additional students,
Chris Fellows and
Phillip
Patterson, were not part of a team but proved valuable as project
assistants, and in researching the zoning requirements and development
standards and assumptions for this project. Special thanks also to
Kate Peterson, John Desmond, Keo Frazier, and Jessica Baker from the
Downtown Denver Partnership, and Kiersten Faulkner, Ken Brewer, and
Wayland Walker from the City & County of Denver.
|
|
|
|
Student Names &
Buildout Concept: |
Development Buildout
Report: |
Development Buildout
Map: |
Development Buildout
Matrix: |
Student Names &
Buildout Concept: |
Development
Buildout Report: |
Development Buildout
Map: |
Development Buildout
Matrix: |
|
