Want Massive High-Rise Condo Building Right On Cherry Creek, Could Be Tallest Building In State
by Charles C. Bonniwell
The dark rumors that M.A.K. Investment Group, headed by Mohammad Ali Kheirkhahi, its registered agent and part owner, wants to build a massive super high density high-rise on only 3.8 acres of developable land it owns in Glendale along Cherry Creek, have proven to be true.
M.A.K. owns and runs the Authentic Persian and Oriental Rugs, located at 550 South Colorado Boulevard, and have tried to present themselves to the media as small business people being threatened by the City of Glendale by condemnation, notwithstanding the fact that the city has consistently stated it has no plans to use eminent domain regarding the property.
M.A.K.’s Real Plans
It has been surmised by some that M.A.K. was really attempting to intimidate the city and its elected officials into waiving all of its zoning and Master Plan limitations along Cherry Creek in order to allow a super high density development which would bring the highest possible price for the land for M.A.K.
Kheirkhahi and M.A.K. have brought lawsuits in state and federal court against the city with some of the state claims having already been dismissed by the courts. They have hired one of the largest and most expensive law firms in the country, Kirkland and Ellis, to bring a federal court action in order to nullify Glendale and the state’s urban renewal statutes.
The firm has a well-known reputation for its work in cases that go to trial. Kirkland and Ellis was the primary outside law firm representing oil giant BP in litigation regarding the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Rare Inside View
Seldom does the public get to see the inner workings of wealthy developers obtaining or trying to obtain super high density projects that appear to violate a city’s zoning and master plans. Meetings prior to the filing of a site plan are not public. Moreover, until a “site plan” has been submitted to a city, developers are allowed to lobby public officials in favor of a project while the public is often in the dark about even the existence of a proposed project. After getting tentative oral approval for a project, developers file the “site plan” which makes the project “quasi-judicial” in nature and elected officials can then assert that they are prohibited from talking to members of the public or anyone else about the proposed project.
But because the M.A.K. and Mohammad Ali Kheirkhahi are in litigation with the City of Glendale, the pre-site plan meeting held was openly recorded which made the recording a public record. The Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle, pursuant to the Colorado Open Records Act, demanded and received a copy of the recording. Experts are calling the information in the recording “unprecedented” and “extraordinary.”
M.A.K. Team
M.A.K. brought some of the highest priced and most influential advisors in Colorado to the meeting. Leading the group was Dana Crawford, best known for being the developer of Larimer Square in downtown Denver. Also on the team was David Tryba, the principal of Tryba Architects the Denver based architecture, planning and urban design firm most recently involved with the downtown Union Station development. Tryba along with his wife, were the recipients of the 2012 “Dana Crawford Award” from Colorado Preservation, Inc.
Also heading up the advisory team was Chris Shears of the planning and designing firm Shears Adkins Rockmore Architects. Perhaps demonstrating how incestuous such a meeting can be, Shears co-wrote Glendale’s latest Master Plan whose limitations Kheirkhahi and M.A.K. are now seeking to evade.
Rounding out the team was Bill James, RTD Director for District A, which includes Glendale and Cherry Creek, as well as being the Chair of RTD’s Planning and Development Committee. James has his own real estate brokerage and investment advisory firm in Denver called James Real Estate Services, Inc. Kheirkhahi brought along his sister-in-law Nasrin Kholghy who is also a principal in M.A.K.
Attending the meeting on behalf of the City of Glendale were Co-Deputy City Managers Chuck Line and Linda Cassaday as well as Police Captain Mike Gross who is the project head for Glendale 180, the city’s proposed entertainment development district along Cherry Creek.
Pursuant to the Glendale Master Plan, co-written by Shears, the height limit along Cherry Creek is 45 feet. Since the 1980s Glendale has prohibited residential development along the East Virginia side of Cherry Creek as being incongruous with a boisterous late night entertainment district.
Crawford Lead Speaker
Crawford was the primary spokesperson for the M.A.K. team and it did not take long for her to drop the hammer. She indicated that her and M.A.K.’s inspiration came from places like Tehran, Iran, and Austin, Texas, as well as Dallas, Vancouver and Las Vegas. She passed around pictures of massive luxury condominium developments which appeared to be similar to places such as the 56-story Tehran International Tower in downtown Tehran, Iran, the 56-story Austonian in Austin, Texas, and the under construction 58-story Independent also in Austin.
All buildings appeared to be equal to or exceed the tallest building in the six state region, the Republic Plaza Building in downtown Denver, which is 56 floors.
Crawford expressed her admiration for condo developers as “people with very big bucks and willing to take big risks are doing condos.” Crawford went on to declare that if we wanted to double metropolitan Denver population “we’re going to have to get over our hysteria about high-rise buildings because Denver just, you know, the neighborhoods just get bonkers over the subject.”
She then proceeded to declare that the Glendale location would be good because it is “smarter than Denver is and also because of the location to be able to do things that are not going to get people hysterical about blocking their views …”
She also went on to declare that the building “could be just sensational and observable from almost the whole metropolitan area.” Given that the M.A.K. property is at the creek level, the proposed building would probably need to be in excess of 60 stories to meet this criteria. Crawford also indicated her belief that people today want a safe community and “the safest place in the United States right now is the island of Manhattan [New York City] interestingly enough.”
Crawford’s “Special Sugar”
Crawford also added “there is, you know there’s some sugar in it, a special sugar in it for the community … taking care of some that need a little extra care.” In talking with city officials, who exactly was going to be getting the “special sugar?” How was it going to be distributed and by whom were unclear but the implications were potentially highly disturbing.
RTD Director Bill James seconded Crawford’s belief that Glendale, as a separate jurisdiction, surrounded by and in the middle of Denver, was a real benefit as this massive density would be “something easier to get away with in this environment …”
James went on to declare, apparently relating to the fact that such a massive residential building right on Colorado Boulevard would potentially create enormous traffic jams during rush hours, that people have “been sort of seduced by the car — we’re moving away from that.”
David Tryba brought forth how such mass density “leverages the value of the land” and how much money this type of project could bring to the pockets of M.A.K. as well as Kheirkhahi and the Kholghys. He stated that “just a few short years ago Dana and others were buying properties for between $1 and $5 a square foot and now the property values around those spaces are $500 to $750 a square foot.”
M.A.K. bought its Glendale property in 2007 for $6.5 million or $39 per developable foot. At $750 per developable square foot the property would be worth over $124 million. He also emphasized he and Dana had worked together on projects and what they liked about Glendale was that they were “frankly interested in having more flexibility than they could have in Denver in terms of being able to go vertically.”
Shears, the former Glendale consultant and co-author of its Master Plan which limited “verticality” brought the presentation to an end emphasizing what a “great idea” Crawford had come up with and that it was worth “proceeding with a conversation to see if it’s possible. We certainly hope.”
Nasrin Kholghy concurred, apparently keeping in mind Tryba’s economic analysis, “I was hoping we could take advantage of her vision and create something wonderful. So I’m still hopeful.”
City’s Response
It was clear that M.A.K. was hoping that its lawsuits, the constant efforts to create bad publicity for the city and its administration, along with efforts by “investigative blogger” Jeanne Price to dig up dirt on the city and staff with constant open records requests, that the city would have been softened up for the general proposal which some in the city would later nickname the “Tehranian Death Star.”
If M.A.K.’s scorched earth tactics had intimidated the elected officials it was not reflected by the remarks of the staff to the M.A.K. participants in the meeting.
Deputy City Manager Chuck Line pointed out that Glendale already had “the highest residential density in the state,” and Deputy City Manager Linda Cassaday added that Glendale was also “surrounded by density.”
Tryba appeared incredulous to the staff statements and demanded to know “would you be open to a further discussion about encouraging more verticality and integration of use and more energy and more of higher density?”
Line indicated t
hat “there are no current plans to revisit those parts of our zoning code” and Cassaday pointed out the M.A.K.’s property was “not zoned for that [high density residential] but that “other areas within the city that are zoned for residential but that area is not.”
M.A.K. Team Not Pleased
Crawford was clearly not pleased stating “most of the communities that I’ve worked with there has been from a staff perspective an expression of flexibility.” She then demanded, “Is there any attitude of flexibility?”
Line reminded Crawford that M.A.K. and the city were in litigation which could not be discussed and would have to wind through the court system before it would even be proper to examine “if we have any flexibility or not.”
The response was clearly not what M.A.K. and Kheirkhahi wanted. Days after the meeting, Jeanne Price was back at the city with voluminous open records requests clearly digging once again for information that could be used against the city and its employees and elected officials in Team M.A.K.’s demand for the so-called “Tehranian Death Star.” Negotiations were over for M.A.K. and the scorched earth policy had been fully re-instituted.