by Charles Bonniwell | May 19, 2026 | Main Articles
by Charles C. Bonniwell
Investigation: CBS News Colorado investigative reporter Brian Maass examined CDOT’s proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project along Colorado Boulevard in a May 11 segment highlighting concerns over lane reductions, increased congestion, and the potential impact on surrounding neighborhoods and businesses.
CBS News Colorado’s veteran investigative reporter Brian Maass led off the 10 o’clock news program on May 11 with a deep dive into the CDOT/RTD plans for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) along a seven-mile stretch of Colorado Boulevard from I-70 to Hampden Boulevard.
He first interviewed Glendale City Manager Chuck Line, whose town’s main commercial tax base is along the relevant portion of Colorado Boulevard from Alameda Avenue to Mississippi Avenue and includes such leading sales tax generators as Target, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Home Depot.
The Glendale City Council voted unanimously (5-0) to oppose BRT along Colorado Boulevard, rejecting all three of the so-called preferred alternatives along the road. Since Colorado Boulevard is a federal highway, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) apparently has the final say in consultation with the Federal Transit Administration, which oversees the federal environmental review process and provides potential funding avenues.
Star: Glendale City Manager, Chuck Line, was featured as the lead interviewee in CBS Colorado reporter Brian Maass’s segment covering CDOT’s proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project along Colorado Boulevard.
The Denver City Council has not, to date, taken a formal position on the project, but Amanda Sawyer, councilwoman for Denver District 5, which covers much of the Denver portion of the roadway, has expressed strong scepticism about the project, saying CDOT had failed to provide any data showing the “need for” the extremely expensive ($250 million) undertaking.
BRT Process
CDOT has undertaken, at enormous expense (three-quarters of a billion dollars), to turn three heavily traveled federal thoroughfares in Denver, Colfax Avenue, Federal Boulevard, and Colorado Boulevard, into BRT routes. The only specific reasons given are apparently to increase RTD bus
ridership at the expense of people riding in automobiles and a claim that it will increase public safety.
The Regional Transportation District (RTD) was formed in 1969 to act as the primary public transportation agency (initially buses) for Denver, Boulder, and parts of Weld County. It now covers eight counties, has a service area of 2,342 miles, and serves 3.08 million people. Its network encompasses 126 bus routes, six light rail lines, and four commuter train lines. RTD is run by a board of 15 elected representatives from 15 separate districts. From the start 57 years ago, RTD has struggled with the fact that revenue from ridership covers only 5% of the cost of service. To stay afloat, the operation is subsidized by a 1% sales and use tax imposed on the service area. Even with that additional funding source, RTD is chronically short of cash.
Bus Ridership Down
RTD’s ridership has been decreasing ever since the COVID pandemic in 2019-2020 and, even today, remains 39% below pre-pandemic levels. The RTD Board is looking to cut its bus routes by 20% to reduce expenses due to the lack of ridership in affected areas.
The fact that CDOT wants to spend three-quarters of a billion dollars on BRTs on three roads for a relatively small increase in bus ridership seems incomprehensible to critics of CDOT and RTD.
CDOT has estimated, for example, that after full implementation, Colorado Boulevard BRT bus ridership will increase by only 3,000 to 4,000 daily riders while causing the 70,000 cars (which often have multiple occupants) to double travel time from approximately 30 minutes to one hour for the seven-mile stretch.
Environmental Concerns
Traffic: Daily gridlock on Colorado Boulevard illustrates the corridor’s already severe congestion challenges. Critics of CDOT’s proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, slated for construction around 2030, warn that eliminating two vehicle lanes could worsen traffic backups, increase idling times, and lead to higher vehicle emissions and air pollution along one of Denver’s busiest corridors.
Glendale’s deputy city manager has estimated that the exhaust fumes from the traffic congestion created by the BRT on Colorado Boulevard would be highly detrimental to the environment. He estimated that the BRT project would result in an extra 1,423,500 gallons of gasoline being used by car travelers on the congested road, producing 27,375,000 pounds of CO2 emissions and costing car travelers an aggregate of $3,285,000 to $8,760,000 annually.
Colfax Avenue BRT’s Many Problems
CDOT began construction on its first BRT project on a four-mile portion of East Colfax Avenue well over a year ago but still needs another year and a half for completion. The construction of the infrastructure for the BRT on Colfax Avenue has been a disaster for many businesses along the roadway, with no relief in sight.
If construction of the Colorado Boulevard BRT created similar problems to those on East Colfax, the sales tax losses would be catastrophic for the financial health of the City of Glendale.
Real Reason For The BRTs
With the enormous cost of a BRT and the many negative impacts once implementation occurs, it seems to many observers that the relatively small increase in RTD ridership is hardly worth it. Glendale’s Chuck Line, however, indicates that the key to understanding why CDOT is so aggressively pushing the BRTs is that the enormous auto congestion it would cause on the three roads is not a burden but the principal benefit for the political players involved.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis and Denver Mayor Michael Johnston and their administrations are profoundly anti-automobile. They want to get citizens out of cars and into far more egalitarian public transportation. To create a so-called “15-minute walkable city,” they want Denver to become, a large segment of the population must be convinced to abandon or be forced out of their automobiles.
The three BRT roadways are just part of a broad-ranging vision and plan to make Denver as automobile-free as humanly possible. The political powers, however, do not believe that, at this point, they can trust the public to concur with such an extreme plan, so the public reasons for the BRTs must be expressed in terms of road safety and increases in bus ridership.
Public Meeting
Packed House: The Colorado Department of Transportation hosted its second open house for the Colorado Boulevard Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project on Wednesday, May 13, to share project information, respond to questions and obtain feedback on potential options for improvements along the corridor. Photo by Miranda Tillinghast
Input: Community members review maps, share feedback, and engage with CDOT staff during the open house on the proposed Colorado Boulevard BRT project at the Clayton Early Learning Center on May 13. Photo by Miranda Tillinghast
On the evening of May 13, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., CDOT held its second and final open house to purportedly gather community feedback on the only three potential design options that CDOT is willing to consider: center bus lanes, side bus lanes, and mixed-use bus lanes. Center bus lanes have an estimated cost of $350 million, while the latter two are estimated at $250 million each.
Having completed the public input portion of the process, CDOT will now determine what it calls the “Locally Preferred Alternative” (LPA). There are no criteria or guidelines explaining how CDOT will determine the LPA. CDOT, after the public relations disaster caused by construction work on the center bus lanes on Colfax Avenue, has indicated that it has no interest in the center bus lane option, asserting moreover that it does not have the extra $100 million required for that alternative.
Thus, CDOT is only considering whether the LPA should be the side bus lanes or the mixed-use bus lanes. Ostensibly, the side bus lanes would involve two dedicated bus lanes, thereby decreasing the number of lanes for cars from six to four and increasing automobile congestion. The mixed-use alternative would continue the present arrangement of buses sharing lanes with automobiles.
But Glendale officials point out that both alternatives would cost the exact same amount, which would go toward condemning land for rights-of-way along the roadway and building elevated bus stations along the route where none currently exist. CDOT has provided no explanation for why Colorado Boulevard suddenly needs multi-million-dollar bus stations where none previously existed. The only difference between the side bus lane alternative and mixed-use bus lanes would be the striping of the lanes. Mixed-use lanes could readily be converted to side bus lanes, which Glendale officials suspect CDOT will ultimately build regardless of what the community wants or needs.
As opposition to the BRT project along Colorado Boulevard has steadily grown, the nature of the May 13 open house appeared to have been altered. On May 13, there were no presentations given by officials or questions answered that could be heard by all attendees. The packed Clayton Learning Center simply had storyboards along one side of the room with the same information that appears on the CDOT website. There were tables in the center of the room where the public could fill out the so-called unscientific “survey,” but the same survey can also be completed online through the end of the month. Attendees could scribble thoughts on Post-it notes regarding the alternatives and stick them on the storyboards. While it appeared dubious that the large clutter of haphazard Post-it notes could be tabulated by CDOT in any meaningful way, attendees appeared happy to fill them out and place them on the storyboards. Critics of CDOT at the meeting postulated that the only purpose of the meeting was to fulfill a requirement set forth in the applicable federal environmental regulations for such a project.
“This project still has far too many unanswered questions for residents to support it responsibly,” said Audry Oxley, a Hilltop resident. “There has been no comprehensive analysis of air and water quality impacts, storm drainage costs, traffic diversion into nearby neighborhoods, or the effects on private property owners along Colorado Boulevard. At the same time, permanent station locations remain undecided, transit stops would be reduced, and there is no dedicated federal funding identified for the project. Residents and taxpayers deserve greater transparency and clearer answers before a project of this scale moves forward.”
“We’re being asked to support a massively expensive project without clear answers on cost, congestion, environmental impacts, property acquisition, or whether the community even wants it,” said Dana Busch, a Cherry Creek North resident. “Taxpayers deserve transparency and accountability before Colorado Boulevard loses lanes to a project tied to an RTD system many residents no longer trust.”
Choosing And Presenting The LPA
No Build: Glendale City Council voted to support a fourth alternative, the “No Build” option, opposing proposed lane reductions associated with CDOT’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) plans along Colorado Boulevard and favoring preservation of the corridor’s existing traffic lanes.
The next step will be for CDOT to choose the LPA in its sole discretion. CDOT has what it calls “partners” on the project, consisting of the City and County of Denver, the City of Glendale, Arapahoe County, and the Denver Regional Council of Governments. They will apparently have no say on what the LPA should be.
Instead, once CDOT determines its LPA, it will present it to a group of organizations it calls the “stakeholders,” but not to the public at large. The members of the “stakeholders” appear to be a myriad of highly progressive and/or pro-bicycle and anti-automobile organizations led by Denver Streets Partnership, an entity associated with Bicycle Colorado. Other organizations include the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, CoPRIG, Denver Regional Mobility & Access Council, Greater Denver Transit, Pedestrian Dignity, Servicios de la Raza, the Sierra Club, and YIMBY Denver.
Those “stakeholders” are among the most committed supporters of BRT on Colorado Boulevard. The “stakeholders” group does not appear to include any pro-business groups or retail establishments along Colorado Boulevard. It would appear that the “stakeholders” would likely enthusiastically support any LPA chosen by CDOT other than the no-build scenario.
After approval of the LPA by the stakeholders, CDOT would move into the preliminary design phase, followed by construction beginning in 2030.
Tension Between Residents
And Bicycle Advocates
There appears to be a growing rift between residents and the ever more radical bicycle lobby. At the April 29 Hilltop Neighborhood Homeowners Association meeting on the Colorado Boulevard BRT project, an apparent representative for the Denver Streets Partnership or an associated group, who wore his bicycle helmet throughout the entire meeting, opened his remarks with a declaration that he could not afford a car and did not give a “sh*t” what people with cars thought.
A group of members in the crowd of Hilltop residents reacted to his remarks by indicating that they, in turn, did not care what some “ANTIFA-adjacent bicycle nut” had to say. At the end of the meeting, an informal straw poll was taken in which all but eight people in a crowd of more than 100 individuals supported the no-build scenario.
The Road Ahead
As CDOT moves toward selecting its so-called “Locally Preferred Alternative,” opposition to the Colorado Boulevard BRT project appears to be intensifying among residents, business owners, and local officials who fear the project’s financial, environmental, and traffic impacts could permanently alter one of Denver’s most heavily traveled corridors. Whether CDOT ultimately listens to those concerns or proceeds with a plan many critics view as predetermined, may shape not only the future of Colorado Boulevard, but also the broader debate over transportation policy, public accountability, and automobile use throughout the Denver metro area.
For information about this project, visit www.codot.gov/projects/studies/denvermetrobrt/coloradoblvd. For information provided by sceptical citizens, visit www.keepdenvermoving.com.
by Charles Bonniwell | Apr 17, 2026 | Main Articles
by Charles C. Bonniwell
Ball Arena: The ownership of the Colorado Avalanche is taking 55 acres of surface parking and redeveloping it into a new urban neighborhood that would adjoin the River Mile project to its east.
The famous 18th-century French philosopher Voltaire is credited with saying: “Where states have an army, the Prussian Army has a state.” While many American cities have professional sports teams, Denver’s sports teams are the only ones to control the development of an entire city.
Virtually the only major development plans on the boards in the City and County of Denver relate to its various dominant professional sports teams — the Denver Broncos (football), the Denver Nuggets (basketball), and the Colorado Avalanche (hockey).
The Development Plans
Denver’s future growth comes from plans submitted by its sports teams:
- Burnham Yards. The Denver Broncos want a new $2 billion retractable-roof stadium that could host events year-round, including Super Bowls. The Broncos’ ownership acquired a 100-plus-acre former railroad site whose development will include massive high-rises that house five to seven million square feet of retail, office, and housing space. Construction is to start this year with a projected opening in 2031.
- The River Mile. The ownership of the Denver Nuggets purchased 62 acres of land along the South Platte River, which presently houses Elitch Gardens Amusement Park. The site will feature thin, very tall skyscrapers that will include: 47% office space (6.65M sq. ft.), 41% residential (5.85M sq. ft.), 5.5% hotel (790K sq. ft.), and 3.5% retail (520K sq. ft.).
- Ball Arena. The ownership of the Colorado Avalanche is taking 55 acres of surface parking and redeveloping it into a new urban neighborhood that would adjoin the River Mile project to its east. The plans call for 10 to 12 million gross square feet of mixed-use development that would include 6,000 housing units and a new concert venue. The first phase of the project is scheduled to be completed by 2033.
One Conglomerate Of Ownership
River Mile: The ownership of the Denver Nuggets purchased 62 acres of land along the South Platte River, which presently houses Elitch Gardens Amusement Park. The site will feature tall skyscrapers. Photo Courtesy of Revesco Properties
When discussing the ownership of professional sports teams in Denver, they are slowly morphing into a single massive conglomerate.
In 2022, the Denver Broncos football team was acquired for $4.65 billion by a syndicate headed by Rob Walton, his daughter Carrie Walton Penner, and her husband Craig Penner. Rob Walton is the son of Sam Walton, a co-founder of Walmart, the world’s largest retailer with corporate headquarters in Arkansas. Rob Walton was the chairman of Walmart, and Craig Penner is the present chairman.
Billionaire Stan Kroenke acquired both the Denver Nuggets and the Colorado Avalanche in 2000. In 1974, he married Ann Walton, the daughter of the other co-founder of Walmart, Bud Walton. The couple, through Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, owns a myriad of professional sports teams throughout the United States and internationally.
Until very recently, the piece of the Denver professional mosaic outside the control of the Walton/Kroenke extended family was the Colorado Rockies, owned by a syndicate headed by former beef processors and brothers Dick and Charlie Monfort. While the Monforts are relatively well off financially, they are not in the billionaire class of the Waltons and the Kroenkes. Apparently without offspring to marry into the Walton or Kroenke families, the Monfort brothers sold a 40% interest in the Rockies to the Broncos’ Walton group. While the Waltons do not presently have a majority share of the Rockies, they are expected to eventually obtain a controlling interest.
A major asset of the Rockies is the acres of surface parking in downtown Denver, which are now also ripe for redevelopment by the sports teams.
Crazy As A Fox?
It is fortunate that Denver’s sports teams seem willing to spend billions on real estate development in Denver, as most experts are not at all sanguine about future development prospects in the city. They wonder how Denver could possibly absorb tens of millions of square feet of new office space and housing in the form of apartments and condominiums.
Downtown Denver office buildings have economically disastrous vacancy rates. Various office buildings are selling for a fraction of what they cost to build. To construct millions of square feet of new office space for which there is no present market appears to be foolhardy.
Similarly, rental rates on apartment space in Denver are dropping precipitously, and there are many new apartment buildings in the development pipeline throughout the city. In addition, condominium sales in downtown and across the city are stagnant at best.
Burnham Yards: The Denver Broncos are proposing a new $2 billion retractable-roof stadium, on the site of the old Burnham Yards, that could host events year-round, including Super Bowls.
Denver’s population is no longer growing, and the business climate in the city and throughout the state is getting steadily worse as the state becomes ever more left-leaning and progressive.
People are fleeing the financial mismanagement of politically blue states such as California, Illinois, and New York, moving to states like Texas, Tennessee, and Florida — and no longer to politically deep-blue states like Colorado.
The Colorado Chamber of Commerce recently wrote to Colorado Governor Jared Polis that a hundred companies have left Colorado due to excessive regulation and other anti-business government practices.
For the Burnham Yards, River Mile, and Ball Arena projects to succeed, they depend on a growing, economically successful Denver and Colorado — unless they are planning to cannibalize from the rest of the city.
But the Walton and Kroenke families did not become billionaires by making poor business decisions. Denver residents can only hope that what they are envisioning happening in Denver in the next decade comes to fruition.
by Charles Bonniwell | Feb 19, 2026 | Main Articles
by Charles Bonniwell
Divider: Critics say Channel 9 News anchor Kyle Clark has instigated class warfare over Alameda Avenue in order to boost his slumping ratings.
Unlikely Hero: Jill Anschutz, daughter-in-law of Colorado’s richest man, has become a surprising popular advocate for many everyday Denverites.
Denver’s hard progressive left and its media advocates, headed by Channel 9’s Kyle Clark, have decided to flex their increasing muscle to go after and try to crush the middle-class homeowners, small businessmen, and everyday commuters who once were important voices in the city, all over a relatively short one-mile, 10-block stretch of East Alameda Avenue in the East Washington Park area.
Opposing Clark and his powerful allies is an unlikely voice for the middle class, Jill Anschutz, the daughter-in-law of Colorado’s richest man, Phil Anschutz. Although she married into a rich family, she herself did not come from a wealthy background.
She graduated magna cum laude with a journalism degree from Taylor University, a small Christian liberal college in Indiana, before moving to Denver, where she met Christian Anschutz around 2015. They have several children together.
Repurposing Project
“While my name might stand out, this is not about me,” Anschutz has indicated. “It is about hundreds of neighbors and businesses who are concerned about negative unintended consequences from the initial design of the Alameda Lanes Repurposing Project.”
The war between the two sides relates to the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) “Alameda Lane Repurposing Project” for Alameda Avenue between Franklin and Downing streets.
On November 7, 2025, DOTI came out with its plan for public comment, with implementation to begin in late 2026. The existing road has two lanes in each direction. It acts as a major thoroughfare for east-west traffic in that portion of the city. The plan would have cut the street down to a single lane each way. It would add dedicated left-turn lanes at various intersections and install medians and bollards at others to eliminate left turns altogether.
DOTI declared the goals of the plan were to reduce crashes, provide pedestrian safety, and improve accessibility, and of course no one believed them. Critics of the city administration believe that many, if not most, of the city’s plans have a real purpose hidden behind politically correct bromides.
Busy Traffic: The one-mile stretch along Alameda Avenue that is subject of DOTI’s repurposing project has many fender bender accidents but no reported fatalities or serious injuries.
The idea that “safety” is the overriding concern of Kyle Clark or his adherents is somewhat ridiculous. Given the number of lights and stop signs on this one-mile track of roadway, cars drive very slowly. While there are various accidents reported, they are overwhelmingly fender-bender-type accidents; there have been no reported fatalities or serious injuries.
The real fight is about competing visions of what kind of city Denver should be.
Ideal Choked-Up City
Some members of the Denver City Council and the City Administration believe cars are a baneful influence on a city. By reducing cars and car traffic, they believe it would help in fighting climate change and create a more egalitarian society where everyone is made to ride bicycles, walk, or take public transportation in the form of buses or trains. That would create an idealized “15-minute city.”
But what about middle-class families for whom cars are an enormous benefit to their lives, along with small businesses that depend on car traffic? To the hard progressive left, they are what the “kulak” farmers were to Stalin’s Russia in the 1920s — an impediment to true progress that needs to be liquidated.
If given their druthers, the hard left would simply ban cars within the confines of the city, but that is not politically viable at the present time. Instead, in the name of “safety,” “sustainability,” “accessibility,” “affordability,” etc., driving in Denver must be made as unpleasant as possible to get people to cease using cars.
One method is making parking as difficult as possible, so Denver did away with an all-parking requirement for any new project. Another method is making driving as unpleasant as possible by creating as much traffic congestion as can be imposed.
On many major thoroughfares in Denver, including Colfax Avenue, Federal Boulevard, and Colorado Avenue, DOTI and/or CDOT have ongoing projects whereby the number of traffic lanes is to be reduced and substituted with bus or bike lanes.
Pitch Battle: Admirers of Jill Anschutz have come to view her as a modern day Molly Pitcher in Anschutz’s battle against what they view as the Godless mercenary hords of Kyle Clark. Shown above is Molly Pitcher in the revolutionary war battle of Monmouth in 1777.
For other thoroughfares such as Alameda Avenue, in the name of “safety,” the number of lanes is reduced to create a left-turn lane and create congestion on the remaining lanes.
Opposition Arises
After the city’s proposed plan was issued in November 2025, a group headed by Jill Anschutz entitled Act for Alameda was formed, representing homeowners in the area, small businesses along Alameda Avenue, and commuters who used Alameda as an east-west corridor to get across the city.
The group sent a letter to Denver Mayor Mike Johnston opposing the plan, indicating that the project would potentially create massive traffic congestion, pouring cars onto residential side streets where families and children would be walking. Moreover, to the extent that safety was actually a concern, there were less disruptive ways to lessen the fender-bender accidents on the road.
Jill Anschutz, who owns a home just off Alameda Avenue, was a logical person to lead the group. She had been a long-time marketing, public relations, and messaging consultant, and was now a freelance communicator and project director. She even hired a lobbyist for the group with experience dealing with DOTI.
Anschutz and Councilmember Kevin Flynn were able to point out that in 2012 the exact same lane reduction was implemented by DOTI and was so disastrous that the road was quickly adjusted back to its present configuration.
Plan Modification
DOTI then came up with a modified plan that kept all four lanes but converted some spans into “turn pockets” for drivers turning left. Advocates indicated the modified plan would provide less congestion while still making the road “safer.”
Normally that would have been the end of the matter, but Channel 9’s Kyle Clark latched onto the fact that Act for Alameda was headed up by Jill Anschutz, a born-again Christian and the daughter-in-law of Colorado’s richest man, Phil Anschutz.
Kyle Clark Weighs In
Channel 9 was for many years Colorado’s leading television station and was dubbed “mommy news” for its female-oriented soft news orientation. But over the last decade, ratings for local television news have dropped precipitously, particularly for Channel 9 News.
In 2016, NBC affiliate KUSA-TV decided to stop being “mommy news” and go hard left, with long-time employee Kyle Clark being the anchor not only for the 9 o’clock and 10 o’clock news but also for his own weeknight show, Next with Kyle Clark. With a hard-left agenda, the station and Clark attracted national attention, appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and Clark was featured and interviewed on MSNBC by Rachel Maddow and on CNN.
But in recent times, Clark and Channel 9 News fell significantly behind FOX31 KDVR in ratings. Clark reveled in being called “a virulent anti-Christian bigot” and a “commie.” Clark, in order to regain ratings, had to return to his progressive hard edge, and evoking class warfare over Alameda Avenue seemed like a perfect avenue to do so.
His virulent attacks on Anschutz and her use of a lobbyist to plead the homeowners’ case caused a media frenzy. The Denver Post, in an article with a headline “PR Nightmare for Mayor Mike Johnston,” revealed that Clark and Alameda Avenue helped “trigger a maelstrom of critical media coverage, the resignation of a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Advisory Board and, late last month, a formal letter of protest from a majority of the City Council.”
Official Under Fire: DOTI Executive Director Amy Ford seen here at a recent contentious city council meeting in Denver.
But the ugly onslaught on Jill Anschutz did not make her back down as Clark had expected. Her friends indicate that, growing up in a strong Christian family, she was taught that when you stand up to a powerful bully like Clark, you can expect to be persecuted.
One More Plan
Clark, by trumpeting that the city, in coming up with a revised plan, had bowed to Jill Anschutz because she had married into a rich family and therefore the city was “lifting certain voices over others,” used a class warfare tactic that worked to cause DOTI to announce in January that it would backtrack again into demonstrating one, if not both, of the proposals.
But testing the “safety” of both of the proposals is, of course, somewhat useless since safety was never the actual issue. The Alameda Avenue controversy is a clash of political wills between the hard left, who ultimately want a car-free Denver to the greatest extent possible, and middle-class homeowners and small businesses that want a livable city for families, particularly those with children.
For the hard left, Clark is their champion. For everyday Denverites, they finally have their own hero, Jill Anschutz.
by Charles Bonniwell | May 16, 2025 | Main Articles
by Charles C. Bonniwell
Classic Development: The Belcaro Shopping Center was built in 1960 and considered a real asset to the adjoining Belcaro Park neighborhood. The Kentro Group’s proposed 12- to16-story low income apartments are considered by residents as little more than an eyesore that will acerbate traffic jams in the area.
Brave New Future: A once campus-like setting of the Colorado Department of Transportation facility is being replaced by the Kentro Group’s massive 103,000 square foot King Soopers and low income housing. The expected completion is Spring 2026.
High Density Development Coming Soon: Belcaro is an affluent neighborhood in Denver known for its large ranch-style homes and tree-lined streets. It is located between Cherry Creek and Washington Park, featuring the historic Phipps Mansion and a high average household income. It sits West of the proposed redevelopment on South Colorado Blvd.
The City and County of Denver is known for its extraordinary neighborhoods. Those neighborhoods are represented not only by city councilmembers, but also formal neighborhood associations (HOAs) formally recognized in the city statutes. Many of these neighborhoods are tree-lined sanctuaries that almost resemble suburban enclaves.
The neighborhoods, especially the ones dominated by single family homes, are dimly viewed by the progressive Denver city planners at the Denver Community Planning and Development Department. They are seen as being anachronistic and an impediment to the type of very high density needed for a “sustainable” future for Denver.
Developers, in turn, realize that a key to profitability for them is turning low density areas in Denver into high density ones which could result in greater possibilities for “affordable housing” in the city.
More 24-hour Traffic Coming Soon: Virginia Village is a neighborhood in Denver with a population of 16,326. Virginia Village offers a balanced lifestyle with ample green spaces and recreational facilities. Parks like Garland Park and Ash Grove Park provide residents with opportunities for outdoor activities. Now, it is coming under threat with a new 103,000 square foot King Soopers coming to town.
The battles between developers aligned with Denver city planners on one side and neighborhood residents on the other are breaking out throughout the city. At one time, neighborhood HOAs in Denver were politically powerful, but no longer. Occasionally, the residents win one of those battles (February edition of the Chronicle — “Park Hill Golf Course Miracle”). But those victories are few and far between.
One of those battles is going on along Colorado Blvd. Kentro Group, a Denver real estate developer, is engaging in two such developments that have outraged the Belcaro Park and Virgina Village neighborhoods. The development scheme involves reversing what the Denver city planners view as obsolete thinking of having commercial businesses and residential areas physically separated.
As they view it why not put residences in the form of affordable apartments on busy streets like Colorado Boulevard while moving high volume retail into or next to single family home areas?
King Soopers, a division of Cincinnati based Kroger Company, had operated a grocery store at a 7-acre site, 825 South Colorado Blvd., for over 65 years. It elected to close the store, sell the property to the Kentro Group, and build a new 113,000 square foot facility a mile south in the Virgina Village neighborhood. The 13.5-acre site on
The Campus: The old CDOT headquarters off Colorado Blvd. on Arkansas Avenue had a campus like aspect to it with no traffic after 5:30 p.m. or on weekends and fit in well within the Virginia Village neighborhood.
ce housed the CDOT campus headquarters between Arkansas and Louisiana Avenues and was purchased by the Kentro Group in 2018 for $19.3 million.
The site was zoned CMP-E12 or campus, educational/institutional site. It is limited to a maximum of 75 feet within 175 feet of protected areas, i.e. single-family homes. The idea that single family homes are to be protected is no longer a concept recognized by the Denver Planning Department. The entire property was quickly rezoned for high density apartments and commercial uses.
Kentro Group, with the blessing and encouragement of the Planning Department, built a four-story 151-unit low-income apartment complex called Krisana Apartments abutting the single-family homes. Next to it will be a 113,000 square foot new King Soopers that will generate high traffic and will stay open into the night to the detriment of the Virginia Village neighborhood.
Next up for Kentro Group and the progressive city planners was the redevelopment of the 7-acre Belcaro Shopping Center. Facing off against them were residents of the low-density, single-family neighborhood to the west of the old grocery store and an active Belcaro Park HOA.
At the preliminary development review meeting over a year ago the residents told Kentro Group and the city planners w
New Neighbor: Krisana is a 151-unit, 4-story apartment community located at Arkansas Avenue and Birch Street just east of Colorado Blvd. Krisana is now imposed on the Virginia Village neighborhood.
hat they thought of the 12- to 16-story low-income housing apartment building with first floor retail use.
The residents pleaded for a maximum of three stories redevelopment which appeared to fall on deaf ears. Kentro principal Chris Viscardi told the hostile crowd that “I think there’s an opportunity here.” Some agreed that there was an opportunity, but it was for the Kentro Group to help destroy a neighborhood for its own gain.
When later asked by a reporter for the Denver Gazette whether the city was the one pushing for a higher, denser project than what was originally envisioned, the Kentro Group conceded the same.
Sue Clinton, a Belcaro resident, stated at the meeting that: “The city is driving this change and not really listening to the neighborhood.” She noted that in her mind the neighborhood conveyed a suburban, rather than an urban feel, which the city planners wanted to alter.
Others noted that at one time city planners were the advocates for the residents of the city rather than its enemies seeking to destroy a way of life many have cherished for years.
With the Denver housing market already beginning to suffer and Downtown Denver badly struggling, some residents are beginning to wonder with developers like Kentro Group and city planners like those Denver Planning Department whether housing affordability will someday be the least of the city’s concerns such has occurred in cities back East.
by Charles Bonniwell | May 16, 2025 | Main Articles
Good Work: Rich Wyatt leads fundraising efforts in Colorado for the Tunnel to Towers Foundation to raise money for homeless veterans.
Hotel Conversion: The former Fairfield Inn on Colorado Blvd. will be converted into housing for veterans by Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
by Charles C. Bonniwell
The Tunnel to Towers Foundation founded by Frank Siller, in honor of his brother Stephen who died during the September 11 attacks in 2001, is a nonprofit foundation that supports families of fallen first responders and veterans while working to end veteran homelessness.
The organization is best known for retiring the mortgages for families of first responders who were killed in the line of duty. It also builds and gives mortgage free “tiny homes” (500 sq. feet) to eligible veterans.
Residences
Tunnel to Towers more recently has begun converting hotels into residences for homeless veterans in Atlanta, Memphis, Las Vegas, and now Denver. It plans to have six more properties purchased and remodeled over the next several years.
Tunnel to Towers acquired the Fairfield Inn hotel property at 1680 S. Colorado Boulevard (corner of Colorado Blvd. and East Mexico Ave. near I-25 and Colorado Blvd.) for $12.7 million in September of 2024.
It is to be converted into 120 apartments for homeless veterans in the Denver metropolitan area, The site will also feature support services including job training, benefit assistance, PTSD counseling, and addiction.
It is estimated that there are over 400 homeless vets in the Metro Denver area.
Fundraising
An additional 8 to 10 million dollars is estimated to be needed to convert and update the property.
In Colorado, fundraising is headed up by Rich Wyatt, who was a volunteer fireman, former police chief, and was featured in a reality TV show titled American Guns along with family members.
Wyatt became involved with Tunnel to Towers when his reality show, back in 2017, became very popular with disabled veterans. He would organize and lead gun adventures with disabled vets who had a high risk of suicide attempts, due to their inactivity caused by their disabilities, with little to look forward to.
On Wednesday, May 7, 2025, Wyatt held a breakfast fundraiser across the street at 3900 E. Mexico hosted by Dutton Commercial Real Estate. In addition, 710 KNUS Radio host Peter Boyles spoke at the fundraiser which was headlined by 9/11 fireman survivor Tim Brown who inspiringly talked about his experiences on 9/11.
Wyatt and Tunnel to Towers are looking for individuals who will host fundraisers at their homes or businesses. If interested in doing so, call Wyatt at 303-475-5007. For more information on the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, visit www.t2t.org.
