Coworking Expands, Corporate HQs Replacing District Shops, Claim It’s Now Second Oldest Commercial Block
by Glen Richardson
Chewing Up Street: The Tavern space on Gaylord has been vacant for more than a year and is likely to be gobbled up by developers adding offices in lieu of restaurants.
This holiday season will be the last for
one of Denver’s oldest gift shops as the 45-year old Tender Thicket along Old
South Gaylord has lost its lease to a developer. It’s the conclusive indicator
that this is the end of an era for Denver’s second oldest historic district.
The Thicket’s home on Gaylord St. is close to 100 years old. — it’s historic —
but the neighborhood decided not to designate it that way and that applies to
all the stores along Gaylord.
Larimer Square is Denver’s only locally
protected historic district, designated in 1971 after a determined Dana Crawford
saved the block. Its historic designation was the first in Denver that
recognized not only individual historic buildings but a collection of buildings
and their setting.
The quaint Gaylord block in the heart of
Wash Park — between Mississippi and Tennessee Ave. — was, until the last couple
of years, home to unique shops but is shifting into a commercial block similar
to how Cherry Creek North is changing. Until recently area realtors could claim
Old South Gaylord was the embodiment of what a neighborhood should look like, a
historic district of inviting boutiques, art galleries and great restaurants.
Distressing Demolition
Coworking Expands: Grant Real Estate Co. purchased the building that housed the Thicket and the adjacent Edward Jones offices on the left and plans to bulldoze the building and add a second coworking space.
The Tender Thicket survived three moves,
four owners, a flood, economic ups and downs, but redevelopment will be its
final move. Grant Real Estate Co. owner Aaron Grant purchased the 5,500-sq.-ft.
building that houses the Thicket and adjacent Edward Jones building (now
vacant) for $2 million. At the same time in 2017 Grant purchased the building
at 1040 S. Gaylord for $2.9 million and converted it into Park Coworking that
is now open with 24 stations and 16 dedicated desks. He now plans to bulldoze
the other two buildings and add a second coworking space. “It hurts my heart
that this cute neighborhood will no longer be part of the Old South Gaylord
community,” Tender Thicket owner Maury Ankrum tells the Chronicle.
The Thicket building was once a pharmacy
and, in fact, they resurrected the pharmacy counter as their checkout counter
and still have the first medicine cabinet in the back. “It was important to me
to keep a bit of its history intact,” she says.
Ankeum is now looking for a new location,
but hasn’t yet found the perfect fit. I am profoundly grateful and humbled for
the years of love and support this neighborhood has given us,” she adds. “We
will miss it dearly. I hope my customers will stop by to say goodbye and snag
some fantastic deals as they check off their holiday list.”
History Lost
Heritage History: The 45-year old Tender Thicket along Old South Gaylord has lost its lease to developers. The Thicket’s home on Gaylord St. is close to 100 years old — it’s historic — but the neighborhood decided not to designate it that way.
While the Tender Thicket building is
believed to be Gaylord’s oldest, the block is dramatically changing as several
developers are buying up the land to add office space in lieu of retail and
restaurants. The Thicket is just one of many stores that have left or are
leaving.
On the west side of the street, Gaylord has
lost Denver’s No. 2 ranked art gallery Arts at Denver, a tailor, two hair
salons and a bike shop. In addition to the Thicket, the east side of the street
has lost or is losing The Tavern, Washington Bark, Sole Sisters (a shoe store),
Little Angels (a pet boutique) and Edward Jones.
The prime corporate takeover of historic
assets taking place on the west side of Gaylord is the corporate purchase of
the former bike shop (Singletrack Factory) near the corner of Gaylord and
Tennessee by LotusGroup Advisors.
Corporate Takeover
Corporate Coup: Two walls are up on LotusGroup Advisors build-out of this two-story corporate office on Gaylord. Among reasons the financial firm chose the district is because of improved parking over its Cherry Creek location.
The Cherry Creek-based financial firm’s
Managing Partner Raphael Martorello paid $1.4 million for the property, has
bulldozed the building and is spending at least another $1.8 million to build
out a 7,200-sq.-ft. two-story corporate office in the heart of the historic
Wash Park neighborhood.
Designed by Neo Era Architecture and being
built by 303 Construction, the firm had projected completion in the second
quarter of this year. In mid-Oct. as this article was written only two of the
four walls of the corporate space are up.
When announcing the project along what he
called a quaint and nice street, Martorello said he chose the site because we
wanted to achieve a “commercial building that feels like a home.” At the time
he declared the new corporate HQ would have “an open floor plan, energy
efficient construction, many spaces for collaboration, and improved parking
over Cherry Creek.”
Gaylord’s History
High Drama: The building that now houses the Charcoal Bistro and a fitness studio opened as the D & R Theater in 1925.
The 1920s were the golden age of movie
theaters, and, in 1925 Gaylord opened its own motion picture palace. The Washington
Park D & R Theater (now home to Charcoal Bistro) at 1028 South Gaylord St.
was built by Carl Adler, who also operated the South Gaylord Home Bakery. On
opening night of the theater in August 1925, two Shetland ponies were given
away as a promotional event. The Washington Park R & D viewed itself as
symbolizing “a new ideal in entertainment,” a community theater which was
up-to-date in every detail.
A business district was flourishing along
South Gaylord by the early 1920s. Chrysler & Son was the first to establish
a business in the area, erecting a brick store at 1075-1083 South Gaylord St.,
in 1915. Historians say that the shopping area “was mostly a product of the
1920s when streetcar #5 terminated there and attracted shoppers on their way to
and from work.” The 1000 block of South Gaylord was zoned Business-Retail when
the city was first zoned in 1925. By 1930 the block featured three clothes
cleaners, two beauty parlors, two barbers, two plumbers, a sheet metal worker
and a shoe repair shop.
As Denver basks in a period of massive
growth combined with the commercial potential of historic districts, the
historic designation of buildings and homes is likely to have little impact on
the ground. Developers from Denver and elsewhere will continue to receive
over-the-counter demolition permits and raze buildings and homes to destroy
history for profit.
Meow Wolf, an immersive art experience,
will soon make its debut in Denver come 2021. But in the meantime, the popular
art destination wants to get the Mile-High City pumped up with the anticipation
of its arrival with its latest event, the Meow Wolf Dark Palace Dance Party.
Twists and turns through one of many rooms at the Meow Wolf: House of Eternal Return in Santa Fe, NM. Photo by Kate Russell, courtesy of Meow Wolf
Meant to engage all your senses, the Meow
Wolf Dark Palace: A Dance Obscura is a three-night dance party coming to the
National Western Complex this Nov. 22-24. The party is headlined with some
popular electronic names that are sure to set the stage for one heck of a dance
celebration. In addition to the musical line-up, there are set to be and soon
to be announced, local artists creating captivating art installations, all meant
to enhance the entire experience.
Meow Wolf got its start in 2008 in Santa
Fe, as an art collective with the original concept designed to be a unique and
immersive art experience using installations with multimedia elements. Through
these interactive experiences, audiences of all ages can explore the world of
art beyond their imagination within a fantastic realm of story and explanation.
An out-of-this-world arcade room at the Meow Wolf: House of Eternal Return in Santa Fe, NM. Photo by Kate Russell, courtesy of Meow Wolf
Its heightened popularity came in 2015 when
the art collective decided to renovate a vacant bowling alley to make a permanent
venue for visitors, which would soon become Meow Wolf: The House of Eternal
Return. With help from the city of Santa Fe and a Kickstarter campaign, plus a
few million dollars from Game of Thrones author, George R.R. Martin, they
opened the Meow Wolf Complex in 2016. Here visitors will encounter
teleportative fridges, psychedelic painted walls, fairyland villages, a
simulated underwater black-light experience, and plenty more to keep your mind
wondering for hours.
The new 90,000-square-foot location will be
at I-25 and Colfax. The new complex is set to rise 70 feet high, making it
visible from multiple vantage points. Compared to the original location in
Santa Fe the Denver complex will be three times the size of the Santa Fe
location, with plans for artists’ installations, of which further information
will remain a mystery until opening week.
While exact details of what the space will
offer and what artists will be contributing, one thing is for sure, Denver and
Santa Fe are certain to collaborate to make another outrageous and unique
experience for people to admire art, play with art, be dumbfounded, be inspired
by, or to simply step back and appreciate.
The announcement of Dark Palace follows
Meow Wolf’s latest Kaleidoscape installation at Elitch Gardens. This
“other-worldly” dark ride is based around the concept of immersing yourself in
pieces of contemporary art. The installation at Elitch Gardens and the Dark
Palace dance party are meant to give Denver a taste of what’s to come when Meow
Wolf finally opens in the Mile-High City.
With its growing popularity, the art
collective announced plans to not only expand to Denver but Las Vegas as well
(in 2020).
Tickets for Dark Palace and the grand opening of Meow Wolf are now on sale at Meow Wolf’s website at www.meowwolf.com.
Great American Beer Festival (GABF) celebrated its 33rd year the weekend of October 5, 2019. The Colorado Convention Center once again served as the venue sprawling 584,000 square feet of space for over 800 breweries to pour over 4,000 different types of beers.
Comrade Brewing, located at 7667 E. Iliff Ave. in Denver, was named 2019 Small Brewing Company of the Year and Small Brewing Company Brewer of the Year by the Brewers Association at the awards ceremony held on Saturday, October 5, after receiving gold medals for two of its India Pale Ales, Superpower IPA and More Dodge Less Ram. These are the fourth and fifth medals the brewery has won since opening in 2014.
“We still can’t believe what happened at
the Great American Beer Festival,” said David Lin, Founder of Comrade Brewing
Co. “We always try to make the best beer we can and this year the judges
thought so too. We’re incredibly proud of the brewing team Marks Lanham and Rio
Urioste. It’s an honor to win small brewing company of the year and we’ll
continue to do our best here in southeast Denver.”
Gold Medals: Comrade Brewing Co. received gold medals for two of its India Pale Ales, Superpower IPA and More Dodge Less Ram.
The Small Brewing Company of the Year category is one of the most competitive as most breweries in the country brew between 1,000 and 14,999 barrels of beer per year. This is quite the achievement for a brewery which has a simple philosophy. “We make beer we like to drink and whatever is left over, we sell,” said Marks Lanham, Brewmaster for Comrade Brewing Co.
Superpower IPA was awarded a gold medal in
the American-Style Strong Pale Ale category, which had 131 entries. Superpower
IPA is an American IPA with loads of Pacific Northwest hops that lend huge pine
and grapefruit hop aroma and citrus flavors. Its bitterness is balanced with a
crisp, light malt character and is available year-round at the Comrade Brewing
tasting room.
More Dodge Less Ram, a triple-dry hopped
sister of Superpower IPA, took gold in the second most-entered category,
American-Style India Pale Ale, which had 342 entries. More Dodge Less Ram was
the first beer that Comrade brewed after a Dodge Ram plowed into the brewery
three years ago.
“I told David on August 25 we were going to
win this year,” said Lanham. “It’s been a challenging year for both of us.
David got married and had a child. I had less fortunate things happen to me.
When these things happen, it drives me to do better.”
A total of 322 judges from 18 countries do
blind tastes to evaluate the beers in defined style categories. This year,
2,295 breweries from around the country, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
submitted entries. There were 9,497 entries overall.
Caskmates: Jameson has long celebrated the timeless pairing of whiskey and beer. This year, Jameson Caskmates Irish Whiskey is proud to be partnering with local craft breweries from across the U.S. to be part of the Jameson Caskmates Brewery Partner program. Each of these outstanding breweries has created a unique Jameson barrel-aged beer, inspired by their love of Jameson’s whiskey and their unique neighborhoods. Jameson had a big presence at GABF for the second year in a row featuring breweries using their barrels for brewing.
“This year’s GABF competition was the
largest and most competitive to date,” said Chris Swersey, competition manager,
Great American Beer Festival. “The beers and talent were as impressive as ever,
and we congratulate this year’s winners for their achievements in brewing.”
In addition to the medal winners, there are
standout and under-the-radar beers that by the end of the festival, word has
spread. 2019 was no different for these exciting, and at times, adventurous
beers. These reporters were successful in trying over 150 beers over the three
days of GABF, and the following beers deserve attention. While it is difficult
to rank them based on favorites, all of them were outstanding beers, and most
of them had large lines waiting to try them before the weekend was finished.
Local favorite WeldWerks Brewing Co. from Greeley, Colorado, always has a long line. They seem to have the most unique beers year after year at the GABF. Last year’s Spaghetti Gose was the talk amongst many of the patrons. This year would be no different. WeldWerks brewed yet another masterful concoction called Taco Gose. It tastes just like you would expect it to with those ingredients — Taco Sauce Beer. When it is served with a mini taquito, it tastes even better.
“For 2019, we knew we had to up the ante so
we took things a step further by partnering with the folks at Horsetooth Hot
Sauce in Fort Collins to create a completely unique hot sauce, based on their
venerable The Green Hot Sauce, but aged for an extended amount of time in a
freshly emptied Medianoche barrel,” said Neil Fisher Co-Owner, Head Brewer of
WeldWerks Brewing Co. “Immediately after the barrel was emptied, we used the
hot sauce barrel to age our Taco Gose, brewed with over 600 lbs. of fire roasted
tomatoes, sea salt, chili powder, paprika, oregano, onion powder, garlic
powder, and cumin. The result was Hot Sauce Barrel Aged Taco Gose, and it was
one of the first beers we kicked at all four sessions of GABF this year.”
WeldWerks is the most innovative brewery in this beer crazy state and it’s no wonder that they needed a GABF volunteer to manage the line for every session of this year’s event. In fact, the line was so long one evening, the fire marshal paid a visit to reroute how the line was formed.
“Fortunately, for those not as excited
about our savory sours, we had nine other beers available at the fest,
including four variants of Medianoche, our barrel-aged Imperial Stout,” said
Fisher. “According to Untappd metrics from GABF, three of the beers we poured
ranked in the top 10 out of more than 4,000 beers at the fest and all 10 of our
beers ranked in the top 150. We also finished the fest as the highest rated
brewery and the most checked-in brewery out of more than 800 breweries at the
fest. Those stats, coupled with the two medals we brought home from the
competition, make 2019’s Great American Beer Festival a tough one to top for
us.”
The next group of beers were complete surprises to these reporters and deserve to be mentioned with any award-winning beer that is found at GABF. Ology Brewing Co. from Tallahassee, Florida, brought the latest in their Juice Lab series. Ology rotates fruit for this series and this version had blueberries and raspberries in the brew. If you can imagine drinking a beer smoothie infused with an incredible amount of fruit, this is the beer you would crave. It is difficult to settle on a favorite beer of the entire festival, but this one is at the top. It is a fantastic beer and another brewery added to the must visit list.
Great Notion Brewing located in Portland, Oregon, had lines growing throughout the weekend. Blueberry Muffin and Sticky Bun were crowd favorites and as you stood in line to get their beers you overheard countless festival goers marveling at these two beers. Blueberry Muffin was perfect for anyone who was hoping to remember what a homemade blueberry muffin tasted like. Sticky Bun is an 11.3% ABV monster imperial breakfast stout with melted brown sugar, toasted pecan and cinnamon. It is almost like the sticky buns were fresh out of the oven.
Another beer on the list of notes was right there with Juice Lab as a favorite — Wake and Cake brewed by Burning Barrel Brewing Co. out of Rancho Cordova, California. This beer is a desert-inspired pasty sour loaded with pineapple, coconut, passion fruit, vanilla and marshmallows. A 9% beer that had so much flavor, it made you get back in line to try it again, and again to make sure you didn’t miss one of those flavors listed above.
Last but not least, remember in the ’70s when Coors was only sold west of Texas? The Tank Brewing Co. is following in their elusive footsteps, but in reverse. Their exceptional craft beer that’s brewed in Miami, is not currently available outside of Florida, so the GABF provides a rare window of opportunity for beer lovers to sample their award-winning liquid innovations. This included La Finca Miami (World Beer Cup 2018 Gold Medal winner).
Time To Get Silly: David Peterson, owner of the Bull & Bush Brewery, second from left, enjoys being silly with beer enthusiasts at The Great American Beer Festival on Thursday, October 3, 2019.
GABF never disappoints when it comes to
unique beers. And the ones listed here are just the beginning. If you do your
research, you can try so many different styles and types of beer. Don’t be
afraid to step outside of a comfort zone. If you are, you might just miss some
great beers.
Mark your calendar for 2020 as the 34th Annual Great American Beer Festival is set for September 24-26, 2020. Visit www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com for more information and for a list of all winners.
At a time when Coloradans are desperately
pleading for improved and new roadways the agency in charge of the same, the
Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), is mired in the greatest crisis
of its long-storied existence according to insiders.
CDOT Executive Director: Shoshana Lew, a history major in college, became the head of CDOT at age 35 with no engineering or construction management experience due to political connections in Washington, D.C.
Formed in 1917 to administer state
government transportation responsibilities it long had the reputation for the
most competent and least politically comprised department in Colorado
government. Unfortunately, according to people who currently work with CDOT,
that is no longer the case.
Perfect Storm
The convergence of two events has turned
CDOT upside down. The first was the Orwellian named “Keep Jobs in Colorado Act
of 2013.” Previously under CRS Sec. 24-92-109 all public projects in excess of
$50,000 had to be “awarded by competitive bid.” The drawbacks to this method
include occasional “bid rigging” by competing contractors. In addition, so-called
“change orders” can drive up costs of a competitively bid project. But overall
this method, which was used for decades by CDOT, was the least subjective and
generally viewed fairest method to have projects completed at the lowest cost.
The 2013 act substituted the “lowest bid”
method with the so-called “best value” model in which bids come in as either
(1) Design Build; or (2) Construction Manager/General Contractor (CMGC). While
these techniques have various theoretical advantages, especially for unique
highly complex projects, including potentially cutting down the time to
complete a project, it is a highly subjective selection process with the
opportunity for corruption massively increased. To prevent cronyism and
exorbitant cost increases, it requires high expertise and absolute diligence on
the part of CDOT. What CDOT got was the exact opposite.
Shoddy Construction: The massive sinkhole on Highway 36 is but the most glaring example of shoddy construction by CDOT a little over five years after the bridge was built.
Washington Insider
In December 2018, Governor Jared Polis
appointed 35-year-old Shoshana Lew as his new Executive Director, a history
major at Harvard University with an M.A. in American History from Northwestern.
She replaced Governor Hickenlooper’s appointment of 56-year-old Michael Lewis,
an engineer with extensive public construction management experience. Lew’s
appointment was a shock to CDOT employees.
Lew’s primary qualification, according to
insiders, was her close relationship to Michelle Obama who called the newly
elected governor for a favor — find a job for Shoshana Lew. Lew is the daughter
of President Obama’s Chief of Staff and later Secretary of the Treasury, Jack
Lew. Ms. Lew is considered by some as an example of how the rich and well
connected can use their positions to secure favored treatment in and outside of
government.
While originally intending to get a
doctorate in history and become a history professor, she instead joined the
Washington based liberal Brookings Institute as a policy analyst. Almost
magically, although in her 20s with no experience, she entered the Obama
administration and soon became a senior adviser at the U.S. Department of the
Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and policy adviser at the White
House Domestic Policy Council. With no financial background whatsoever, she
next was appointed Chief Financial Officer of U.S. Department of Transportation
(USDOT) as well as garnering other impressive titles.
Pomp And Circumstance: Shoshana Lew, age 29, arrives at the White House for a state function with her father Jack Lew, U.S. Treasury Secretary. She quickly rose up the bureaucratic ladder with the Obama administration. Image Credit: REUTERS/Yuri Gripas – stock.adobe.com
As the Obama administration began winding down, she parlayed her position as CFO of USDOT to become the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) in the spring of 2017. After a controversial reign as COO for RIDOT of just over one year she was appointed Executive Director of CDOT in December 2018 by Governor Polis — a job, according to CDOT employees, she was wholly ill prepared for. CDOT employs over 3,300 people and has an annual budget in excess of $4.5 billion.
Are Our Darn Roads Even On Her List?
On October 7, 2019, Lew gave an interview
with Colorado Public Radio to discuss her job as Executive Director. A
horrified listener, Jane Glenn of Sterling, wrote to the South Platte Sentinel:
Basically, she’s bike lanes, big buses,
walking paths, light rail, and electric cars.
Are our darn roads even on her list?
The answer is, of course, no. She is a
history major with no background in engineering or construction management.
But, of course, there are plenty of people in and outside of CDOT who have
years of experience in both of those fields and with the hen house opened up
with a largely clueless Executive Director and the CMGC bidding process easy to
abuse, they rushed to take advantage.
Revolving Door
CDOT has had a massive exit of its top
personnel, all of whom have left once they became eligible for early retirement
with PERA benefits. They joined consulting firms who now have overtaken the
jobs, including design, testing and inspection, that CDOT once performed
internally. If you have a firm for any such functions and are not heavily
filled with former CDOT employees, you are highly unlikely to be contracted
with CDOT.
I-25 Congestion: In interviews Lew has evidenced little interest in improving existing roads or the building of new roads in Colorado, notwithstanding Colorado failing to keep up with the massive influx of new residents over the last decade.
In theory under the CMGC method, the owner
has a different construction manager and general contractor, but not in
Colorado, where the functions are combined with one more check and balance
disappearing. CDOT no longer has enough civil engineers to begin the design
process to start a project and must hire a design firm filled with former CDOT
employees. The design firm often works with CMGC entities on other projects, so
each has every reason not to cut costs or bring up any areas of conflict of
interest to the attention of CDOT.
The CMGC bidding process for a CDOT project
is supposed to be competitive, even if highly subjective. However, local
construction firms have ceased to enter the process since only one of two
national and international firms are chosen for any important project. The two
firms are Kraemer North America who is owned by Obayashi Corporation, one of
Japan’s largest construction firms, and Kiewit Corporation, a Fortune 500
contracting firm based out of Omaha, Nebraska. Over 75% of the $3.2 billion in
recent CDOT contracts have gone to these two firms with the percentage ever
increasing.
The 2013 law which mandated the change in
bidding, the “Keep Jobs in Colorado Act,” has essentially ensured that Colorado
firms and their employees are almost never hired, except for smaller CDOT
projects that Kraemer and Kiewit are not interested in. There is one group of
Colorado residents that has handsomely profited from the new regimen and that
is the scores of former CDOT employees who have joined the dozens of consulting
firms hired by CDOT. Not only are they scoring six figure salaries, but are
also enjoying their PERA benefits, essentially doing the same job they did at
CDOT at a fraction of the remuneration. CDOT itself evolved into little more
than an admin organization and, in part, that too will be outsourced over time,
although the CDOT state budget is not expected to diminish.
Added Cost
It is estimated that the excess profits by
Kraemer and Kiewit, and the tens of millions of dollars paid to consulting
firms filled with ex-CDOT employees, adds as much as 30% to the cost of every
CDOT project and that percentage is expected to grow in coming years. It is
questioned why Colorado taxpayers would want to pay more taxpayer money to a
department as corrupt and inefficient as CDOT which is headed up by an
individual as uninterested in roads as Shoshana Lew.
Personal Favor: Governor Polis reportedly appointed Shoshana Lew as the Executive Director of CDOT as a personal favor to Michelle Obama. Jack Lew, the father of Shoshana Lew, was the Chief of Staff to President Obama as well as later his Secretary of the Treasury.
As for Ms. Lew she has not only garnered
the disrespect of the people she oversees, but her ineptitude has reportedly
angered at least some of the 11 commissioners from across the state who oversee
CDOT. Her job is apparently safe, however, unless and until Governor Polis
cares enough to stop the total destruction of, what once was, one of the most
respected government agencies in Colorado.
In Part II of this series on CDOT we will review individual projects that CDOT has undertaken in recent years including the infamous Highway 36 sinkhole and why taxpayers can expect more shoddy workmanship and massive cost overruns.
The original article mistakenly indicated that CDOT has 330 employees. The number is actually 3,300. A zero was inadvertently omitted.
