CDOT Could Be Moving From Arkansas Avenue

by Mark Smiley | May 27, 2016 | General Featured

Major Change To Virginia Village Neighborhood If Sold

by Megan Carthel

Some big changes may be on the way for the intersection at Arkansas and Colorado Boulevard.

Currently, the Denver headquarters for the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) offices are housed in the residential area. In an old 1955 building over 500 state employees walk the halls every day. Spokesperson for CDOT Amy Ford says mice and asbestos are issues in the current building, along with toilets fitted for elementary students, not adults.

The carpets are a faded blue and tan and green tiles lead visitors and staff through the hallways. Not everything is outdated though. Computers, large TV screens and seemingly nice, modern chairs accommodate employees with their everyday tasks. However, by as soon as early 2018, these state employees could have a new office. David Fox, property management deputy program manager, said moving locations and building a new office is a good business decision.

“I think with every business decision, there’s some idea of ‘let’s get more efficient,’” Fox said. “We can do a lot more things with amenity spaces to make things nicer for employees, but yet get more efficient with our building footprint.”

In May 2013, CDOT completed a building evaluation of four campuses, the Denver HQ, Region Four HQ, Region Two HQ and Old Aurora R1 HQ. The Region Four HQ in Greeley was recently rebuilt and relocated. The $9.9 million offices opened in November 2015.

The plan is to combine both the CDOT headquarters on Arkansas and the Region One office on South Holly. The new building design has a target of 200 square feet per employee, aimed to house around 700 employees, that’s nearly 100 square feet less per employee than the current situation. While nothing is set in stone yet, the numbers CDOT is currently working with, estimate the total cost of building a new office space at a different location at over $44 million.

“It is a class B building that we will be doing,” Ford said. “And when I say class B, this is not the Taj Mahal. This is not designed to be a monument to state employees. This is designed to be a working building where we can most effectively attract and retain our employees and do very good work.”

Ford said the funding for the project comes from a capital budget to maintain assets, which has $20 million annual, state-wide budget. CDOT would also be issuing bonds against that budget to help pay for the new building.

“This is money that would not go to fixing your pot hole or that kind of thing. This is money that’s already dedicated to keeping these assets up,” Ford said.

The other option for CDOT is to renovate the existing building. According to a financial comparison analysis conducted by CDOT and Jones Lang LaSalle in 2014, the total cost for renovation would be just over $16 million. The same analysis showed the total net cost over a 20-year period to renovate and maintain the Arkansas location would cost around $56 million.

“We strongly believe that, ‘A,’ it’s a good business decision,” Ford said. “‘B,’ that it benefits our capacity to deliver more for the state.”

Fox and Ford said the ideal location for the new office would be within five miles of the State Capitol, visible to the traveling public and near light rail, bus and bike transportation. According to the analysis done in 2014, some potential relocation sites include the Federal Center Station, Decatur and Federal Station and I-25 and Broadway. Ford said the final location selection has not been decided, and that CDOT is keeping that information “close to the chest.”

“We’re not done yet by any stretch,” Ford said. “Nor is it a sure thing we are moving.”

For the new building to be approved, CDOT must present their guaranteed maximum price, what the land can be sold for and the price estimate to build a new office, to the Transportation Commission. The commission will hear CDOT’s case and make the final assessment later this summer. According to Transportation Commissioner District 1 Representative Shannon Gifford CDOT is negotiating with the owners of more than one possible site. The location is expected to be finalized in June. Gifford seems to be in favor of the relocation project.

“The new building is projected to save CDOT $6 million over a 20-year analysis period when compared with updating existing buildings that are past their useful life,” Gifford said. “The savings are attributable to multiple factors, including more efficient plans (reducing the gross square feet per employee); reducing the total number of buildings; using more efficient mechanical systems, windows, and insulation; and, selling 20 acres of land while acquiring only approximately three acres.”

So what would happen to the current site if it’s sold? CDOT is working with Jones Lang LaSalle, a brokerage firm, to sell the property estimated at just over $11 million according to the 2014 memorandum. Jones Lang LaSalle had no comment when the Chronicle reached out to the firm. Fox, however, said developers were interested in the land before talks about a relocation began back in 2011.

The Arkansas site is currently zoned as a CMP-EI2, or campus, educational/institutional site. This zoning allows a maximum height of 150 feet, but any part of the site within 175 feet of a protected area, usually single family homes, is limited to 75 feet. Residential, educational use and office space are allowed. The 1.16-acre parcel of land closest to Colorado Boulevard, is zoned as a S-MX-5 area, allowing for mixed use facilities and up to five stories. The communications tower that sits on the property would remain on site as it is owned by the Governor’s Office of Information Technology, and would not be sold as part of the CDOT space.

As for the Region One office site, the location is zoned as a MX-3 site. This allows buildings as high as three stories or 45 feet, and can be used in a variety of ways from single family or multi-unit housing, community centers, daycares, open space, schools, restaurants and retail, hotels and more. Of course the Denver Planning Board and certain members of the Denver City Council have proven they are happily willing to rezone properties for powerful developers with high powered lobbyists.

Paul Kashmann, the City Councilman for District 6 where the present facility is located, said if the properties were redeveloped, he would like to see the spaces used for residential developments or green space.

“I would love to see affordable residential be a part of the package on both sites. The surrounding communities have not yet gentrified, and I’d like whatever comes to support, rather than degrade the affordability of the community,” Kashmann said. “I’d love to see some additional green space. Mainly I’d hope the Arkansas development would not add big congestion to the already crowded Colorado Boulevard corridor, and I’d love for the South Holly Street site to complement both South Holly Street’s commercial opportunities as well as East Evans Avenue.”

Some residents near the Arkansas property oppose the redevelopment as worries over traffic congestion, noise and construction might disrupt their relatively quiet neighborhood.

Skylar Ocheltree and Kristen Kinnaird live together in a house across the street from the current CDOT headquarters. While they don’t mind the current building situation, they fear another large building would be put in place, bringing more traffic and congestion. Their neighbor a few houses down and closer to the building, Blake Crawford, feels just about the same, unless something can add property value to his house.

“Any additional [infrastructure], unless it raised the value of my house, is non-beneficial,” Crawford said.

Kashmann hopes to work with his constituents to determine what could go in the space of the current CDOT headquarters if the land is sold.

“Mainly folks are anxious to know what will go in on the property and are anxious to have a voice in determining the impacts on their neighborhood from whatever development does go into these large parcels. I want the community to have real impact on crafting the eventual outcome,” Kashmann said. “It would be my goal to involve the community as much as possible in future redevelopment on these sites. Whatever projects end up taking place will have some degree of impact on the community. Building in an urban environment cannot be hermetically sealed. But, as we do on a near daily basis, we will work with builders and developers to minimize the impacts as much as possible.”