by Mark Smiley | Dec 17, 2015 | Main Articles
City Of Glendale Takes Extraordinary Measures
by Mark Smiley
While 2016 is the Year of the Rat in the Chinese calendar, the City of Glendale is trying to ensure that 2016 becomes the Year of No Rats in Glendale. Construction up and down Leetsdale Drive the last few years has disturbed rat nests — in both Denver and Glendale. An infestation of rats has dominated portions along Leetsdale Drive including North Glendale and 
surrounding Denver neighborhoods. These demolitions, tear downs and new developments cause the rats to look for new havens. Rodents run to the nearby buildings, producing a deep howl of rage from the residents.
In a small city like Glendale a problem doesn’t take long to move up the food chain to the mayor of the city, Mike Dunafon. “Residents from complexes in North Glendale would approach me and call me informing me of the rat problem,” said Dunafon. “I realized we needed to take immediate action along with the Glendale Police Department. I even got calls from various complexes that are in Denver, but I had to refer those over to the appropriate persons in Denver.”
The reason the problem cannot be ignored or overlooked is because rats are dangerous. Besides being simply unpleasant, they are frequent carriers of many diseases. Dr. Matt Perzanowski, a professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, whose research is focused on understanding the exposures that lead to allergy and asthma, said that rats and mice have special protein that could be a culprit in allergic reactions and, though it is less studied, probably to asthma as well.
Rats like to live where people live. They quickly adjust to the neighborhood. Rats can thrive on just an ounce of food and water daily, so when they enter a neighborhood and gain access to meat, fish, vegetables and grains, they will stay. Rats prefer to feed in and around homes, restaurants and businesses. But they will settle for scraps from trash bags and cans, private yards and what they find at the community refuse disposal and transfer station. Rats get the shelter they need from tall weeds and grass, fences and walls, rubbish piles and abandoned appliances.
Rats move freely in and out of buildings in the neighborhood, so any steps that neighbors take to control rats will encourage them to move into a nearby building. A community effort works best, where everyone in the neighborhood takes steps at the same time to prevent rats from entering the buildings and to remove their food and shelter.
Managing rats comes down to three things: food, water and shelter. Eliminating these three goes a long way to solving 
a rat problem. The City of Glendale’s goal is to make the necessary changes to remove food and eliminate harborage that is attracting rats to sites around Glendale and surrounding Denver neighborhoods.
Currently, the City of Glendale has contracted with Checkmate Pest Control and its owner Russell Carter. “The rats are most likely coming from Cherry Creek and they are able to move freely up and down the creek,” said Carter. “They are very good climbers, jumpers, runners, and hiders. They multiply faster than rabbits so you have to be proactive like Glendale.”
Mayor Dunafon has worked with city officials including Josh Bertrand, Director of Public Works, to help North Glendale residents feel safe again. Their efforts over the last couple of months have paid off. Glendale Public Works and Checkmate Pest Control regularly monitor city parks and sites with trash p
roblems, potential nesting areas, and adjacent problem areas in order to prevent the rat population from becoming out of control.
“We have seen a significant decrease in the amount of rats,” said Dunafon. “We are removing them and residents are once again feeling like there is progress. I am proud of how Josh [Bertrand] has helped manage this problem.”
“The mayor and Officer [Korbie] Perkins were helpful in limiting the rat situation in the best matters that were within guidelines of the city,” said Ali Langworthy, Assistant Manager of Urban Phenix. “They are still working with us diligently to continue to help us to eliminate these little creatures as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
Cities such as New York hav
e been dealing with rats for hundreds of years. Fast forwarding to 2014, YouTube videos of rats on subway tracks and in a subway car in New York City went viral, as did videos of rats in a Dunkin’ Donuts in Manhattan. In June 2014, residents at adjacent Upper West Side buildings demanded an end to the rat problem they said had reached epidemic proportions, and started a rent strike.
In 2015, another YouTube video of a rat carrying a slice of pizza in the subway went viral. Within 15 hours of the YouTube upload, the video was trending worldwide on Twitter and Facebook, and within two days, the video garnered five million views.
The City of Glendale is actively taking steps to make sure they do not end up the subject of a youtube video. The key to success is to preserve public safety and kill the disease carrying rats. Rodenticides are being used in this case and have been properly applied into the burrow systems so they cannot be reached by children and animals. The battle continues along Cherry Creek but the City of Glendale is taking strides to hopefully eliminate the problem completely.
by Mark Smiley | Dec 17, 2015 | Main Articles
Hundreds Of Millions In New Developments In Glendale And Denver
by Glen Richardson
After more than two decades of coasting in idle, the portion of Leetsdale Drive that is in Glendale has shifted into overdrive. Spurred by Glendale’s growth plans, plus several ambitious adjoining construction projects in Denver, this major Cherry Creek Valley roadway is undergoing an amazing redevelopment renaissance.
Growth along this highway corridor appears to have shot out of the blocks following the redevelopment of the old Cub Foods location at Leetsdale and South Cherry Street by King Soopers. The site stood vacant 
for over a half decade as the City of Glendale demanded a high end store and adjoining retail liquor establishment as a pre-condition to its approval of development plans. King Soopers unsuccessfully sued Glendale in Arapahoe County District Court prior to acceding to the city’s pre-conditions.
The highly successful new King Soopers store attracted other developers to the area. In mid-November Natural Grocers opened a new store at Alameda and Leetsdale at the old Gunther Toody’s location. Shortly thereafter the Greek Orthodox Church located at the intersection of Leetsdale and Alameda in Glendale agreed to a long-term land lease with the next- door JCC (Robert E. Loup Jewish Community Center) for property a
long Leetsdale. That lease will allow the JCC (the J) to bulldoze its existing indoor tennis facility and rebuild it across Dahlia Street in Glendale.
With that lease agreement in place, the JCC is launching a $50 million three-to- four-year construction project with plans to build a half dozen new facilities. First to break ground will be a new Sturm Family Fitness Center along Leetsdale where the current tennis center is located. The 87,000-square-foot, three-story facility will be the largest in the metro area and will have two full size basketball courts plus an indoor running track. There will also be nine fitness studios for personal training, yoga, group exercise, CrossFit, Pilates and spinning. Also included will be a cardio room with mountain views plus a large weight room. In addition the project includes a café plus 
a 15,000 square foot outdoor field, lit for nighttime.
At virtually the same time period the 1.5 acres across Leetsdale that housed Four Mile Bar and a couple of homes was sold and redeveloped as a Rite Aid Pharmacy as well as a Noodles and Company restaurant.
Corridor Blossoms
With relocation of Natural Grocers to the Gunther Toody’s site in Glendale, the former location on Leetsdale Drive was purchased by Newberry Brothers for $2.4 million. The buyer has been in the greenhouse and florist business at 2nd Avenue and Garfield in Cherry Creek North for nearly 70 years. The company will use the 12,046-square-foot building on the site when it relocates to the 
Leetsdale location later this year. The floral business also purchased the strip center at 5301-5307 Leetsdale Drive, directly adjacent to the former Natural Grocers property for an undisclosed price. That site has a roomy 1.36-acre lot that could be used for building another structure or additional parking.
Paula Newberry-Arnold, daughter of Weldon and Elizabeth Newberry who started the firm, now co-owns the business with her son Kien. She has developed the business into one of the Valley’s top floral and décor shops specializing in a variety of large themed events along with daily custom floral designs.
Near the time period last year when the grocery property transactions took place, the Hilltop Retail Center at 5512 Leetsdale Drive sold for $7.05 million. Further east on the southwest corner of Leetsdale and Holly, the 4.42-acre Dillon Dairy site at 5512 Leetsdale Drive sold for $3,950,000. Southern Food Group’s Meadow Gold Dairy closed the milk processing, packaging and filling plant that once had annual revenue of more than $20 million and employed a staff of up to 40. Equipment in the plant was auctioned off in Sept. 2014. The unnamed buyer reportedly plans to redevelop that site into retail space and possibly add a self-storage facility. Current zoning and building codes allow for a three-story or 45-foot vertical structure.
Volley Of Growth
The JCC’s new year’s develo
pment plan is also a driving engine for growth along Leetsdale. The J revealed it will construct a new Tennis Center on the currently vacant Greek Church property along Leetsdale.
The new tennis center will be a climate controlled fabric and metal structure featuring six ATP-approved tennis courts plus a pro shop and locker rooms. There will also be a party deck and an indoor viewing area. Players and followers will have 100 dedicated parking spaces at the center across Dahlia Street.
The JCC also plans to build a functional, fun indoor-outdoor Aquatics Center. It will feature an “Outdoor Lazy River,” plus a zero entry pool with water slide. Also included will be an indoor family pool with water slide. An indoor six-lane lap pool plus a year-round outdoor four-lane lap pool will be included.
Family Focused
The JCC’s current Fitness Center will be changed into a Family Center allowing for increased children’s programming. It will feature a large gymnastics facility with raised viewing area. There will be two large rooms for celebrations and birthday parties plus eight summer camp rooms. Also planned is an Arts Center with designated space for pottery and other media. An indoor play area for children and two dance studios will also be added. The Mizel Arts & Culture Center currently located on the JCC campus will be renovated.
In addition a new Early Childhood Center — a key portion of the J’s business and mission — will be built. The new ECC will be constructed to licensing regulations and with best practices in mind. It will include 13 updated classrooms with a centralized and secure child drop-off area.
Among the final buildings set for construction is a two-story, 42,000-square-foot office building that will house the J’s administrative offices, JEWISHcolorado and other Valley Jewish agencies. This will allow for increased efficiencies, collaboration and economies between the organizations involved. The office building will house a parking garage for added accessibility. Also planned is a space for seniors to meet and socialize as well as a Beit Midrash (House of Study), accessible to the entire community for learning and meeting. The redeveloped property will add 250 wider parking spaces. Additionally, overflow parking for large events will be available across Dahlia at the new tennis facility. Information: 303-399-2660.
Traffic And Parking
As with new developments along Colorado Boulevard and Cherry Creek North the new Leetsdale projects bring into question traffic and parking concerns. Glendale has much higher parking requirements than Denver and Glendale is generally unwilling to compromise on those requirements. In addition Glendale does consider and attempt to address traffic concerns which Denver, as a matter of public policy, refuses to consider or address. Glendale, in cooperation with the Colorado Department of Transportation, has demanded from developers land and easements to address concerns about traffic flow at the major intersection of Leetsdale Drive and South Cherry Street. To address general traffic levels on Leetsdale Drive as a whole will take Denver’s participation which at the present time Denver is not willing to undertake.
by Mark Smiley | Nov 23, 2015 | Main Articles
50-Year Park Hill Tradition Lights Up The Neighborhood
by Megan Carthel
Between 19th and Montview Boulevard on Leyden Street is an average Park Hill neighborhood. Trees line the block while the sounds of children playing fill the air. But, this neighborhood has a unique tradition.
For every child’s birthday on the block, 86-year-old Hal Weber grabs his ski poles, a pouch full of cards and makes the march around Leyden, placing a personalized birthday card on all of the 15 homes, specific for each of the 23 children and one dog. He then lights up a “celebration tree” in honor of each birthday, a tradition he’s had since 1965.
The tradition began after Hal and his wife, Lois, purchased a pine tree and planted it in their yard. During Christmas of 1964, they colored the tree with lights — the first of many lightings of the celebration tree. Though they didn’t know it at the time, this would become an important tradition for the whole block.
“We like celebrating. We like color. We like lights. We like fun,” Weber said. “So after Christmas, it seemed foolish to me to have to wait another 11 months before we got that tree lit up out there.”
So the Webers decided to light the tree up any time their family was celebrating an occasion. When their daughter’s friend, Wendy, had a birthday in February 1965, Hal decided to light up the tree. Since then, Hal has made sure every child on the block has a special birthday.
“It was all by accident,” Weber said. “It pretty much just evolved.”
His accident has touched the hearts of many of his neighbors, including Chris Wester who has three kids. Weber has lit the tree every year for each child. Wester has kept every single card Weber has given her children. Weber normally stops the cards at age 16, poking fun at the new teen drivers, but for Wester’s youngest child James, Weber has kept the tradition alive. James has a mental disability and does not understand the concept, but Weber makes his day special every year.
“I have to believe that somewhere inside of him, that is just a warm fuzzy for him,” Wester said. “It has to be.”
James loves basketball and plays every year in the Special Olympics with the Denver Parks and Recreation Department. Weber personalized his last birthday card with a basketball theme.
“Hal is just the most humble man, but he is so special, thoughtful, kind and gentle,” Wester said.
Wester recalls a special moment when her daughter Annie was 10. The family walked down to the celebration tree the evening of her birthday and sang happy birthday to her.
“It was so cool. I mean, how sweet can that be,” Wester said.
Wester said Weber is like a grandfather on the block — an extension of the family. Weber keeps a categorized list of every child on the block. The children are divided by months and a note on the side indicates the year they were born. However, Weber and his wife moved out of the neighborhood this fall and into a senior living facility — difficult news for many on the block. Weber broke the news in typical Hal fashion, a note placed on each door.
“It just kind of broke my heart,” Wester said with tears in her eyes. “I am sure he heard from every single one of us how important this has been to us. Every time I see that card on the door, I just smile.”
But Weber does not plan on ending his tradition. He plans on surprising the neighborhood with his birthday cards, ensuring that the memory of the celebration tree is still glowing bright. The tree is gone now, but he’s premade many of the birthday cards, halfway through January.
“In December it’s going to be Luke, he was born in ’99. It’s going to be his last year. He’s going to be a driver,” Weber said. “Then Jack who’s a baseball fan, so I’ll have something relative to that, then his sister. Then it’ll be Rebecca, Becky.”
Weber’s simple act of celebrating birthdays has brought the entire block together.
“There’s just something about if your kid is celebrating a birthday, and I’m driving down the street, I’m going to wave and go happy birthday,” Wester said.
The entire block has a list of each other’s names, phone numbers and email addresses. Many families have lived on Leyden for over 10 years. The new family on the block has been there for three.
“I don’t think there’s another block in Park Hill like this,” Wester said. “It’s the nicest feeling of family in a neighborhood that I could ever imagine.”
Indeed, Weber has seen many of the kids grow up.
“I’ve seen them when they were a pouch of water in their mother to a point when several of them are in college and maybe out of college by now,” Weber said.
Weber has worked and been around kids his entire life. Working as a pediatric audiologist, he started the Colorado Department of Health’s state-wide hearing program, which helps kids with hearing loss solve their problems. In a way, Weber said, overcoming obstacles has always been his direction.
“I love life,” Weber said.
Weber has made sure the card and celebration tree continued, even after having two hip replacements and a pinched nerve in his back. To this day, Weber has a recumbent bike he still rides.
“He just makes me want to be a better person and keep going,” Wester said.
And for his birthday, how does he celebrate?
“Nothing special,” Weber said.
by Mark Smiley | Nov 23, 2015 | Main Articles
Neighborhood Groups Begin To Flex Their Muscles
by Charles Bonniwell
As the Denver City Council is increasingly looked at by some as a tainted and dishonest political entity that ignores the concerns and wishes of residents in favor of powerful real estate developers, many people in Denver have increasingly turned to neighborhood associations and Denver’s Inter-Neighborhood Cooperative (INC) to represent their interests.
INC is the umbrella organization for Registered Neighborhood Organizations (RNOs) which have special legal status in the City and County of Denver. Under the Denver Municipal Code starting in 1979, RNOs have been statutorily required to be notified of and given participation opportunities related to proposed zoning amendments, landmark designation applications as well as planning board and boa
rd of adjustment hearings.
Established in 1975 INC was a part of the national neighborhood movement of the 1970s which was originally formed to help revive and conserve older neighborhoods by demanding the right to participate in governmental decisions which affected those neighborhoods.
As a 501(c)(3) non-profit INC is also engaged in charitable as well such as educational activities. The organization was a relatively benign group for many years perhaps best known for its Neighborhood Awards and its awards dinner held every year. But that began to change in the spring of 2012 when Larry Ambrose became the group’s president. A few months earlier Mayor Michael Hancock began his term as 45th mayor of the City and County of Denver with his election orchestrated by real estate developer Pat Hamill and his business associates.
Ambrose, a businessman and lawyer, is today an affiliate faculty member at Metropolitan State University of Denver teaching classes in marketing and advertising. He is the owner of Ambrose Consulting, LLC which advises businesses in small business development and related fields.
It soon became apparent that Hancock was little more than a figurehead mayor while Hamill and his real estate developer friends assumed control. Hamill installed Janice Sinden as Hancock’s chief 
of staff so he could know everything that was going on in the mayor’s office without having to ask Hancock himself. Sinden had been Hamill’s executive director at the business advocacy group Colorado Concern when he was chairman of the board.
Neighborhoods began to be overrun by high density projects with developer friends of the mayor seizing land with the help of the city including parks, open space and even church properties. Neighborhood destroying projects were moved through the
planning process as well as final City Council approval with incredible rapidity one after the other including Lowry Vista, Hentzell Park, City Park Zoo Gasification Project, Sloan’s Lake, Mount Gilead/Crestmoor Park, Buckley Annex and West Highlands.
City Council meetings would go late into the night with citizen after citizen begging the Council to take a closer look at the effect of these projects on their neighborhoods only to get vapid bored looks from councilmembers and overwhelming votes in favor of the developers.
INC became the one place families could go to have their concerns at least heard and Larry Ambrose became a hero to many who felt the system to be corrupt and unresponsive.
Ambrose began to give real voice to the citizens’ concerns. When Brad Buchanan, the highly controversial executive director of Denver’s Community Planning and Development Department (DPCD) went to T
he Denver Post to extol the virtues of these high density projects, Ambrose declared to The Post, “It’s very easy for Brad to come into the city and shove this high density down our throats and then drive home to his ranch.” The embarrassed and humiliated Buchanan was unable to publicly respond.
In the case of a gasification plant that the Denver Zoo wanted to build at City Park, Ambrose wrote a letter on behalf of INC demanding the City Council hold a hearing on many of the concerns that it had failed to address in its previous unanimous approval. This resulted in a scathing editorial by The Denver Post calling the opposition “misguided and, frankly way too late.” Ambrose wrote a stirring rebuttal that was published by The Post.
Less than two-weeks later to the absolute mortification of The Post’s editorial board the Zoo announced, in effect, that the opponents of the project had been right all along and the project was being ditched. The editorial board groaned in a follow-up editorial — ”What a fiasco.” Ambrose’s reputation and standing reached new heights among Denver residents.
Ambrose and INC have come up with an eight page 2,769 word platform document whereby residents and RNOs would have a great deal more to say in how the city is developed including having the mayor and other city officials appoint representatives of RNOs to city boards and commissions.
Among other major reforms the platform envisions is that higher density zoning would not be approved unless any adverse impacts on traffic or parking can be mitigated.
The degree of increased influence that INC has achieved is reflected by the fact that
Buchanan’s DPCD publicly declared that it had reached out to INC to ask for the final zoning/planning platform document and that it shared “INC’s overreaching goals of transparency, partnership and meaningful public involvement … all toward our shared goal of building community.”
The statement of DPCD bought gales of derision from resident activists. Jennifer James noted, “Buchanan and his believably sleazy co-horts at DPCD think they can placate Larry and INC with some verbal jujitsu. There would have been no need for the platform in the first place if DPCD was not a moral and ethical cesspool. The adoption of the platform by INC is itself a repudiation of what the mayor and Buchanan have done to our neighborhoods. If there was any justice in the city there would be a full and thorough criminal investigation of the planning process in the City and County of Denver. Maybe someday there will be, but it will probably be too late to save many portions of the city.”
As for Ambrose himself he claims no overriding ambitions. “I just want to give voice to the residents that the government of the City and County of Denver is ignoring,” said Ambrose. “The average citizen is the last person the city listens to unfortunately.”
But many other people note that he garnered over 2,300 write-in votes in the 2015 mayoral election which is said to be the highest number of write-in votes in the history of the city. This is all the more remarkable in that Ambrose did not participate in the effort or campaign and all the work was done by admirers of Ambrose.
Members of INC, in their individual capacities, helped elect four members to the Denver City Council in the election this last spring who they believe will not be co-opted by real estate developers. Some of those hard-charging individuals want to look at electing a new mayor in 2019.
Mayor Hancock had no organized opposition in 2015 but already there are increasing numbers of politically savvy people in Denver who are stating that “Ambrose for Mayor 2019” is making more and more sense.
by Mark Smiley | Nov 2, 2015 | Main Articles
by John T. Edwards
There has never been a department store opening in Denver quite like that RH Denver (f/n/a Restoration Hardware) had on the evening October 15. Getting an invitation to the event was the hottest ticket in town and the elaborate and costly invitation itself made it clear that the “invitation was nontransferable.” There were doormen and others outside who made sure that no gatecrashers were permitted into the festivities.
All of Denver’s “A” listers and others were there including Hockey Hall of Fame member Wayne Gretzky; Westword’s Patty Calhoun; Barry Hirschfeld Jr. and his wife Arlene fresh from a talk by former MSNBC host Soledad O’Brien at a Women’s Foundation of Colorado event; former Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown and his wife Suzanne, senior features editor for The Denver Post; Babs Bosworth and her husband attorney Arthur Bosworth, a former Assistant United States Attorney who is with the law firm of Dill Dill Carr Stonbraker & Hutchings; Justin Joseph of Fox 31 News; Brian Maass of CBS4; and, of course, attorney and lobbyist Steve Farber of the
firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.
Mr. Farber, called Denver’s own “Prince of Darkness” for his perceived baneful influence on the municipality, did not inter mix with the hoi polloi at the event but instead, as is his modus operandi, stood at a prominent place (in this case in front of the bandstand on the first floor) and waited for others to come to him; and they did so in scores.
RH Denver store at 2900 East 1st Avenue was constructed to look like an enormous four story mansion. As is all the rage in Denver, and permitted by a Planning Board and City Council where anything goes, the building is built only a few feet from 1st Avenue and is part of the ongoing canonization of Cherry Creek and Cherry Creek North. The building is an enormous 70,000 square feet and replaces the old Saks Fifth Avenue store which closed in 2011 and subsequently was torn down in 2014.
Music was supplied by the DJ Collective, elegant hors d’oeuvres by the Epicurean Group and first class wines by Ma(i)sonry. On the top floor is a rooftop park and conservatory which should become a hot spo
t in the not too distant future. RH hired good looking models as greeters. Also attending the event were wealthy, single (or soon to be single) businessmen who were escorted by highly attractive females half their age who were sometimes introduced as “nieces” or “friends of their daughters.”
It seemed appropriate as the company’s Chairman and CEO Gary Friedman had been fired in 2012 for an affair with a female employee less than half his age, but was reappointed in July 2013, even though he continued the relationship with the woman.
Nick LeMasters, the manager of the Cherry Creek Shopping Center, told Fox 31 News that, “This is the kind of store that people will get in their car to come visit. They’ll come from the mountain communities, from the north suburbs, certainly from the southern suburbs and on a larger scale; they’ll be coming from a six-state region.”
RH Denver is owned by Restoration 
Hardware Holdings Inc. based in Corte Madera, California, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RH. RH Denver is the company’s 7th full line design gallery and it also has 59 smaller galleries as well as 18 outlet stores in the United States and Canada, including one in the Outlets at Castle Rock.
by Mark Smiley | Nov 2, 2015 | Main Articles
Acquires Key Office Building For 180 Project
City Still In Tussle With Hotel REIT
by Charles C. Bonniwell
The City of Glendale has won key legal victories over MAK Investment Group LLC the investment vehicle of the wealthy Kholghy family from Iran that owns Authentic Persian and Oriental Rugs on Colorado Boulevard and 6.5 acres along the Cherry Creek corridor. City attorney Jeffrey Springer of the law firm Springer & Steinberg, P.C. has been leading the city’s litigation efforts in this matter. The Kholghys have been attempting to prevent Glendale from creating a $150 million eating and entertainment district along Cherry Creek titled Glendale 180, formerly known as the Glendale Riverwalk.
The Litigious Kholghys
The Kholghys filed two Rule 106 actions in Arapahoe County District Court asserting that they and not prominent Houston developer Wulf & Co. should have been chosen as the developer for the project. Considering that the rug merchants have no prior experience in real estate development, some legal experts indicated they found the pleadings somewhat of an embarrassment. District Court Judge Charles M. Pratt, in his order dismissing the lawsuit, stated that the Kholghys’ actions were nothing more than a complaint that the city awarded the contract to another bidder and they did not have a property interest in the award.
Judge Platt then dismissed a second complaint filed by the litigious Kholghys that said the hearing by the city authorizes the potential use of eminent domain by its urban renewal authority was deficient. The court held that the city fulfilled all statutory obligations.
The only remaining litigation between the Kholghys and the city is raised in claims in another Amended Complaint in which the Kholghys asserted that the city did not follow a different statute C.R.S. Sec. 31-25-105.5 (2) dealing with the transfer of private property acquired by eminent domain. The court indicated that if the allegations in this Amended Complaint were all found to be valid it might be a legally sufficient complaint, but adding that it was “not making findings of conclusions of law, but allowing the further development of the record and legal argument.” Legal experts indicate that since the Kholghys’ land was not in fact acquired by eminent domain it would be difficult to see how they could prevail on their claims under the applicable statute, but that will await another day in court.
Kholghy Candidates
In the meantime rumors have surfaced that the Kholghys have been trying to recruit an existing Glendale City Council member to run against Mayor Mike Dunafon in this spring’s municipal election, but have been r
epeatedly turned down by everyone that has been asked.
“Why would anyone want to be considered the Kholghys’ pawn for mayor or any other position in the city,” asked former Glendale Councilman R. Wayne King. “The Kholghys have disgraced themselves bringing hate groups like the paramilitary Promise Keepers and the Virginia-based Institute for Justice to threaten and intimidate Hispanic and African American families and kids. The Kholghys, to the best of my knowledge, have never given a single cent to a single charity or needy family in Glendale in the almost 25 years they have done business in the city. To be their pawn would be viewed by most of the citizens of Glendale that I talk to as the lowest of low. Good luck trying to be elected in this town being a Kholghy candidate this spring. Most people I know would throw you out of their apartment or home if you came knocking. We are a very diverse town and no one wants bigots elected to city council.”
Key Acquisition
In more good news for the prospects of Glendale 180 becoming a reality, the City of Glendale acquired a key parcel of land along Virginia Avenue on October 12, 2015. The parcel located at 4490 East Virginia is the home of Gamma Construction, a Houston, Texas-based general contractor who built a two-story office building in 1998 on the site for its Denver metropolitan operations.
Gamma Construction
Gamma bought the one square acre site under the name William Square Properties Inc. in 1997 for $310,000 and constructed the two-story office building the following year. The parcel once housed the highly popular Colorado Mine Company restaurant which operated in Glendale’s go-go days of the 1970s and
1980s. The restaurant was rock legend Elvis Presley’s favorite bar and restaurant when he visited the Denver area, and was a regular hangout for Denver Broncos and other Denver professional sports players.
The city paid $2.6
million for the land and building and has agreed to allow Gamma Construction to occupy the site past closing as it builds another building in the Denver area for its operations. The city borrowed the money from Wells Fargo Bank but pledged $2.6 million in reserves thereby avoiding the expense of a Tabor election on the matter.
“It is a key acquisition for the city,” stated Glendale Mayor Mike Dunafon, “and places us one step closer to our dream of an entertainment district along Cherry Creek from Colorado Boulevard to South Cherry.”
The owner and president of Gamma Construction, Keith Williams, flew in from Houston for the closing at Land Title Guarantee Company. Gamma is a quarter of a billion dollar annual revenue company that acts as a general contractor across the West and Midwest.
Williams was highly complimentary about Glendale and its personnel. “Mayor Mike Dunafon and city officials were always true to their word. They are the type of people we as a company like to work with. We have been in Glendale for 22 years and hate to leave, but I, and my company, want to wish the city and its residents all the best. I hope that the city is able to make the Glendale 180 Project a reality after all the great work they have done to make it possible.”
REIT Files Suit —–
Election Canceled
In a related matter Glendale and Summit Hospitality LLC, the owner of Staybridge Suites Hotel located at 4220 East Virginia Avenue, are at loggerheads concerning the city’s acquisition of that 3.7 acre site. Summit is a multibillion dollar real estate investment trust that is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The city presented the owners of the site, Summit Hospitality, an independent appraisal showing the value of the land and building to be $15.8 million and suggested that, if they wanted, Summit should get its own appraisal. Summit indicated in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission they had differed several million dollars in needed improvements as they expected the property would become part of the Glendale 180 project.
But in lieu of getting an appraisal Summit hired aggressive litigator Tim Flanagan who quickly filed suit against the city claiming its Downtown Development Authority (“DDA”) election was invalid. The litigation made front page headlines in The Denver Post on October 6 under the heading “Glendale, hotel square off.” The vote was 10 to 3 as there were only 16 eligible electors including Summit, its liquor license holder. Three ballots were sent to registered voters staying at the hotel although none voted.
The City of Glendale and its urban renewal authority voted along with five individuals who acquired very small parcels as part of setting up the metro district three years ago. Flanagan asserted that the individual voters were a violation of the TABOR portion of the state constitution, asserting those voters were a “subterfuge of property ownership.”
However, The Denver Post quoted Ann Terry, executive director of the Special District Association, who noted that creating small landowners is a common mechanism in Colorado for metro districts to meet the ownership requirements of the state law.
Glendale has filed a motion to dismiss the suit indicating that it is frivolous and moreover Flanagan failed to file his suit in the proper timeframe under state law and asked the court to award the city attorney fees and costs.
Deputy City Manager Chuck Line stated that Summit owned 66% of the voting rights while only 23% of the land. With the acquisition of the Gamma Construction building the city now owns 77% of the land in the DDA. He also indicated Glendale created the formation of its metro exactly the same as Denver did in setting up a metro district regarding Union Station.
Nonetheless The Denver Post, a few days after its article, wrote an editorial castigating Glendale for having the five individuals participate in the DDA election.
The city canceled the Tabor election scheduled for November 3, which would have allowed the DDA to issue $200 million in bonds to help finance the Glendale 180 Project. The city’s project manager for the redevelopment, Mike Gross, hoped delaying the election would make negotiations with Summit easier and would allow Glendale to clean up outstanding litigation before moving forward.
Mayor Responds
Glendale Mayor Mike Dunafon indicated that the Summit REIT simply wanted to “put a gun to the head of the taxpayers,” and the lawsuit was little more than trying to get the city to overpay for the property. Summit had apparently previously indicated to the city that it was not spending several million in improvements in anticipation of the city acquiring the site.
Dunafon went on to note, “A major project is a great deal easier if you are simply buying a large vacant former farmland, but Glendale has no farm or vacant land as it is right in the middle of the Denver metropolitan area. When people find out that a city is doing a project they like to double or triple the property price, but a city has an obligation to pay a fair price but not rape the taxpayers. Urban projects always have a lot of challenges, but if you can get them done they are often enormous successes because of the demographics.”
Summit has repeatedly refused to return telephone calls from the press including The Denver Post, Westword and the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle.
Favorable Westword Article
Contrary to The Denver Post’s harsh editorial and more in line with John Aguilar’s front page story in The Denver Post, Westword’s Melanie Asmar wrote a seemingly balanced and generally favorable article on Glendale in its October 20 edition titled “Glendale Has Big Plans for the Future — And Just One Small Obstacle.” The article concluded by quoting Mayor Dunafon regarding the lawsuit by Summit and by implication of the lawsuits by the Kholghys — “It’s a shakedown.”
New Kholghy Demands
In the meantime, the litigious Kholghy family wrote another letter to the city September 15, 2015, demanding that the blight designation from their property be removed claiming it caused real estate developers not to be interested in their property.
Deputy City Manager Chuck Line replied back on September 15 noting the factors that caused the Kholghys’ property to be deemed blighted in 2004 and 2013 had not been remedied. He also expressed incredulity about the Kholghys’ claim that property in Glendale must be removed from the blighted designation before it could be redeveloped, noting numerous major properties designated blighted in Glendale that had been redeveloped, including but not limited to: CitySet, Cherry Creek Corporate Center, the Solara Apartment complex, King Soopers and Super Target.
He emphasized a landowner redevelops its property which causes the blighted designation to be removed, not the other way around. No reply to date has been received by the city from the Kholghys.
