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BROMWELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (214)
2500 East
Fourth Avenue,
80206-4214
(Columbine Street at East Fourth Avenue)

Telephone:
(303) 388-5969
Fax: (720) 424-9355
E-mail: Bromwell@dpsk12.org

Mr. Jonathan Wolfer, Principal

Cherry Creek North

Cherry Creek North Makeover Ups Ante

by John Rebchook And Janet Forgrieve,
Rocky Mountain News, May 19, 2007

Two Denver billionaires - Christian Anschutz and Donald Sturm - are engineering massive makeovers in Cherry Creek North that experts say could create the most valuable residential and retail real estate in the Denver area.

Anschutz, son of Denver industrialist Phil Anschutz, and Sturm are giving the district a much-needed boost, experts say. Anschutz's company, Western Development Group, is developing the $100 million mixed-use NorthCreek project across from the Cherry Creek Shopping Center. Sturm is transforming the the vacant Tattered Cover Book Store building at East First Avenue and Milwaukee Street.

"I don't think it is a battle of titans," said J. Madden, who will be taking the lion's share of the former Tattered Cover when his Pura Vida Club and Spa opens in January. "I couldn't imagine two better bookends," Madden said. "Donald and Christian and David (Steel, president of Western Development) are doing very special and different projects. I think what they are doing is going to set the stage for the future of Cherry Creek North for many, many years."

Randy Nichols, who developed and sold Clayton Lane, west of NorthCreek, praised Anschutz's and Sturm's developments. "If you try to argue that Donald is trying to keep up with the Joneses because of what Christian and David Steel are doing, that is not any kind of argument at all," Nichols said. "Western Development is taking a kind of hodgepodge of beat-up parking lots and a couple of not-so-great buildings, and coming up with the highest and best use for that block."

Nichols pointed out that Sturm owned the Tattered Cover building for many years. "And as unfortunate as it is that Tattered Cover moved out, he couldn't do anything with that building as long as the bookstore was there," Nichols said. "He's basically taking a big, unattractive concrete wall with almost no windows, and replacing it with a really nice building. That is all good." Nichols said he would like to see a lot of older buildings in the neighborhood razed and replaced.

Tom Mathews, a retail broker at CB Richard Ellis, said the stores at the two developments will pay rents exceeding anything in downtown Denver or Boulder. "Tenants are willing to pay $50 or more per square foot because "it is really well-located real estate," he said. But such high-end developments will change the face of Cherry Creek North, Mathews acknowledged.

"Cherry Creek North used to be a quaint collection of boutiques, and now it is a business," Mathews said.

Councilwoman Jeanne Robb, whose district includes Cherry Creek, said on Friday she was composing a letter to a constituent who wanted to know what the government could do about preventing national tenants from pushing local tenants out of Cherry Creek North.

"Not much," is the short answer, Robb said.

She mentioned such local retailers as Andrisen Morton, Max, Oster Jewelers and Garbarini that are thriving in Cherry Creek North. And Madden's Pura Vida Club and Spa is home grown.

Still, in addition to Tattered Cover, such longtime independents as Cooks Mart, Sporting Woman, Montague's and Royce Galleries have recently closed or moved out of Cherry Creek North. Robb said some cities are passing zoning ordinances to keep any retailer with a "brand" name out, but she can't imagine that happening in Denver. "But Cherry Creek North is changing, no doubt about it," Robb said. "Change is hard for all of us."

Steel described NorthCreek as a "transition project," from Saks Fifth Avenue to Cherry Creek North. "It'll have a much different feel on First along Fillmore than on Second to Fillmore. We want to make sure the stores on Second mirror the neighborhood, while First it will be a bow to the mall."

Price tags for the residential units start at around $1 million, and units range in size from 1,200 square feet to 11,000 square feet. The tower units are about 70 percent spoken for. Jan Nelsen, a broker with Kentwood City Properties, said that NorthCreek units are selling from $800 to $1,000 per square foot for the core and shell. That is in the ballpark of what the new Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton condominiums in downtown are charging for finished units, she noted. While the units at NorthCreek aren't at the $2,000-plus per- square-foot prices that some Vail and Aspen homes are fetching, it is the closest thing to mountain resort prices in Denver, she said.

Roy Kline of Western Development said they are so bullish on Cherry Creek North that they are actively searching for more development opportunities. But he said it is difficult to assemble parcels because of a very fragmented ownership. Madden noted that he tried to open a health club in Cherry Creek North in 1999, but the time wasn't right. "Timing is everything," Madden said. "With what Donald is doing and Christian and David are doing, all of the stars have finally aligned."




Creek Flows with New Gold
The popular, eclectic shopping area is sprouting new retail, but some lament the chain influx
Rising Rent Defended: ``You can't keep the value down,'' says a banker who'll put a fitness center and spa in the Tattered Cover building.

by Julie Dunn
The Denver Post, May 20, 2007

Cherry Creek North is going through a metamorphosis.

A combination of factors - including the arrival of chain-focused, high-density developments such as Clayton Lane and North Creek and escalating real estate values - are changing the face of the 16-block shopping district.

The transformation started a few years ago when local developer Randy Nichols spent $150 million to turn Clayton Street into the upscale Clayton Lane development. More than a dozen national chains, including Crate & Barrel, Orvis and Bose, dominate the project's retail space.

Two other projects under construction by wealthy Denver businessmen - Donald Sturm and Christian Anschutz - are expected to continue that trend. Sturm, a longtime Denver banker and philanthropist, is spending nearly $10 million to renovate the former Tattered Cover building and an adjacent office building. Last month, he announced that the Pure Vida Fitness and Spa will take about 30,000 square feet in the old bookstore space. Sturm declined to name other incoming tenants, but defended the area's rising lease rates.

"People who can no longer afford the property values that we have here obviously have had to leave, but you can't keep the value down and hope that somebody can afford it," he said. "Capitalism doesn't work that way; our system of economics doesn't work that way."

MORE NEW RETAIL COMING

Cherry Creek North will also soon gain an additional 40,000 square feet of retail space in Anschutz's $100 million North Creek development, which also features 50 luxury condos that start at $1 million.

Anschutz is the son of Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz. His company, Western Development Group, said it is negotiating with about a dozen tenants - both national and local - to occupy North Creek's available first-floor retail space. "Demand has been what we expected and then some," said Western Development partner David Steel. "The demographics of this area are just perfect; we intend to buy more property here."

Western Development has already staked a significant claim in the neighborhood. It purchased the 200 Fillmore building in 2005 and recently snapped up two other properties - 280 Columbine St. and 235 Fillmore St.

The company declined to detail its plans for the buildings. "Because of the nature of the neighborhood, with the eclectic ownership and the size of the lots, it is very difficult to develop," said Roy Kline, a partner at Western Development. "We're trying to decide what to do with them; right now we're leasing them short-term."

One tenant Western Development could not come to a long-term lease agreement with was Mel's Restaurant, which pulled out of 235 Fillmore St. last month. "It's all changing," said restaurant owner Mel Masters. "And there is nothing wrong with change, but I don't know if the small independent restaurants and retailers can make it because they don't have the volume to pay the growing rents."

INDIES VANISHING - OR NOT

There are currently more than 300 businesses in Cherry Creek North, including about 65 spas and salons and more than 50 restaurants.

But concern began to mount in recent months as more than a dozen independent shops shut down. Some - like Sporting Woman, B. Bear Express and Cook's Mart - said they were closing down for personal reasons. Others, including Mel's and the Tattered Cover, could not secure new leases.

But Julie Bender, who took over the Cherry Creek North Business Improvement District earlier this year, stressed that independent businesses continue to thrive in the area, pointing to the arrival of several new locally owned boutiques - including Stylelicious Kids and De Stijl Clothing, which both plan to open this month. "Independently-owned businesses are the core of this area, so it's an odd perception to me that they're a dying breed here," said Bender, who was formerly the head of the DIA Partnership. "This area has a long history of great entrepreneurs; it's just a matter of scale. They're developing bigger buildings now."

The Cherry Creek North Business Improvement District markets the retail district and provides other services. Last fall, it helped push through an $18 million bond issue to fund renovations in the neighborhood. Several long-time independent retailers, including the owners of Tam O'Neill Fine Arts and The Brass Bed, said they're pleased with Bender's vision for Cherry Creek North.

"We're really supportive of the new leadership," said Tam O'Neill, who last year helped form a group of about 40 stores who want to preserve the district's eclectic nature. "We've raised the issue of how do independents fit into the big picture. We're on the radar screen now."

The Brass Bed owner Rosella Louis, who has been in the neighborhood for 30 years, said her business has never been better. "I'm positive about the future," she said. "I don't think the changes are necessarily as detrimental to small business as people are thinking. The good retailers are still doing well."

And at least one independent retailer - Andrisen Morton - has invested heavily in its store in a bid to compete with the increased national presence and October's arrival of Nordstrom at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center. Its women's boutique recently completed a $1.5 million renovation. "Our posture is that you have to go big or go home," said co-owner Dave Morton. "It's inevitable that the district is going to change; the real estate here is just worth too much money. But I think Clayton Lane and North Creek are the two best things that have ever happened to Cherry Creek North."