Infilling for Vertical Growth

The popularity of living and doing business in Denver has led to a construction boom in and around the city’s core.  Look around: there are construction cranes visible throughout downtown and beyond.  In addition to a vast amount of new residential space, new construction also includes many thousands of square feet of new office space and a significant amount of new hotel, academic and cultural facilities.  If the trends of the past several years are any precedent, people will continue to relocate to central Denver.  To satisfy this demand, much new residential space will continue to rise.  All of this growth certainly will have a big impact on the homeowners association management industry.  As with any large bout of multi-unit residential development, the need for this kind of management is definite.  CAP Management is poised to take full advantage of this growth and is prepared to offer its services to emerging communities.

Much to the elation of CAP Management, there is a commonality amongst many, or all, of these developments.  They are being built in a style known as ‘infill development.’  What this means is that instead of building the city outward, as in building in the suburbs or lower density neighborhoods near the city’s fringe, the new construction is being performed in the central city on parking or otherwise vacant lots or in place of less formidable buildings.  This density-creating method of building benefits the community by providing a more urban and pedestrian friendly environment by discouraging the use of surface parking lots.  Motorists visiting any of these new developments will use street parking or, better yet, spaces that have been incorporated into the architecture of the new buildings.  Consider the aesthetic impacts of building a new residential or office structure atop an existing parking lot.  Instead of the barren and forbidding lot, the streetscape would instead have a tighter, more inviting feel.  It is common that these new buildings, to avoid any possible legal and commercial issues, have contained within them the number of parking spaces that their footprints have consumed in addition to the spaces needed for their own uses – all within the built developments.  Not only does this benefit the aesthetics of the property and the ‘sense of place’ experienced on the human scale, but there are environmental benefits as well.  Urban density is sustainable in character by reducing the need for use of the personal automobile and making the use of mass transit more plausible and effective.  A number of great examples of these developments underway can be found in the Ballpark district northeast of Lower Downtown.  To meet the demands of Denver’s growing population, there are many new residential buildings being constructed in the previously surface lot-covered neighborhood near Coors Field.  These developments increase density, encourage walkability and create a more people-focused and less autocentric environment.

While Ballpark is certainly seeing a great deal of growth, other neighborhoods are equally, if not more so, on the rise.  The Lower Highlands neighborhood, or LoHi, is also experiencing a tremendous amount of infill growth.  And of course there is the Union station neighborhood; quickly becoming a new center for residences and business operations to complement the infrastructure expansion to support greater rail transport.  All in all, there are 36 large residential developments currently under construction across town.  Add that to the 16 recently completed projects and that equates to a whole lot of new residential space!  What does that mean for homeowners associations?  There is undoubtedly going to be the creation of new HOAs throughout the area.  Those figures mentioned above do not account for development projects being built outside of the limits of the City and County of Denver.  All of Metro Denver is growing – and growing fast.  CAP Management has grown quite a bit recently as well.  We have proudly taken on a large number of new HOAs in the past year, both large and small; both in the central city and throughout the suburban ring.  We have proven to be able to successfully handle this growth and are excited by the opportunities that lay before us with the current amount of construction that can be seen.  Infill growth is particularly attractive to our business given its sustainable nature.  Please visit the CAP Management website or call 303.832.2971 to learn how we can lead any newly organized HOA into a fruitful future.

As cities go, Denver as we see it today is a relatively new city.  As it began to grow as an epicenter for business and its skyline really began to soar, at about the same time its suburbs were experiencing explosive growth, a lot of supportive infrastructure was laid out for the automobile.  As time carried along, we have seen infill development provide for the development of a strong skyline on these high plains.  It is encouraging to see that as the city evolves it is in fact getting denser and the horizontal growth habits of the past are diminishing.  Plus, living and working in downtown Denver sure is great thing.