New homes are slowly turning the east half of Denver's Overland neighborhood from industrial to residential.
Denver-based Cazna Property Development is the latest developer taking advantage of the trend, adding 19 townhomes to South Delaware Street in the area. Altogether, 633 home units have been built in the neighborhood — a 59 percent bump — from 2010 to 2015, according to census numbers.
About 3,240 people lived in the Overland area as of 2015, according to the federal data.
"In 2014 when I bought there it was kind of rustic," said Darryn McLaughlan, president of Cazna. "I didn’t think it was going to transition as fast as it has."
Cazna was approved late last year to build seven, three-story townhomes at 2190 S. Delaware St. The units are expected to open early next year and range from roughly 1,100 square feet to 1,450 square feet.
McLaughlan hopes his townhomes will be sold in the high $400,000 range. In addition to those units, his property company is working with the city to get another dozen, three-story units approved at 2160 S. Delaware St.
The area where Cazna is building has a "medium-low" development potential, according to the city of Denver.
In 2000, RTD opened the Evans Station at the southeast corner of South Santa Fe Drive. The station provides access to the C and D lines. Forty percent of the housing stock in Overland was built the year the station opened or later, according to census numbers.
In 2013, the 50-unit, five-story Evans Station Lofts opened at 2140 S. Delaware St. Last year, the city approved plans for the 224-unit, Encore Evans Station apartments at 1805 S. Bannock. St.
Multiple calls to the head of the Overland Park Neighborhood Association weren't returned. But as for McLaughlan, he's betting new homes will continue to line the once industrial streets in the area.
"There's only one way this neighborhood is going to go," he said.
Business & data reporter Adrian D. Garcia can be reached via email at [email protected] or twitter.com/adriandgarcia.
