Forum Real Estate Group has submitted a rough development outline to Denver's planning department that includes 375 homes and between 15,000 and 20,000 square feet of retail space where the abandoned Kmart sits at the corner of Evans Avenue and South Monaco Parkway.
Kristen Link, a development manager with Forum, said the application was just "due diligence" before the firm purchased the property for $10.5 million earlier this month. Essentially, the company wanted to see what the city would say if it chose to buy and develop the site.
"It's almost before the first step," Link said. We're just about to start working with local planners, city officials and holding community meetings to find out what they want. It's super conceptual."
Still, the application contained specifics, whether or not they actually happen. The 13-acre site would house 13 new structures that comprise a "low-density" development with 375 "multifamily" homes (apartments and/or condos), according to the conceptual outline. Currently, the site allows for buildings up to three stories high. It's unclear if the owner will seek new building parameters.
Even though the buildings would supplant a sea of parking spaces in front of the blighted store, the concept calls for 467 new stalls of car storage. The site is 1.5 miles from RTD's Colorado Boulevard light rail station.
The current building on the site would be demolished, according to the application.
Conceptual stuff like this often does not move forward -- think Denver's newest tallest building that never was -- according to Laura Swartz with Denver Community and Development.
The planning department responded to the application, and the ball is now in Forum's court, she said.
City Councilwoman Kendra Black, who led the crusade to rid her district of the eyesore where people dump trash and turn int into an amenity, told Denverite she was "super excited" about the property's recent sale. Forum will have to work with the city to daylight the Goldsmith Gulch, Black said, which is "a great opportunity for creating a green space."
Link said the company will likely have a more structured timeline in about a month. Staffers just held their first meeting to determine when to schedule meetings with the neighborhood.
