Best known for building the $850 million Belmar town center in Lakewood and an urban village project in Westminster, developer Mark Falcone now has his eye on the crown jewel of downtown redevelopment projects.
He and fellow developer Mark Smith of East West Partners lead one of two teams vying for the chance to turn historic Union Station into the city’s transportation hub.
The project is expected to top $800 million and cover 15 acres surrounding the train station. A master plan for the site allows for 1.4 million square feet of private development – a dense mix of homes, offices, restaurants and shops – over the next 20 years.
If he beats out Cherokee Investment Partners LLC for the Union Station project, Falcone will bring to it a philosophy of design considered somewhat unusual in the world of real estate development.
Around his family’s Syracuse, N.Y., dinner table, he learned the ins and outs of shopping-center development. In his 20s, he discovered the Nature Conservancy, an organization in which to express his lifelong passion for protecting the environment.
Now the 42-year-old founder of Continuum Partners may get an opportunity at Union Station to show Denver residents how well he has melded the two disciplines. Proposals are due in July, and officials will select a master developer in September.
“I think they (Falcone and Smith) will figure out a way to build on their combined strengths,” said Byron Koste, director of the real estate center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. “The complexity is something that both companies are good at. Both of them will take that on as a challenge.”
Learned business quickly
Like his father, Michael, Falcone was immersed in the development business from a young age.
At 13, Falcone accompanied his father to meetings with retail giants such as Kmart and Wal-Mart, commercial lenders and zoning hearings.
“He enjoyed it, and he picked it up very quickly,” Michael Falcone said.
After graduating from Colgate University in 1985, Falcone went to work for The Rouse Co., a Baltimore real estate firm best known for pioneering the modern master-planned community.
At Rouse, he immersed himself in principles consistent with new urbanist design: Neighborhoods must have discernible centers with most residences within a five-minute walk of them, for example, and the streets must be relatively narrow to slow traffic and create a suitable environment for pedestrians and cyclists.
After several years, Falcone’s father called him home to help with the family business. He spent eight years developing large-scale shopping centers along the East Coast.
Falcone remembers the moment he knew it was time to change gears. He was sitting in a Lee, Mass., gymnasium listening to opponents of his father’s latest proposed Wal-Mart development.
“I just remember thinking I could no longer be an accomplice to a pattern of building that I know is fundamentally flawed,” he said.
Michael Falcone admits at first feeling apprehensive about his son’s desire to create environmentally sensitive projects.
“He felt he could create real estate developments that would also give back to the community,” he said. “Mark is willing to invest today for a long-term future. Not many of us in the business today are willing to do that.”
In 1997, the younger Falcone went into business for himself, opening Continuum Partners in Denver.
Boston was first choice
While Denver has embraced Falcone, the city wasn’t his first choice. He would have picked Boston.
But when his ex-wife said she wanted to move to Colorado with their two young children, he decided to move, too.
Continuum has grown from a handful of people at its inception to about 45 today.
Falcone’s mission for Continuum was “to create sustainable human habitats of extraordinary character and enduring value.”
His early projects reflect those goals. His first project was 16 Market Square, a newly constructed building across the street from Market Street Station that incorporates retail, office and residential units into the context of historic Lower Downtown. His second was a new urbanist development called Bradburn on West 120th Avenue near Federal Boulevard in Westminster.
Before Bradburn was finished, Falcone accepted the Belmar project on the site of the dying Villa Italia mall. It probably best reflects Continuum’s mission. The shopping-center redevelopment project in Lakewood has won national awards and has become the poster child for new urbanism.
Last year, Belmar generated $583,000 in Lakewood sales taxes, up from $327,000 in 2004. This year, the city expects it to generate $1.1 million. So far it is on target, said Larry Dorr, the city’s finance director, generating $161,000 for the first two months.
Beyond its contributions to city coffers, Continuum contributes to the quality of life in Lakewood, said Mayor Steve Burkholder. The firm sponsors an annual Italian food and wine festival that drew 70,000 people to Belmar this year. It has also supported a contemporary arts center called The Lab that will open this fall.
“It’s not just the bricks and mortar,” Burkholder said. “It’s an attitude, a feeling, a sense of community that makes Continuum stand out.”
Focus on variety
In a sense, variety is what sets Falcone apart from most developers, said Dennis Humphries of the Denver architectural firm Humphries Poli and a past president of the American Institute of Architects.
“16 Market is in the middle of the city, in the heart of Lower Downtown at a prime site on the 16th Street Mall,” he said. “Then he goes out to the middle of nowhere, destroys a dysfunctional shopping mall and creates a new place.”
Falcone is showcasing his values-centered approach as part of an unusual project in the Central Platte Valley that is still being developed through an ingenious land deal with Smith, who sold Falcone a 1.3-acre parcel at 15th and Delgany streets for about $2.9 million.
Falcone gave a piece of the land to developer Susan Powers for an affordable-housing development and donated another third of an acre worth $750,000 as the site for a new Contemporary Art Museum.
He retained enough land to build a luxury 13-unit townhouse community next door, called Art House. One residence is being custom built for Falcone, who recently sold his Cherry Creek home for $1 million.
He’ll undoubtedly make good money from the sale of those units, but having the museum was important to both Falcone and Smith.
“It’s not a project that one would have done solely for financial gain,” Smith said. “He did it more for civic purposes than as a development deal. It’s downtown, and downtown is important to Mark.”
Falcone’s commitment to the arts stems from a conviction that a community’s cultural infrastructure is a critical asset.
“Economic winds ebb and flow, but cultural infrastructure will carry a community a long way,” he said.
Staff writer Margaret Jackson can be reached at 303-820-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com.
Mark Falcone’s metro-Denver projects
16 Market Square: mixed-use urban infill building
The mixed-use building combines 25,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space, 183,000 square feet of office space and 23 luxury penthouses atop a three-level underground parking garage. The $58 million project was completed in early 2001.
Bradburn, Westminster: high-density suburban housing
The 120-acre project, based on principles of traditional neighborhood design and smart growth, features four distinct neighborhoods, nine parks, a commercial core, two recreation centers and access to 45 miles of open space and trails. When complete, the development will include more than 700 residences within a 10-minute walk of Bradburn’s main street and village core. The $220 million development will be completed by the end of next year.
Belmar, Lakewood: rebuilding a city center
Lakewood’s 103-acre downtown district combines retailers, boutiques, restaurants, theaters, offices, residences, artist studios, parks and plazas within 22 city blocks. Belmar is designed to encourage pedestrian traffic and emphasizes the importance of public spaces. The first phase of the $850 million project opened in May 2004. It’s slated for completion in 2012.
Art House Townhomes, Denver: urban luxury condos
Art House’s 13 luxury townhomes in the Central Platte Valley range from 1,500 square feet to 3,700 square feet and offer up to 1,300 square feet of outdoor living space, three-car garages and rooftop terraces. The project is adjacent to the new Museum of Contemporary Art, built on land donated by Falcone. The $18 million project will be completed this spring.
Belleview Station: transit-oriented community.
Adjacent to the light-rail station at Interstate 25 and Belleview Avenue, the high-density, mixed-use development will include 1,900 residential units, 600,000 square feet of office space and 160,000 square feet of retail space, as well as a full-service four- or five- star hotel and comprehensive parking. Construction on the first phase of Belleview Station is expected to begin this fall. The $100million first phase of the project will be completed in 2008.
Kent Place, Englewood: high-end, mixed-use development
The 11.5-acre site at the former Denver Seminary at South University Boulevard and East Hampden Avenue will include 350 residential units and 65,000 square feet of retail and office space. Demolition will begin this spring, with construction of Phase I starting later this year. The $400 million project will be completed in 2010.
– Margaret Jackson
