Susan Mann found herself living in a condo at Wadsworth and Hampton, but spending much of her leisure time at movie theaters and stores in Lakewood’s new Belmar district.
A year ago, she bought a $352,000, four-story townhouse in Belmar specifically for the huge closet that ran the length of the fourth floor.
Today, the wholesale mortgage banker still marvels at the more-than-adequate storage, but what gets her really excited is her home’s rapid appreciation.
“The base price of my particular model is now $391,900 – and that doesn’t include the add-ons I got,” she said.
Her unit, part of the Urban Row Homes development, recently was appraised for $71,000 more than she paid. Not a bad one-year return on her investment.
Mann’s experience is a microcosm of what’s happening all over Belmar, Lakewood’s first ever “downtown.” The brainchild of Continuum Partners, a Denver-based development company, Belmar sits where the old Villa Italia once reigned, and in just two years since Phase I was introduced, the neighborhood has become the hub of Lakewood’s shopping, dining, entertainment and business activity.
“This is a mixed-use development in the truest sense,” said Liza Prall, principal director of marketing for Continuum and a fairly new Belmar resident herself. “You can do everything you need to do – shopping, coffee, a movie, groceries, dinner with friends, exercise – without ever getting into your car.”
Plus, the relationships between residents and businesses are strong in an old-fashioned way.
Businesses that have relocated here are also reaping the benefits of this mixed-use community. For Mike Sweeney, president and chief operating officer of the Integer Group, the largest marketing services agency in Denver, relocating 440 employees from two offices (one on Sixth Avenue, the other in Golden) to Belmar made great business sense.
“Both our leases were up and there were going to be increases in rent,” he said. Given that he wanted to stay on the west side of town (because Coors is Integer’s largest client), Belmar offered 102,000 square feet of environmentally conscious office space at a price that was no more than Sweeney would have paid had he re-signed his old leases. (Integer is the anchor business tenant at Belmar.)
Belmar’s popularity has contributed to what some call the “Belmar Effect.”
“It has definitely impacted surrounding businesses, like strip malls that had gotten pretty tired after the decline of Villa Italia,” said George Valuck, executive director of the Alameda Gateway Community Association. “Alameda Village, a nearby strip center, which renamed itself Belmar Village, has undergone a major remodel and has attracted three national tenants.”
All that’s good news for residents like Mann.
She can walk out her door and get a cup of coffee or walk over to the movie theater or walk to Whole Foods and pick up dinner. She rarely needs a car except when she’s doing business outside the area. And she recently got herself a Vespa scooter so she can tool around the neighborhood if she feels like it.
“This place has everything I could want,” Mann said. “Better yet, the appreciation potential is tremendous because this is a ground-level development.”
Building momentum
- Belmar is a 22-block oasis in the middle of Lakewood, once a bedroom community to Denver. It is bounded by Alameda Avenue, Center Street, Quay Street and Wads worth Boulevard.
- It is a mixed-used development on the site of the former Villa Italia shopping center.
- When completed in 2011, it will have 1 million square feet of office space, 175 local and national retailers, and 1,300 condos, row homes and lofts that range in size from 650 square feet to 2,500 square feet and cost between $180,000 and $900,000.
- Miscellaneous amenities include sidewalks wider than streets to allow as many as four people to walk abreast; solar-powered parking kiosks; hip street lights that were custom made at Neo Source in Denver and cast an even glow; and security guards patrol the streets on Segways.
- Resident children attend Deane Elementary, O’Connell Middle School and Alameda High School, all Jefferson County schools.
- Lakewood’s major employer is the Federal Center. Residents’ median income is $43,863 (compared to $48,687 in the metro area). Lakewood’s largest population segment (according to the 2000 census) is 50 years and older (Denver’s is 35-49 years old).
