When he bought property in Cherry Creek East more than 20 years ago, developer Mickey Zeppelin knew it was only a matter of time before the area took off. Then Cherry Creek mall was redeveloped, and the first townhouses that followed were, for the time, outrageously priced at $250,000 each.
“It really induced me to want to do more reasonably priced housing,” said Zeppelin, who is known as a pioneer in emerging neighborhoods.
The block he bought – bounded by Jackson and Harrison streets and Cedar and Alameda avenues – once held greenhouses and post-World War II-era bungalows. It was zoned R-2, which allows for duplexes, but most structures had been demolished before he arrived.
In 1983, Zeppelin got the zoning changed to Planned Unit Development, which allows for up to 300 residential units. He began to plan a six-story building called GreenHouse with 58 condos, although work didn’t begin on the project for 15 years.
When the condos were marketed for presale at between $150,000 and $600,000 apiece, they sold out immediately. Neighborhood opposition delayed the project for a year, and by the time Zeppelin started over again, he said, “It was not hotcakes like the first time around.” The building took a year to sell out.
Today, prices are about 10 percent higher than five years ago, but Zeppelin anticipates they will rise as other developers follow him into the neighborhood.
Trammell Crow Residential bought a chunk of Zeppelin’s original block for a 55-unit residential project called The Cosmopolitan. Zeppelin kept enough property to eventually do another 100-unit phase of GreenHouse.
Fairfield Residential Properties is developing a 240-unit apartment complex on a parking lot at Harrison Street and Dakota Avenue.
The company has not set rent rates for the project, which could cost up to $40 million to build. Its target market is office workers in the area.
Bruce Rifkin recently demolished an old medical building at the corner of Monroe Street and Cherry Creek North Drive, where he’s building 75 luxury condominiums designed by Britt Probst of Davis Partnership.
Bret Defnet is planning a project at the northwest corner of Harrison and Cedar streets.
And Hayden and Barry Hirsch feld are planning a 13-unit duplex and townhome development at the northwest corner of Garfield Street and Bayaud Avenue. They are buying the ground from Jeff Kaman of Chaparral Homes, who built two single-family homes before selling the remaining property.
“It’s a wonderful block that has some really nice developments,” Hayden Hirschfeld said. “It’s an opportunity, but it’s also a big responsibility to develop a really nice corner.”
Within walking distance of all the amenities that Cherry Creek has to offer, the area is ripe for development.
But finding a site zoned for condominiums is difficult, said Scott McFadden, senior managing director for TCR.
“You go a block north or a block south, and you would not be able to do a six-story building,” he said.
And if you go a block east, the nature of the landscape changes altogether.
Glendale takes over from Cherry Creek on the east side of Colorado Boulevard. It is home to singles apartment complexes; Burns Park, an odd triangle of land that is rarely used because it’s hard to access; and Shotgun Willie’s, a strip club.
“The Colorado Boulevard dividing line is really significant,” Zeppelin said. “It’s a whole different lifestyle and a whole different buyer.”
On the west side of Colorado, the Cherry Creek area is cementing its reputation as a thriving community.
“It’s where you go to shop. It’s where you go for good restaurants,” McFadden said. “It’s what we’re trying to create in Belmar and Arista, but Cherry Creek has happened organically.”
A Cherry Creek neighborhood plan was developed in 1990, but the eastern portion was barely addressed, said Meredith Gabow, past president of the Cherry Creek East Association. Planners have determined that diversification of housing stock is important as the eastern portion becomes more desirable.
Staff writer Margaret Jackson can be reached at 303-820-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com.
