It will be another eight years before light rail runs through Arvada, but the community’s historic Olde Town will be ready to welcome the projected 100,000 visitors it brings annually.
Over the past five years, the Arvada Urban Renewal Authority has been working with business owners and developers to spruce up Olde Town, improving the streetscape along Grandview Avenue and Olde Wadsworth Boulevard, building a new library and developing Water Tower Village, a 26-acre residential development at Grandview and Olde Wads worth.
Today, Landon Enterprises will break ground on the latest addition, an $8 million project at Olde Wadsworth and Grandview that will include 38,500 square feet of office and retail space.
“So many cities are trying to create these mixed-use projects where you can work and play and live in the same area,” said Dick Landon, president of the Cherry Creek company known for redeveloping the Mayan Theatre and the Cherry Creek North Shops. “This Olde Town already has that, and it’s got the charm.”
The project is just a few blocks from the light-rail station planned for the heart of Olde Town, currently being used as an RTD park-n-Ride.
The Olde Town area is being revitalized as part of Renaissance Plan, a vision by Denver consultant Dana Crawford, who is credited with helping revive the Lower Downtown and Prospect neighborhoods. Crawford partnered with New York-based Project for Public Spaces to develop the plan.
“The Urban Renewal Authority made Olde Town a priority several years ago,” said Maureen Phair, the authority’s redevelopment manager. The Landon project “is one of the last pieces.”
Crawford also worked with the Urban Renewal Authority on a plan to provide grants for property owners to restore the facades of their buildings.
“We wanted to enhance the historic quality of the area,” Crawford said. “It’s totally amazing that a community like Arvada has intact its original old town and that, over the years, it has been protected.”
Staff writer Margaret Jackson can be reached at 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com.
