Leland Kritt wants to put a farmers market in an old Denargo Market warehouse that’s been in his family for decades. But, Kritt says, plans for the development of the 30 acres around him will limit access to his building.
Austin, Texas-based Cypress Real Estate Advisors plans up to 2,500 residential units and 200,000 square feet of retail space as demand for downtown housing spreads north from the Central Platte Valley.
Cypress, which tried to acquire the Kritt property, plans to vacate Arkins Court adjacent to the Kritt property and create a cul-de-sac. The plan will make about half of the Kritt property frontage along Arkins Court inaccessible.
“We’re being held back and held down by Cypress,” Kritt said. “We want to keep the frontage and access.”
But city planners say the improvements are necessary to support the master-planned development. The Kritts also will gain additional land at no cost, said Tyler Gibbs, urban-design specialist with Denver’s Department of Community Planning & Development.
“As we build these to be real streets with gutters to handle drainage, we have to determine where access points and curb cuts will be,” Gibbs said. “Their access will change from where you just drive off the street anywhere onto the property, but they don’t lose any property.”
Cypress plans to start demolition of the buildings on the 30 acres it owns next week, said Adam Gates, the company’s vice president of acquisitions. Infrastructure work will start when the company’s site plan is approved.
“We did everything in our power to work with (the Kritts), and when we determined they didn’t want to work with us, we decided to move forward without having them included in our development,” Gates said.
The industrial River North neighborhood that surrounds Denargo Market has long been identified as a prime location for future urban residential growth as part of the citywide planning process known as Blueprint Denver.
When the resulting River North Plan was completed in 2004, only 200 people lived in the area. By 2022, the area could house as many as 5,000 people in up to 900 single-family attached units and 675 multifamily units, according to market studies performed for Blueprint Denver.
“From the city’s perspective, the Kritts are being granted the same kind of access anyone would be when streets are improved,” said Deirdre Oss, senior community planner.
Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com
