PARKER —Teresa Engel has co-owned Vines Wine Bar and Bistro on Parker’s Mainstreet for three years and lived in town for 10 more.
To her, downtown Parker has all of the makings of a bustling city center. From arts and cultural events at the PACE Center, to a solid mix of unique restaurants and bars, boutique retailers and O’Brien Park, there are plenty of reasons for visitors not only to stop by but also to stick around a while.
There is one additional element Engel said she would welcome: more housing and more people living in the immediate area.
“I’ve talked to people and said, ‘We’re right in downtown Parker,’ and they say, ‘Oh I didn’t know Parker had a downtown,’ ” Engel said. “To me, there are a lot of emerging characteristics in downtown Parker that density will support.”
The good news, in Engel’s view and that of many others in the Parker business community, is that downtown residential development is ramping up.
Crews broke ground last month on Parker Flats at Old Town, a seven-building, 146-unit apartment complex southeast of Pikes Peak Court and South Pikes Peak Drive.
John Fussa, the town’s community development director, said Parker Flats should open its first building by the end of the year. Meanwhile, the Watermark development on west Mainstreet between Dransfeldt and Twenty Mile roads, is well underway. That project will add 306 new apartments by next year.
Fussa said there also will be an opportunity for mixed-use residential development on the site known as , a city-owned parcel on Mainstreet and Pine Drive where Douglas County Libraries is now building a new Parker branch.
“I think it will be very good for business,” Engel said of the projects. “If even 1 percent of those residents become repeat customers, that’s great for me.”
Jim Anest is a real estate attorney who sold the Parker Flats parcel to Ohio-based developer Klingbeil Capital Management. He owns the building next to the site.
“We need it because we just don’t have enough people to keep retail business going,” Anest said of housing downtown.
Old Town Parker, roughly defined as Mainstreet and the immediate surrounding area between Parker Road and Pine Drive, has few commercial vacancies, but along West Mainstreet, between Parker and Twenty Mile roads, there are some empty storefronts.
Dennis Houston, president and CEO of the Parker Chamber of Commerce, said that could be a positive.
“As people move in, that might create demand for services or businesses not represented in the area,” Houston said. “You want a little bit of availability so you can accommodate that kind of constructive growth and change.”
Parker is working to create a , Fussa said. Among the issues covered will be parking, traffic, walk-ability and bike-ability and density. A recommendation that all new structures on Mainstreet be at least two stories in height may be included in the plan, he said. A draft is expected to be available for public review in the coming months.
“One of the things we’ve heard repeatedly in our public outreach … is that our residents want additional activities, destinations and things to do on Mainstreet, especially in the Old Town area,” Fussa said. “In order to attract those things that our residents tell us they want, we have to have a sufficient base — or critical mass — of people. That means promoting an appropriate level of housing on or near Mainstreet.”
Joe Rubino: 303-954-2953, jrubino@denverpost.com or twitter.com/RubinoJC
