Colorado Boulevard near Cherry Creek can be one of the most congested thoroughfares in metro Denver. It is safe to say the last thing residents in nearby neighborhoods would probably welcome at that location is a 50- to 60-story residential tower with hundreds of condominiums dumping yet more traffic into the mix.
And yet that notion was broached at a meeting in recent weeks between officials of Glendale and a group gathered by owners of a Persian rug store on Colorado Boulevard who want to redevelop several acres of land.
Now don’t panic. This residential Goliath wasn’t Glendale’s idea and officials there tell us they have no intention of changing zoning to accommodate such a vision. But the discussion highlights starkly competing visions for this metro area. And what makes this story especially noteworthy is the involvement of such respected figures as famed preservationist Dana Crawford and award-winning architect David Tryba, who appeared on behalf of the Kholghy family, owners of Authentic Persian & Oriental Rugs.
According to a transcript of the meeting obtained from Glendale, Crawford repeatedly lamented the resistance of neighborhoods in Denver to high-density development and explained that “our inspirations and thinking about this have been Dallas and Austin and Vancouver, Las Vegas … .”
Images of residential towers from elsewhere were passed around, with Crawford suggesting it was too bad “we in Denver can’t do these high-rises … .”
“This metropolitan community will double in size; obviously we’re going to have to get over our hysteria about high-rise buildings … the neighborhoods just get bonkers over the subject,” Crawford said at another point.
Nasrin Kholghy, co-owner of the store, told us later that her group actually has no specific development plans, let alone a residential tower of skyscraper height. “Every expert we have talked with,” she said, “came up with residential and high-rise between 12 and 18 stories.”
A spokesman for the family later reiterated that the images at the meeting “were to try and encourage a conversation about what the city would consider, which the city refused to discuss.”
Well, no wonder. Zoning on the site has a height limit of 45 feet, and excludes residential. “The list they passed around were buildings around 50 to 60 stories,” confirmed deputy city manager Chuck Line. “They were residential towers in Austin, Dallas and from around the world. Although 12 to 18 would have been out of character for our current zoning code … [they] would not have prompted an extended discussion about density in the Denver area.”
The Kholghys have had a long and bitter relationship with Glendale over an urban renewal district — and for a while it appeared the city might be moving toward condemnation of their property, which we strongly opposed. Last summer, fortunately, Glendale formally repudiated any such move.
Now the Kholghys want “to start over” with the city, Nasrin Kholghy says — which sounds like an excellent idea. Perhaps a good place to start would be to jettison advisers who belittle neighborhood concerns over ultra-high density and its effect on their quality of life and find some who are interested in a proposal more in line with what the zoning actually allows.
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