is looking at potentially developing a new facility on a 9.5-acre property it owns next to Ruby Hill Park in southwest Denver.
But first, CPR must get the go-ahead from the City Council on a rezoning that would permit broader development of the site.
Owned by CPR since 2001, the property at 1601 W. Jewell Ave. is home to a 400-foot-tall radio tower and a 5,700-square-foot storage and equipment building.
The proposed planned unit development would allow the tower to be replaced and a new two-story, 100,000-square-foot structure to be built. The existing zoning permits single-family residential development.
“We’ve been very clear with the neighbors — we don’t know if we could build a facility there. The first step is a rezoning,” said Jenny Gentry, CPR’s senior vice president of finance and administration. “What we’re trying to do is create a zoning that would allow us to evaluate the best use of the property in a way thatap really compatible with the neighbors’ concerns and the redevelopment of the park.”
CPR’s headquarters and studios are in the 35,000-square-foot in Centennial, the organization’s home since 2004. The Ruby Hill tower provides backup for its Denver FM stations, Gentry said.
“When we bought it, we operated our news programming at 1340 AM and originated from that site,” Gentry said. “We bought it for the radio station. It just happened to come with 10 acres of land.”
To the east of the CPR property, the city is putting the finishing touches on a, set to open this summer in Ruby Hill Park. Next summer, the nonprofit plans to open a free outdoor amphitheater in the heart of the 88-acre park.
Concurrent to the city rezoning process, CPR is also evaluating its long-term facilities needs, Gentry said. Replacing the existing radio tower with a self-supporting tower — without the “unsightly” guy wires — is something it wants to do, regardless of whether it builds a new building on site.
“Hopefully, within 12 months, we’ll have a pretty clear direction,” Gentry said.
CPR worked closely with area neighborhood associations on the rezoning proposal, getting residents involved before submitting anything to the city.
The Ruby Hill-Godsman and Overland Park neighborhood associations this year voted unanimously to support the proposed rezoning, Ruby Hill co-president Scott Bolt said.
“We’re very excited about CPR moving their headquarters to the top of Ruby Hill,” Bolt said. “I was very impressed with how they worked with the neighborhoods and listened to what we had to say and answered all the questions I can remember people asking.”
