“Vibrancy” is a word that comes up often when officials discuss the development poised to begin construction in the heart of downtown in January.
The $60 million project is slated to bring 228 apartments, 34,000 square feet of office space and 13,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space to two buildings on Wilcox Street, one on either side of Sellars Gulch, said Tony DeSimone, Confluence Principal and Castle Rock resident. It will also create 328 at- or below-grade, off-street parking spots.
“What we’re trying to do is create a vibrancy seven days a week,” DeSimone said. “We want to create some place that is walkable; where people can live, work and dine all in the same place.”
Riverwalk will take the place of the vacant Towne Plaza shopping center across from Town Hall on the south side of the gulch. The lot on the north side of the gulch, occupied by and an auto business, is also being targeted for redevelopment.
The project drew rave reviews from the Castle Rock Economic Development Council, and the Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce at a Town Council meeting Oct. 4. Chamber Chairman John Manka joked it could mean more activity downtown after 9:30 p.m. beyond the occasional late-running Council meeting.
The Council approved the project 5-0 with two members absent. It also signed off on a tax increment financing plan for project, which would result in 75 percent of net property and sales tax it generates going back to Confluence. The share back will be capped at $11.5 million, according to .
“From my perspective, this is exactly the type of project we had hoped to see here in Castle Rock,” Mayor Paul Donahue said. “One thing we are really looking forward to is having more people actually live in the downtown area. We think living in downtown will allow people to walk to the stores and restaurants and will stimulate the economy for the downtown merchants.”
Another mixed-use project is already well underway near the future Riverwalk site. The nearly 26,000-square-foot at 230 Third St. should be available to retail/office/luxury residential tenants by the end of this year, according to a listing on the website for Castle Rock-based Hier & Co. And another project — also mixed-use — is planned to replace the building at the southwest corner of Third and Wilcox streets, according to a sign out front.
DeSimone pointed to Town Council’s decision last year to invest $5 million in redeveloping downtown’s as evidence officials wanted to see a metamorphosis of downtown and said Confluence is happy to be part of it.
Not everyone is thrilled by the Riverwalk. Some residents last week worried about the traffic a development that is active 24 hours a day could bring to the area. Others voiced concern about the impact on views to the west.
Mike Hernandez, owner of Blue Nectar, said he does not want to move out of the prime location his restaurant now occupies at 215 Wilcox St., adding there isn’t another place in town that can match his combination of visibility, parking and seating space. He said his lease isn’t up for another four years and his negotiations with Confluence have not been encouraging.
“The compensation they are trying to offer me now doesn’t even cover one year of my earnings,” Hernandez said. “Right now there is no agreement, and we’re planning on staying.”
K.C. Neel is on the Downtown Development Authority board. She and her husband, Mark, have owned , at 411 Fourth St., for 17 years. She said she hopes Riverwalk will be a catalyst, boosting business and development downtown the way Denver’s Lower Downtown neighborhood has done in recent years. She expects it to attract younger residents, a demographic hole she said needs filling in Castle Rock.
“I think this is long past due,” she said. “This is what urban areas are supposed to be.”