Nichols Partnership has made its choice for a corner in Cherry Creek.
When the Denver-based development firm bought 2625 E. Third Ave. last March, founder Randy Nichols said he was planning to redevelop and deciding between condos and office space.
On Monday, his son Daniel Nichols, a partner at the firm, said building condos is the goal.
“Thatap the hope, if we can build this without having to give up too many concessions for the neighborhood and City Council,” he said.
The outside input comes into play during the rezoning process. The partnership submitted an application in November and has a hearing before Denver’s Planning Board next week.
Daniel Nichols said he thinks single-family homeowners living in Country Club and Cherry Creek want to stay in the area when they downsize. And a condo project is easier to pencil with high construction pricing, he said.
He also noted that a lot of office space is under construction or planned in Cherry Creek already. And he thinks that companies have less desire to escape downtown now.
“People are OK being downtown,” he said.
Nichols Partnership previously developed the 42-story Spire tower downtown, with nearly 500 units. The Cherry Creek project would be much smaller — likely 20 to 30 units, plus ground-floor retail space, Daniel Nichols said.
The Third Avenue lot is 0.43 acre and home to Cherry Creek Dance. Nichols Partnership paid $7.8 million for it last year.
The company is requesting C-CCN-4 zoning, which allows 4 stories. Daniel Nichols noted that most other properties along the north side of Third Avenue already have that zoning.
“We really aren’t looking for anything more than what everyone else has,” he said.
Rezoning will ultimately require support from a majority of the City Council.
Condo development has been relatively muted in Denver, in part because of concerns over lawsuits involving construction defects, which state leaders have tried to address. Daniel Nichols said more is needed on that front, but insurance companies “have kind of figured it out a little bit.”
“I think there’s ways to protect yourself now thatap expensive but reduce the risk,” he said.
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