Destined for high density: mixed-use developments along DTC corridor target light-rail lifestyles.

• Author: Lewis, David
• Position: WHO OWNS colorado

There are those who looked at the $1.75 billion T-Rex project and saw little but the prospect of bigger and better traffic jams.

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Then there are those who examined T-Rex and its implications and poured billions of dollars into projects along I-25.

Both scenarios conspicuously have come true south of Belleview Avenue, where the March of the Cranes starts and continues all the way down to Lincoln Avenue.

Some very pricey neighborhoods are being built. We say "neighborhoods" because mixed-use is the way DTC-area development is trending. That brings us to the key buzzword here: "Transit-Oriented Development," or TOD.

Being "TOD" does not require a transit station immediately at hand; it usually means "higher-density mixed-use development within walking distance--or a half mile--of transit stations," according to the Chicago-based Center for Transit-Oriented Development (which itself has a more involved definition of TOD).

That idea embraces the mixed-use mini-cities being designed and built a stone's throw from their light rail station stops: Lincoln Station, Belleview Station, Shea Properties' Village Center Station and others, as well as ritzy residential towers and homes, plus hotel and retail, and plainer vanilla but still upscale office and residential projects, too.

Mixed-use is one hallmark of TOD. Another is high density.

Continuum Partners development director Roger Pecsok likes to compare Belleview Station to Belmar, in Lakewood.

"In a lot of ways it's similar to Belmar, but with four times the density. Belmar will be 3.5 million square feet on 100 acres when it's built out," Pecsok says. "This is a 50-acre site with 5 million square feet, so there's really a lot of density, and a great mix of uses, plus having that transit thrown in there. And it's just a fabulous location."

The cost of capital remains low, and a lot of smart real estate people believe studies that say boatloads of jobs are heading to the DTC corridor. Denver Regional Council of Governments analysis indicates growth by 85,000 jobs, to 220,000 total jobs, in the corridor by 2030.

One reason is, "Compared to some other cities, Denver had limited exposure on the tenancy side of real estate-related industries. So we have had a little bit of a pullback but nothing dramatic," says Jamie Card, senior managing director of Denver-based Frederick Ross Co.

Denver-area employment growth tallied about 1.8 percent in 2007, and is projected to slip to growth...