Disappearing on Broadway: Old Standbys give way to trendier Midtown.

• Author: Titus, Stephen

Twenty-five blocks of car dealerships and pawn shops-that's how Jerry Meer would characterize the stretch of Broadway between the Civic Center and Interstate 25.

For most of his 70 years, anyhow.

"I've done deals on Broadway ever since I got in the real estate business in the '50s," he says. "My dad did deals on Broadway My grandfather did deals on Broadway" Heck, Meer adds, "I was here when they built I-25."

In truth, it doesn't take a Denver historian to recall the Broadway that Meer is talking about. Much of it remains.

But for how long is another question. By fits and spurts, the neighborhood flanking Broadway between the Civic Center and Gates Rubber Co. is becoming a trendy residential and retail "foothills" to downtown Denver.

Even the midrise buildings, which by city ordinance are restricted in height to 75 feet to preserve views from Capitol Hill, look like a preface to the glimmering towers of downtown as you drive up from the south.

This midtown rebirth began in the Golden Triangle - the area bounded by Speer Boulevard, Broadway and Colfax Avenue - sparked by the renovation and expansion of the Denver Public Library And though the sweeping city annex expansion being built by Mile High Development may now be the most visible redevelopment project in the area, others are on the horizon that will further transform this longtime car dealers' corridor.

"My favorite part of town," says Meer, the managing partner and developer of The Shops at Sixth and Broadway.

Meer's sentiments are understandable. His family has owned the land his project occupies since the 1920s. His father spent seven years selling Kaiser and General Motors cars shortly after World War II, then leased the land to other auto dealers until the early 1950s. Meer said that for the past 20 years, McDonald's has leased the land.

In September of 2000, he said, the burger stand closed and construction began on up to seven new eateries and retail outlets. So far, Meer has signed Kokoro's Restaurant and Baja Fresh Mexican restaurant. "We've got interested tenants for the balance of the center," he says. "We've got more prospects than we could possibly ever handle. I guess we're a hot little area." Indeed.

But for some, not hot enough.

The weakened economy has some developers taking a wait-and-see approach to Broadway That includes Mile High Development, which has a project on hold that was planned for the northeast corner of Eighth Avenue and Broadway, across from Grand West Outfitters. According to Lynn Crist, a former employee and current consultant to Mile High, plans called for 250 high-end loft-style condominiums and about 9,000 square feet of retail space along Broadway and Lincoln.

"We have some great interior design concepts," she says. "Oh my gosh, they just went cool creative. It was less than a month after we saw the creative concepts that we shut it down; it just killed me." She said the project, which is a partnership...