UPward projection: land-limited Englewood plans residential towers on former seminary grounds.

• Author: Lewis, David
• Position: CONTINUUM PARTNERS LLC

Englewood, the city of 32,000 people and about 2,000 businesses just south of Denver, faces the same problem encountered by thousands of suburbs: It has nowhere to grow but up.

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Englewood is a landlocked community. "There really isn't a whole lot of developable or vacant ground," notes community development manager Harold Stitt.

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Englewood also is not a big city geographically. "We're a fairly small community, roughly 6.5 square miles," Stitt says. "There are a few unincorporated parcels surrounding Englewood that technically could be annexed, but for one reason or another that is not likely to happen anytime soon."

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That's why the city planners know what's happening with pretty much every square inch of Englewood, and why a few major projects can have a big impact on the community.

None is bigger than the $400 million Kent Place project, begun by Denver-based Continuum Partners in 2005 with the $12.4 million purchase of the 11.4-acre property on the corner of East Hampden Avenue and South University Boulevard, formerly the Denver Seminary (and long before that Kent Denver School, hence the project's name).

Kent Place will act as a dramatic eastern gateway to the city, in part through a "Welcome to Englewood" gate, in part because of its 11--and nine-story residential towers and 72,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and office space, and in part because of the sheer affluence it means to add to the predominantly blue-collar city.

With penthouses, condos and town homes slated to range in price between $400,000 and $2.5 million, "it's an appropriate product in a terrific location at the right time," says Continuum principal Eliza Prall. "Our experience tells us that we've got the right product, not just because of the residences and retail space, but because the amenities will be a rival to any in the Denver area."

Kent Place undoubtedly is the biggest piece of Englewood's rehabilitation now under development. But Englewood's recovery began with the CityCenter Englewood project, which converted the derelict Cinderella City shopping mall into a thriving mixed-use development that now--with a steady 93 percent residential occupancy rate and a 3 percent retail/commercial vacancy rate--is a categorical success. "It's done very, very well," says city community development director Bob Simpson.

CityCenter Englewood also opened up a development corridor between it and Swedish...