A massive new residential development is under construction immediately south of Johnson-McFarlane Hall on High Street & Iliff. The development, named Modera University Park by Mill Creek, is headed for a 2025 opening. The project will open up more rental inventory in the university area at a time when 50% of Denver residents are renting. This development will contain 234 residences and alter what was once a single-family block along High Street.
The Denver metro is short almost 70,000 homes for sale or rent, one of the widest housing gaps in the country, a new Zillow analysis shows. Modera University Park is filling the need along with a number of large local developments near Broadway & Evans.
According to news releases, the ‘mid-rise community’ will include coffee shops, brewpubs, retail outlets, and dining establishments, with the University of Denver immediately to the north.
Modera University Park is also building studio apartments on the west side of High Street with one or two-bedroom units replacing older Denver bungalows.
Modera University Park represents the 8th ground-up development by Mill Creek in the city of Denver. The closest other development is Moderate Observatory Park at 1910 South Josephine.
Mill Creek purchased an entire city block of single-family bungalows before construction began. According to Business Den, Mill Creek paid $12 million dollars to acquire all the properties for the development. Denver has tried to tackle growth with similar large residential developments along with accessory dwelling units (ADU – garage conversions) and providing county authority to approve tiny homes.
Generally, Modera properties get high reviews from residents. However, future residents at Modera University Park will likely be non-students as the planned amenities are at a greater cost than most students can afford.
Modera University Park is expected to welcome its first residents in 2025.
A bit of a bummer. Used to live in one of those homes years back and they were the hotbed for having a good time. Every resident on that strip were all college students. Now many students won’t even be able to afford rent in the new development.
So sad for students .Why is Denver allowing this. High living has to stop
This is why there is so many homeless people
Please it’s plural there are
you must have gone to school in Boulder
Terribly unfortunate that people can not identify themselves when they decide to judge and attack others unnecessarily. I’m case you were unaware this is a voluntary newsletter with no editorial staff. Be kind.
Thanks for the story, IMO after seeing the architect drawings I do not think the planning board or town put much thought into the many factors that should have been considered. A. Affordable housing for DU students, undergrad and grad (many who are just starting families or have young families) B. The architectural integrity of the area and the other homes on the surrounding blocks that either will look out to this development or current views will be blocked. Very poor planning.
I disagree with all of you.
Yes, new construction is more expensive than existing homes. The reasons are several: rising costs of labor and materials, scarcity of water, rising standards for energy efficiency, more stringent building and fire codes, more stringent engineering and planning standards, etc.
Even so, this new construction ultimately helps stabilize the overall price of all housing in an area. Why? Because the true cost of housing is not cost-plus. The true cost of housing is based on supply/demand. By opposing redevelopment, the supply of housing must remain flat. If Denver was a dying community like portions of the rust belt, maybe that would be okay. However, Denver is a vibrant community. Our population is growing. Pick your reason. Young people are forming new households and having children. There’s also plenty of in-migration — perhaps, for example, those same DU students like you who came to Denver from somewhere else and decided to stay. The reasons are plenty.
My point is this: with no additional supply of housing, the cost of living here must necessarily increase.
If you want to shape the architecture or culture of a neighborhood, that’s great. I encourage you to get involved with neighborhood meetings and chime in on development applications filed with the City. But if you want to simply complain about change, I have no sympathy for you.