Format
Brief
City
Denver
State/Province
CO
Country
USA
Metro Area
Denver
Project Type
Planned Community or Resort
Location Type
Inner Suburban
Land Uses
Civic Uses
Cultural Use
Education
Industrial
Mixed Residential
Office
Open space
Restaurant
Retail
Keywords
Affordable housing
Creative finance
Former airport
Mixed-income community
New urbanist design
Pedestrian-oriented development
Public-private partnership
Sustainable development
ULI Awards for Excellence 2006 Winner
Urban infill
Site Size
488
acres
acres
hectares
Date Started
2001
Date Opened
2005
A brief is a short version of a case study.
From 1929 through 1995, Stapleton International Airport served as Denver’s municipal airport. By 1987, plans were underway to build a new, state-of-the-art airport farther east, and they met voter approval in 1989. Meanwhile, a nonprofit group of civic and business leaders, working in partnership with the city of Denver, formed the Stapleton Development Foundation to determine the disposition of the soon-tobe-redundant Stapleton airport. In 1999, based on the foundation’s guidelines for development, the city selected Forest City Enterprises to be the master developer of the publicly owned site—located just five miles from downtown—which offered the largest urban redevelopment opportunity in Denver’s history. Today, the former airport is being reborn as a 4,700-acre (1,902 ha) master-planned community that, at buildout, will contain more than 12,000 homes, 13 million square feet (1.2 million m2) of commercial development, and more than 1,100 acres (445 ha) of parks and open space. Construction began in 2001, and the first phase, Stapleton District 1, was substantially complete in 2005. Encompassing 489 acres (198 ha), District 1 contains 2,100 residences—ranging from rental apartments to single-family homes, in many styles and price ranges—plus 200,000 square feet (18,580 m2) of office and industrial space, 120,000 square feet (11,148 m2) of retail space, more than 100 acres (40 ha) of parks and open space, and four schools. Reversing the traditional “retail follows rooftops” approach, Forest City built two retail centers in the project’s first year. Although the community is only 25 percent complete, District 1 already offers a mature, walkable, mixed-use community that is home to 4,500 residents.
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Format
Brief
City
Denver
State/Province
CO
Country
USA
Metro Area
Denver
Project Type
Planned Community or Resort
Location Type
Inner Suburban
Land Uses
Civic Uses
Cultural Use
Education
Industrial
Mixed Residential
Office
Open space
Restaurant
Retail
Keywords
Affordable housing
Creative finance
Former airport
Mixed-income community
New urbanist design
Pedestrian-oriented development
Public-private partnership
Sustainable development
ULI Awards for Excellence 2006 Winner
Urban infill
Site Size
488
acres
acres
hectares
Date Started
2001
Date Opened
2005
Developer/Owner
Forest City Enterprises
Denver, CO
Planners
Calthorpe Associates
Berkeley, CA
EDAW, Inc.
Denver, CO
Site Engineers
URS Corporation
Denver, CO
Matrix Design Group
Denver, CO
Architect
4240 Architecture, Inc.
Denver, CO
Principal Authors
Julie Stern and David Taksuye
ULI Awards for Excellence 2006 Winner