ULI Fall 2012: CHDR Visits the Community of Stapleton, Denver

Fall Meeting in Denver, CO. Today’s Mobile Workshop brought us to Stapleton, a thriving master-planned community with some amazing features. Back in the 1980’s, the area was the home of Stapleton International Airport. Now, decades later, the airport is long gone and Stapleton is taking-off as the country’s largest urban infill, currently valued at over $2.1 billion.

Stapleton is an eclectic mix of multi-family, single-family, retail and commercial spaces blending seamlessly with over 1,100 acres of green space in a large 4,200-acre site. Gorgeous “Pocket Parks”  break up the rows of housing to provide a wonderful living and working environment, and amazing green initiatives are only a few of the great benefits driving the success of this community, now rated as the 9^th best-selling master-planned community in the United States (up from 11^th last year).
 
Part of Stapleton’s success is due to its unique situation. As the former site of the Stapleton International Airport, Stapleton had the benefit of starting fresh in the middle of several aging communities. This allowed the developer, Forest City, to begin with retail developments, which were in high demand in the area at the time. The bigger revenues generated from the retail side gave Forest City the financial leg up they needed to expand rapidly with their residential efforts. They’ve also been fortunate to secure further accessibility with a public transport line opening in January 2016.

But the community hasn’t been without unique challenges. Long-term jet fuel leakage pushed the City of Denver into a massive earth relocation effort. Cleanup for this project alone has amounted to over $120M in costs to the city. In addition, the large amounts of green space have created challenges in designing the community (green space disconnects “the grid”) and have increased Denver’s park space by 1/3 without a similar increase in population to support associated maintenance costs. 
The community has also had some challenges with their Affordable Housing Initiatives, planning 10% of for sale units at 80% of the average median income. This 80% AMI has resulted in a very small market of people who meet the lower-income requirements and can qualify for a loan at the same time. So far, Stapleton has only hit 5.5% of affordable units. 

Despite the recession, Stapleton is seeing strong sales. Forest City is predicting 500 home sales for 2012, marking it as their 3^rd best year of all time for residential sales, and their best year for commercial investment. Home prices range from the low $100,000s to $800,000 to upwards of $1M for Estate homes.

Look for more posts over the coming week as we delve deeper into current and future trends in Real Estate.

You can find out more about Stapleton at www.stapletondenver.com
SCOTT WESTBY - Communications Strategist 
#passiondrivessuccess