Colorado Hometown Weekly
Posted:06/07/2011 08:35:02 PM MDT
A crowd of Louisville residents gathered for a neighborhood meeting inside the former Safeway at 707 E. South Boulder Road on Wednesday, June 1, to offer feedback on Loftus Development’s possible plans to turn the site into a mixed-use zone which would include 195 apartment units.
Developer Jim Loftus in late April signed a contract to buy the building and has until December to close on the space. His intentions for the site were made clear last week.
“My interest in this building does not have anything to do with grocery stores or retail,” he told the group of about 100 who attended the meeting. “My interest … is in the property. We’re interested in a mixed use (space).”
When residents asked if tenants such as Whole Foods or another grocer showed interest in the site, Loftus said a few offers were made before he approached SRS Real Estate Partners. Jason Kinsey, senior associate with the Denver-based company said he felt Loftus’ plans were the best option for the site and were the best offer.
“We went after every tenant under the sun,” Kinsey said. “What it boiled down to was your Dollar Trees … your religious centers,” he said.
And what if Loftus’ plans fall through?
“Then it would be back to the drawing board,” Kinsey told residents. “The city went over the uses and this was the best use.”
Michael Mulhern, president of Denver-based The Mulhern Group, the firm that would design the complex, presented renderings that showed Loftus’ high-end apartments that would be built in three buildings ranging from three to four stories high.
Mulhern said the bulk of the apartments — 109 units — would wrap a parking garage that would contain 300 parking spaces and the building would sit in the middle of the site, hidden from South Boulder Road. Mulhern said the apartments would likely be built in one phase over 12 months and 70 percent of the units would be studios or 1-bedroom apartments with the rest being two-bedroom apartments.
The proposed plans target young professionals, singles and empty-nesters.
“We’re not looking at a project that will have many children living in it,” Mulhern said.
Tim Brasel, owner of the Village Square Shopping Center, attended the meeting and said he was pleased that something might finally occupy the site, even if it is an apartment complex opposed to an anchor store like Safeway.
“It’s sat vacant for over a year … and I think it’s really important we have something here.”
Brasel said having the additional tenants patronize the surrounding shops would surely help his center.
“It beats having asphalt sitting here. I think by having the bodies here it adds to the traffic,” he said.
As part of Mulhern’s designs, two 5,000 square-foot retail buildings would sit very close to South Boulder Road.
Loftus said he hopes the buildings would house a restaurant that would offer outdoor seating and two or three other retailers. He couldn’t predict who those retailers might be, but Loftus did say it would not be a liquor retailer.
Residents voiced their likes and dislikes with the project. Some were concerned with the proposed use and the complex’s density, while others were pleased that a developer was showing interest in the site.
“It almost feels claustrophobic,” said Jennifer Gamblin, who has lived about two blocks north of Village Square Shopping Center for five years.
She said she wished another grocery store had taken Safeway’s place, or perhaps a “family-friendly” entertainment option, like a cinema or a bowling alley.
“If I lived in a big city, this would be beautiful,” she said. “But I don’t — I live in a small town.”
But Brent Wilson, a 23-year resident of Sunnyside Circle near the proposed project, said he was just glad to see something being planned for what has become an eyesore and blighted corner of Louisville.
“Of all the things that could have happened, this is so good,” Wilson said. “A certain density in living can be very good for a community.”
Bill Fox, a traffic engineer with Fox Higgins Transportation Group, told residents that a recent study showed that one-way trips to the center would drop from 5,600 trips when Safeway was open to 2,200 trips with the proposed plans, less than 40 percent of what it was.
Because the property is zoned retail, Loftus’ plans would require the zoning change to residential. When Loftus officials submit their formal application to the city, the project will go before the planning commission and then City Council for final approval.
Reporter John Aguilar contributed to this report.