Denver In Motion

Thanks to samjapan06 for taking the time.

IS this the best residence in Riverfront Park?

Step inside. You have arrived home!  Welcome to Glass House 816.  This fabulous 2 bedroom, 2 bath residence adjoins a spacious outdoor terrace capturing the finest in outdoor living at the Glass House.

We Sort of Already Knew This

Either way, it’s still pretty cool.  Business Week has named Denver the most improved real estate market in the country.  Why?  Simply put, it’s jobs.

Development Research Partners, an economic research firm in Littleton, Colo., expects home sales and prices in the metro Denver area to increase about 5 percent this year, says President Patty Silverstein. Also, an influx of renewable energy companies and the relocation of kidney care giant DaVita’s (DVA) headquarters to Denver from California in 2009 are expected to create jobs. In fact, about one in 25 employers in the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield area plans to add jobs in the second quarter, according to the most recent Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.

Take Off That Leash!

How great is this?  First, we had the installation of the new flower containers on the Millennium Bridge.  Now, we’re announcing the dog park.  Tomorrow, we’re going . . . wait.  What?  The Dog Park?

Yep, you read that right. Construction of the Railyard Dog Park will start in two weeks.  It’ll be done in about three months.

How great is that?

We’ve all been working for a long time to create this park and their are an enormous number of people who have been helpful.  But, the final piece of the puzzle was provided by the Riverfront Park Community Foundation.  We’re so grateful.

Importantly, we’re still raising money.  In essence, the Foundation has provided a loan to the Railyard Dogs.  We have to pay that back.  So, we’re still looking for donors.  For every dollar we pay back, the Foundation will forgive a dollar of debt.  In other words, if you give the Railyard Dogs $120, you’re really giving $240.  Please take the time to give today.

And, we’ll see you out there, dogs running free, in a few months.

Denver is Sixth!

A little test.

The Denver Business Journal went on a tear today, twice announcing - twice! - that Denver had come in sixth.  First, we were chosen the sixth most fit city in America by something called the American Fitness Index.  (The site is worth exploring, but navigating it is a sort of exercise all on its own.)

Then, and this is pretty cool, Denver was deigned to have the sixth best quality of life of any city in America.  Number one is Raleigh - it’s almost always Raleigh - and that makes me doubt the list a bit.  I’ve spent a lot of time in the Research Triangle and can say with little doubt that you’d be hard pressed to walk further than the corner of your cul-de-sac before pure fear had you trying to remember where you put your keys.  Now, if you happened to find yourself in Chapel Hill or Carrboro, you’d have ended up somewhere pretty cool.  Raleigh?  Sort of a city, sort of not. 

Still, the criteria is pretty good and the folks at Portfolio.com had this little tiny bit to say:

“Denver attracts young, self-motivated individuals. It has the nation’s sixth-highest concentration of young adults, 30.6 percent. And it’s ninth in the share of self-employed workers, 11.6 percent.”

Okay, so here’s the thing that confuses me: we’re fit, we’re young, and yet Denver has gone from being the best place for singles anywhere to somewhere outside of the top ten.  See how that doesn’t quite compute?

Here’s what I know, though: on a day like today, there’s simply no better place to live.  Take a walk through LoDo.  Skip over the i-25 Bridge and have a margarita on the deck at Lola.  The slide back over for a light dinner on the patio at McLoughlin’s.  Then end the night with an order of churros at Zengo.  That simply cannot be counted in some arbitrary top ten list.

Photo from flickr.

I Just Love Cool Ideas, Love ‘Em

This is the stuff cities are made of.  The good folks over at Salvagetti have been repairing bikes and bringing a certain hipster elan to the whole ride your bike everywhere thing for a few years now.  But, a few months ago, they took the idea of being a bike commuter to a whole new level.

Let’s face it, there’s one thing that every commute needs, and that’s an espresso based drink, maybe with milk, maybe not.  So, Salvagetti opened a bike through window.  All those folks in their SUVs lined up at the Starbucks across from the Starbucks on Belleview are going to be jealous. 

And, as if to prove a point, right as I was picking up my first cup of specially, particularly brewed coffee, this great guy name Dylan Scholinski walked up.  We got to chatting about what he does, and it’s pretty sweet, though a bit sad, too.  Dylan runs an organization called Sent(a)Mental, an arts program for those affected by suicide.  He does some of his work out of the Other Side arts studio on Platte Street, and he’s got a pretty cool website that will walk you through what he does.

If you want to read a bit more about the coffee shop, visit their site, this take from Westword, or check out the ways to get free coffee.  Hint: the first person to wear sequins at the window gets a free drink (and talked about afterwards).

Click through for a few more pictures, including an incredible action pose of the barista, Sam, handing a freshly brewed cup to Dylan.