Work could begin next year on the adaptive reuse of a 10-story office building that was originally built in 1962 in Denver’s Golden Triangle Creative District.

The Denver-based Nicholas Partnership, which specializes in urban real estate development, has announced plans to transform the more than 100,000 square foot structure into an apartment building that will house just under two hundred residential units measuring in size from 300 to 425 square feet.

The building at 1200 Lincoln Street, in a teeming neighborhood of modern high-rises, was originally built for the Western Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company and also served as the office address for a large number of government agencies and private companies.

It eventually became the home to the Art Institute of Colorado, a for-profit art and culinary school that closed its doors for financial reasons in 2018.

The building was purchased nearly a year later by the Nicholas Partnership.

Plans, which have now been submitted to the City of Denver by the company, call for an entire interior re-do of the building, creating what has been described as micro-apartments.
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Nicholas Partnership previously transformed the former circular 13-story Hotel VQ at 1975 Mile High Stadium Circle into the Turntable Studios, a property with 179 similarly-sized micro-apartments.

By Garry Boulard

Although the national construction job pool remains smaller by just over 1 million people since the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak, last month nevertheless saw an increase of over 158,000 jobs in the industry.

According to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that June increase follows an even larger May jump of 453,000.

The improved construction job outlook is part of an overall 4.8 million increase in all jobs, says the BLS report, noting that “improvements in the labor market reflected the continued resumption of economic activity that had been curtailed in March and April due to the coronavirus pandemic and efforts to contain it.”

Nonresidential construction saw a 13,000 gain in jobs in June, although compared with the total jobs in this segment from a year ago, it is still off by 47,000 jobs.

Residential building firms added 19,100 new job in June, with the residential specialty trade contractors segment seeing a significant increase of 64,100 workers last month.

Heavy and civil engineering construction, however, remained off by 9,700 jobs in June, contributing to an overall decrease of more than 60,100 jobs compared to last June.

Altogether, total national construction stood at 7.1 million, a figure that is off by some 562,000 since February.

In a separate question revealing the overall decrease of construction jobs in the last few months, the BLS also noted that some 962,000 unemployed workers identified their last jobs as being in the construction industry.

That 962,000 comprises the largest such figure on the record books since the summer of 2012.
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In June of 2019, just over 390,000 recently unemployed workers said their most recent jobs had been in construction.

By Garry Boulard

The City of Albuquerque has issued a Request for Proposals pertaining to the construction of a new air cargo facility on the 2,500-acre site of the Albuquerque International Sunport.

More specifically, the RFP is seeking architectural consultants for a project that could see the building of a 100,000 square foot structure housing both warehouse and office space.

What is expected to ultimately be a $20 million construction project will also see the building of a parking lot, truck docks, an access road to the new facility, a facility entrance and exit, and security access points.

The idea of expanding the Sunport’s air cargo facilities have been talked about for several years by city officials who say the airport’s air cargo services are a vital revenue-generator.

Dedicated air cargo operators, it is noted in the Sunport’s Sustainable Airport Master Plan Executive Summary published in 2018, “utilize facilities located in the far southwest portion of the Sunport,” in an area that also includes a 52,000 square foot main air cargo building.

Cargo airlines currently operating at the Sunport include Ameriflight, Empire Airlines, FedEx Express, and UPS Airlines.
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The RFP has a submission deadline of July 23.

By Garry Boulard

A developmental hurdle has been cleared for a project that will see the construction of a 45-unit affordable housing complex in midtown Santa Fe.

Members of the Santa Fe City Council have given their approval to amending the city ordinance governing traffic in the area of the proposed project at 1115 Calle La Resolana.

The two-story housing project, which has been in the talking and planning stage for more than a year, will belong to the Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority and will go up on a 2.5-acre site some 4 miles to the southwest of downtown Santa Fe.

Residential homes border the site to the east and south of the project, with commercial structures on the north and west side.

Although the project was earlier approved by the Santa Fe Planning Commission, it has sparked the opposition of nearby neighbors who have said the size of the complex is too dense for the site.

​By Garry Boulard

The price of lumber saw a more than 60 percent increase nationally as of the end of June, driven by a combination of a new spurt in home building, as well as individual home renovation projects.

According to the financial data company FactSet Research Systems, the share price and market index for lumber products has more than tripled since April, the first full month of the COVID-19 economic shutdown.

Overall, the price is now at its highest level since early 2018.

“Hardware stores are selling a lot more of it than brokers expected, as folks stuck at home tackle those long-postponed projects,” notes the financial news service site Marketplace.

The swift comeback in homebuilding, after seeing an initial decline this spring, has also spurred the demand for lumber, with the National Association of Home Builders reporting a national increase in housing starts of 4.3 percent in May.

That percentage represents 974,000 new projects, over 934,000 from the month before.

The lumber market has additionally been bolstered by the fact that many mills ceased operations earlier this spring as a result of local stay-at-home measures, leading to an inevitable decline in supply.

Even more, the mills that did remain open reduced production, anticipating an ongoing decline in home building.

In a statement released by the NAHB it is also noted that “suppliers continue to catch up to orders to the point that, in some cases, builders and traders are being forced to place orders without a delivery date or price.”

Treated wood is particularly hard to come by, with retail supply giants Home Depot and Lowe’s reporting that new shipments are often sold out within hours.
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Analysts, noting not just the explosion of home renovation projects, but also the increased need for wood as a result of bars and restaurants building outdoor fenced-in deck spaces, say they expect the higher lumber prices to remain intact at least until fall.

​By Garry Boulard

Work could begin later this fall on the building of a 62-unit housing community on the north side of Grand Junction, geared especially for seniors.

The Village Cooperative will go up off of 26 ½ Road, just to the north of the St. Mary’s Medical Center, in an area of modest residential and retail development.

Plans had originally called for work on the multi-story project, which was approved by the Grand Junction City Council late last year, to begin this summer, but that timetable was delayed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The communal housing project will feature homes ranging in size from around 900 to just over 1,500 square feet, with communal space that will include garden plots, a craft room, club room, and reading areas.

Uniquely, each unit in the complex will also be individually ducted so that residents in the building aren’t breathing the same communal air.

Up to 60 percent of the units in the cooperative community have already been sold.
Based in Eagan, Minnesota, the Village Cooperative company was launched in the early 1970s, and has developed to date more than 40 community projects nationally comprising some 2,200 individual homes.
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The company currently has nine cooperative communities either under construction or in the planning stages in Colorado.

​By Garry Boulard

Nearly $13 million in federal funding for the reconstruction of Denver’s 16th Street Mall is in the offing as the result of an intergovernmental agreement between both the city and county of Denver, as well as the Regional Transportation District.

Area officials have for years wanted to substantially upgrade what is arguably one of the most popular pedestrian throughways in the West.

Launched in 1980 and designed by internationally acclaimed architect I.M. Pei, the tree-lined mall encompasses more than thirty historic structures built in the 1800s, and includes restaurants, pubs, shops, public seating, and entertainment venue spaces.

Reconstruction plans for the mall include widening its sidewalks for walkers and café seating, and, most importantly, realigning the path used by the RTD’s shuttle busses to the middle of the mall.

City documents have described the project as one that includes a “spatial reorganization and rebuilding of the transit way lanes and pedestrian spaces.”

The project will additionally include intersection improvements, lighting replacements, upgrades to traffic control and utility devices, and new signage.

The intergovernmental agreement, which was approved last month by the council’s Finance and Governance Committee, is expected to come before the council later this month.
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Actual work on the 16th Street Mall is scheduled to begin sometime next year.

​By Garry Boulard

In a significant trend, the Department of Labor is reporting that residential construction jobs were up by 83,200 in June.

That increase follows on an even more dramatic jump in May, which saw the creation of more than 224,200 new home building jobs.

According to a statement released by the National Association of Home Builders, residential construction employment now stands nationally at 2.8 million: “Broken down as 795,000 builders and 2.0 million residential specialty trade contractors.”

But because of the large decline in home building jobs during the month directly after the COVID-19 outbreak, the six-month average residential construction employment remains down by nearly 18,000.

Crunching the numbers for the entire last full year, just under 84,000 jobs in the home building and remodeling industries have been lost.

Overall, the unemployment rate for both residential builders as well as residential specialty trade contractors saw a decrease of nearly 3 percent in the last month to the current 12.0 percent.

In May, that rate stood at 15.2 percent.

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics, the last time the home building sector saw double-digit unemployment was during the depths of the Great Recession in 2011, when the rate stood at more than 20 percent.

In an analysis of the new numbers by King Fu, director of forecasting and analysis for the NAHB, it was additionally noted that the “improving job situation is also a cause behind recent relative strength in housing demand.”
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That demand has fueled a 17 percent late spring rise in home sales.

​By Garry Boulard

Although the new fiscal year budget for the City of El Paso is expected to be roughly $70 million less than the current budget, funding for over a dozen park facility projects will remain in place.

That’s because the money is still coming from the unprecedentedly large $473 million Quality of Life bonds passed by El Paso voters in 2012.

In the nearly eight years since that election, those bonds have been used to pay for any number of recreational and cultural facility construction and renovation projects across the city.

Now, according to the proposed 2021 fiscal year budget, just over $26 million in Quality of Life bonds will go for long-planned park facility building and upgrade projects.

Listed in the new budget under the heading of “exceptional recreational, cultural and educational opportunities,” the projects include improvements to the Brisa del Este Park, the Crestmont Park, the Haddox Family Park, the North Skies Park, and the Pueblo Viejo Park.

The Newman Park is expected to see the construction of a large metal canopy; while the Joey Barazza and Vino Park Memorial will get a new modular play structure.

Work at the Eastside Regional Park will include the construction of a water oasis facility, new recreation center, and 50-meter pool.
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Additional Qualify of Life bond projects planned for the upcoming fiscal year include library, museum, and zoo facility upgrades. 

By Garry Boulard

The City of Denver has issued a Request for Qualifications for a project that could see the creation and building of a high-speed bus lane on one of its most popular throughways.

The always-busy Federal Boulevard, which runs north to south, has seen more than $29 million in reconstruction work in the last two years.

According to statistics compiled by the Regional Transportation District, buses on the route, which in places has the appearance of a highway, already serve around 10,000 passengers a day.

This means the city has to find a way to move thousands of people per hour in either a mixed traffic lane or dedicated transit lane.

The RFQ is specifically looking for engineering services for the design phase of what is being officially called the Federal Boulevard Transit Speed and Reliability Project.

The project, which would be federally funded, will also include environmental planning, prioritizing improvements along the Federal Boulevard, and submitting an environmental review document in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act.
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The RFQ has an electronic submission deadline of August 7.

​By Garry Boulard