The Shops at Northfield is at 8340 Northfield Blvd. in northern Denver. (Courtesy Shops at Northfield)
The Shops at Northfield is one step closer to gaining thousands of residents.
The Denver City Council on Monday unanimously agreed to rezone a 16.4-acre site on the northeast side of the open-air mall at 8340 Northfield Blvd., where the mall’s owner plans to build 1,500 apartments.
They would be the first residences within the 90-acre retail center, which Los Angeles-based Stockdale Capital Partners bought in 2022.
The bulk of the 16 acres are currently used. There’s also one retail building, home to Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse. More retail development had been planned but never materialized, according to Stockdale’s rezoning application.
The 16 acres had been zoned C-MU-20 with waivers. That allowed for a variety of uses, including residential, but had a height cap based on a 1:1 floor-to-area ratio. That meant a one-story building could span the entire site, two stories could be built on half the site, and so on.
The site was rezoned at Stockdale’s request to C-MX-5 and C-MX-8, which generally allows a mix of uses up to five or eight stories.
Some nearby residents had objected to the rezoning, generally voicing concerns about how the planned apartments might affect traffic in the area.
Stockdale plans to incorporate ground-floor commercial space into its planned apartment buildings, according to the company’s application. Ten percent of residential units will be reserved for those making up to 60% of the area median income.
Malls around the region and country are exploring development on their ample parking lots. Park Meadows owner Brookfield proposed 450 units in 2023, although it later put those plans on ice. And, on a larger scale, Cherry Creek Shopping Center owner Taubman ground leased the west end of the mall to local developer East West Partners, which is replacing former big-box stores with seven buildings with office, residential and retail space.
At the Monday meeting, Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer, who represents Cherry Creek, said retailers benefit from having affordable residential units nearby.
“The single biggest challenge we have in Cherry Creek is that nobody who works in Cherry Creek can afford to live in Cherry Creek,” Sawyer said. “That means that there’s a staff turnover annually of about 50%, which is extremely high and extremely bad for business.”
The Shops at Northfield is at 8340 Northfield Blvd. in northern Denver. (Courtesy Shops at Northfield)
The Shops at Northfield is one step closer to gaining thousands of residents.
The Denver City Council on Monday unanimously agreed to rezone a 16.4-acre site on the northeast side of the open-air mall at 8340 Northfield Blvd., where the mall’s owner plans to build 1,500 apartments.
They would be the first residences within the 90-acre retail center, which Los Angeles-based Stockdale Capital Partners bought in 2022.
The bulk of the 16 acres are currently used. There’s also one retail building, home to Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse. More retail development had been planned but never materialized, according to Stockdale’s rezoning application.
The 16 acres had been zoned C-MU-20 with waivers. That allowed for a variety of uses, including residential, but had a height cap based on a 1:1 floor-to-area ratio. That meant a one-story building could span the entire site, two stories could be built on half the site, and so on.
The site was rezoned at Stockdale’s request to C-MX-5 and C-MX-8, which generally allows a mix of uses up to five or eight stories.
Some nearby residents had objected to the rezoning, generally voicing concerns about how the planned apartments might affect traffic in the area.
Stockdale plans to incorporate ground-floor commercial space into its planned apartment buildings, according to the company’s application. Ten percent of residential units will be reserved for those making up to 60% of the area median income.
Malls around the region and country are exploring development on their ample parking lots. Park Meadows owner Brookfield proposed 450 units in 2023, although it later put those plans on ice. And, on a larger scale, Cherry Creek Shopping Center owner Taubman ground leased the west end of the mall to local developer East West Partners, which is replacing former big-box stores with seven buildings with office, residential and retail space.
At the Monday meeting, Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer, who represents Cherry Creek, said retailers benefit from having affordable residential units nearby.
“The single biggest challenge we have in Cherry Creek is that nobody who works in Cherry Creek can afford to live in Cherry Creek,” Sawyer said. “That means that there’s a staff turnover annually of about 50%, which is extremely high and extremely bad for business.”
