CREJ - Building Dialogue - March 2015
Coming off an aggressive 16-month construction schedule, Cherry Creek’s newest luxury rental community will welcome its first residents in mid-April. Steele Creek, a stunning eight- and 12-story mixed-use enclave, anchors the southeast corner of the First Avenue and Steele Street intersection with a dramatic glass façade that ensures spectacular views of the Rockies and the city from its west-facing units and rooftop infinity pool. The building commands a gateway location,- just east of the Cherry Creek Shopping Center, and is the area’s first rental property to bring five-star living to the already tony neighborhood, according to developer BMC Investments. The $108 million complex features 218 luxury apartment homes, which have preleased at a brisk rate. Leases are bringing a Denver high of more than $3 a square foot. West-facing penthouses are commanding even more, according to Matt Joblon, BMC president. Over 17,000 square feet of retail wraps around the building’s base. Premier tenants will be announced soon, with occupancy expected between June and October, Joblon said. BMC bought the property, which already was zoned CMX-12 and CMX-8, for $15.75 million in 2012. Five existing buildings were demolished in summer 2013 to make way for excavation, which began in October 2013. Steele Creek comes on line as seven other major urban infill projects in Cherry Creek are underway or slated, adding hundreds of thousands of square feet in new retail and office space. New residential is in high demand, especially for rental product. Steele Creek is one of four high-end apartment or condo projects expected to draw 1,000 new residents to the area in the next two years. Clearly, an urban redevelopment gold rush is on in Cherry Creek, which generates 5 percent of Denver’s sales tax revenue on just 0.14 percent of its land. That Steele Creek rose steadily and gracefully through the area’s current building boom is a story in itself. Heavy equipment, materials delivery, the project office and staging operations were wedged into a one-acre site surrounded by high-density retail and residential, with a daily traffic count of 75,000. The project also had to cope with the massive University/Josephine storm drain and paving work that began in January 2014 and clogged area streets for 10 months. General contractor Haselden Construction proved up to the feat. “They nailed it,” Joblon said. CJ Harvey, LEED AP, Haselden project manager, admitted Steele Creek presented “the toughest site logistics I’ve ever been a part of. It was a constant juggling act to schedule 60 to 70 trucks a day – even some of them got stuck in traffic.” The tight urban site also was severely short on storage, with space for only a two-day supply of materials. There was a near constant flow of trucks delivering steel, cement and tons of dirt for the rooftop garden, not to mention quartz, hardwood and other high-quality finishing materials. Additionally, there was constant concern about crews sometimes working within 35 feet of live power lines, Harvey said. “We were constantly vigilant and had very tightly managed safety procedures. At times it was just impossible to get the work done without turning off the power so we worked closely with Xcel on that. Safety is our top priority,” Harvey said. Indeed, safety is a Haselden hallmark. The company has received national accolades for workplace safety. In fact, its stellar record on Steele Creek contributed to the company earning the highest safety designation from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Associated General Contractors of Colorado for the 10th consecutive year. Harvey said communications were another top priority. With hundreds of residents also living within blocks of the construction site and sharing ingress/egress points, Haselden made every effort to be as good a neighbor as a fast-tracking, urban high-rise could be. “It’s impossible to work at a site like this and not impact the neighbors at some point,” Harvey said. “It was our job to do everything possible to minimize that.” Joblon had high praise for Haselden’s role communicating and managing disruption on areas around the site. In fact, the entire project team made stakeholder communications a top priority from the outset. There was an “open door policy” at the site office for anyone with questions or concerns, as well as weekly updates and countless meetings with homeowners’ associations and others affected by the work. Groups like the Cherry Creek Area Business Alliance and the Cherry Creek North Business Improvement District were also kept in the communication loop. “There was a very hands-on effort to honor our word to manage this project safely, with as few negative impacts as possible. All stakeholders were heavily involved from the start. We listened to their input and took major direction from it,” Joblon said. “As a result, we didn’t have a single issue in the 16 months that wasn’t successfully resolved.” Project personnel’s high level of communication skills were also internally critical. Several subcontracting firms are based outside Colorado, making Steele Creek their inaugural work in the state. However, the team was in constant contact, across multiple time zones, and many subcontractors, like the project architect, The Housing Studio of Charlotte, N.C., were at the Steele Creek site several times a month. Joblon said Steele Creek reflects the context of Cherry Creek while being infused with creative insight from award-winning architectural and design talent located outside Colorado. “I believe Cherry Creek will become the next Beverly Hills of the Midwest, without the pretentiousness. I see it as a community unlike any other – 100 percent genuine luxury, Colorado-style. For Steele Creek, I wanted to bring in firms with no preconceived notions, who looked at the area as it can and will be, not as it has been for the past 30 years,” Joblon explained. For example, Rottet Studio Inc., which created Steele Creek’s interior spaces, is known for its work in some of the world’s finest hotels. A recent project was the renovation of the presidential bungalows at the iconic Beverly Hills Hotel. “That’s how Steele Creek is designed – to offer a five-star hotel experience in a complex where apartments live like custom homes. The cost per door is $400,000, which is the highest ever to be completed in Denver,” Joblon said. “That speaks to the quality of finishes and amenities we offer. Nothing has been sacrificed in the pursuit of perfection.” THE STEELE CREEK TEAM DEVELOPER: BMC Investments, Denver PROPERTY MANAGEMENT: UDR, a Denver-based REIT CONSTRUCTION MANAGER/GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Haselden Construction, Colorado/Wyoming STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING: CKC, Seattle ARCHITECT: The Housing Studio, Charlotte, N.C. INTERIOR DESIGN: Rottet Studio, Los Angeles LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: Artifex10, Denver