Colorado Real Estate Journal - January 15, 2014
Two veteran real estate professionals have teamed up to launch a $50 million apartment and assisted-living community development in Denver’s up-and-coming Mayfair neighborhood. Anne Rosen, president of Zing! Development Strategies, and Mark Cytrynbaum, president of Old Vine Property Group, have formed Rosemark Development Group for this and future projects. Each has more than 25 years of experience in real estate acquisition, development and management. The Mayfair project will include 163 upscale apartments in existing, renovated buildings and a new 88-unit assisted-living/memory care facility for seniors. The site encompasses two city blocks between Eighth and Ninth avenues and Ivanhoe and Jersey streets. “There is significant demand for both product types in the surrounding area, and virtually no infill sites of this size,” said Cytrynbaum, whose company has owned the land for about dozen years. The site also offers easyaccess to downtown, community and medical services, said Rosen, as well as new amenities at Ninth and Colorado, the Mayfair Town Center, Lowry and Stapleton. “The Mayfair neighborhood is safe and friendly, with a strong quality of life for prospective residents,” Rosen said. “It’s close to Trader Joe’s and new retail at Ninth and Colorado, the Mayfair Town Center, Lowry and Stapleton,” Rosen said. “Residents will be able to live near their work and family in Park Hill, Montclair, Hilltop and other central and east Denver neighborhoods.” Rosen said the current plan has been “seven years in the making,” and by one measure, its history goes even beyond that. “My partner, Mark, and his partner have owned the site since 2000-2001,” Rosen said. “Back in 2001, they leased the first two towers of four interconnected five-story buildings on the west side, to the Art Institute of Colorado for student housing.” Now, the leases are almost up, but they had been considering different game plans since the mid-2000s. “We looked at tearing down the two south towers and selling the site, except for the student housing, to a large developer back in 2006-2007,” Rosen said. “Legacy Partners actually had it under contract, but then the whole market crashed,” she said. They also looked at renovating the existing towers into senior housing, but couldn't get financing from either the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development or the Colorado Housing Finance Authority. Another development scenario was to develop an “enormous assisted-living facility … but when it came time to pull the trigger on it, prices had gotten out of hand,” she said. Without a doubt, the current plan is the best of any of the scenarios considered, she said. “This is kind of the best of all worlds,” Rosen said. “It is the right combination of product type and size at the right time.” Rosen draws upon her community development experience at the Lowry Air Force Base redevelopment, where she served as the real estate director from 1996 to 2005. Lowry has been heralded as one of the most successful, if not the most successful, redevelopments of a closed military base in the U.S. “This is kind of a microcosm of Lowry,” Rosen said. “Lowry was a combination of renovating existing buildings and constructing new ones to fit in with the existing ones, all in a sustainable environment. This is what we are doing on this twoblock site. It is what I do best and my 30 years in real estate has prepared me for.” With financing provided by Northstar Bank of Colorado, three, five-story apartment buildings on the site will be renovated into Avenue 8 at Mayfair, a luxury 163-unit apartment community. Featuring midcentury modern design by Studio Completiva, the development will have a rooftop deck, business center, multimedia club room, bicycle amenities and indoor/outdoor dog parks. The loft-like apartments will be light-filled, ranging in size from 650-square-foot (one-bedroom) to 850-sf (two-bedroom, two-bath) units. Units will have energy-efficient appliances, including washer/dryers, modern finishes and easy access to spacious storage and secure parking. Rents are expected to range from $900 to $1,600 per month; preleasing by the owners will start next spring. Demolition of a fourth existing tower is now under way to make room for a parking lot. Rosemark at Mayfair will be a new, 72,000 sf, 88-unit assistedliving/memory care center for seniors co-owned by Michiganbased Pomeroy Living. Pomeroy Living owns more than 500 senior assisted-care and memory care units across the Midwest. “Like our other communities, Rosemark at Mayfair will feel like a boutique hotel that is tightly integrated with the surrounding community, with a wide range of care options,” said Camille Thompson, chief operating officer of Christian Living Services, the operating partner for Rosemark at Mayfair. Christian Living Services also manages the local continuum of care facilities at Clermont Park and Holly Creek, providing care for seniors of all faiths. Rosen said there is strong demand in the area for an assisted-living center. “There are a lot of people who have lived in the area for many, many years and they don’t want to leave the area” when they need assisted living, she said. “It also doesn’t hurt that it is so close to the Rose Medical Center,” and other health-care centers, she said. “That’s a big plus.” Designed in consultation with Boulder-based the Highland Group, the 2.5-acre campus will feature 16,000 sf of outdoor gardens and walking paths. The 88-unit, two-story facility will offer daily activities, a movie theater, exercise/rehabilitation room, salon, workshop, fellowship hall and more. Rents are projected at $3,800 to $6,500 per month, depending on the level of services needed by the resident. Construction is scheduled to start in mid-2014, with an opening in late 2015. The general contractor for both projects is Brinkmann Constructors.