Remember a few years ago when serial entrepreneur Perry Sanders announced his plans for a 115-story downtown building? It didn’t trigger warnings from residents who feared that it would destroy downtown’s friendly ambiance, or lead to the erection of multiple 100-story view blockers.
That’s because few people thought that Sanders could pull it off, and those who did thought that it would be cool and fun to have one of the tallest buildings in the world right here.
Such is not the case with the proposed 36-story LaVela Peakview apartment building, slated to be built on a block bounded by Cascade and Vermijo avenues, and Sahwatch and Costilla streets.
It would have 497 units, ranging from small and cramped to large and luxurious. Aimed at newcomers and current residents who want to “live, work and play” in our booming downtown, it’s already controversial.
That’s because the developers and their funding sources are utterly credible.
Kevin O’Neil and the VeLa Development Partners (see veladev.com) will make it happen, unless the city refuses to designate the block as an urban renewal site. Absent such designation, the owners would lose multiple tax breaks that would make it a non-starter.
We’ll have a world-class dogfight.
OK, at 400 feet tall, it’s 150 feet taller than the Wells Fargo Tower downtown, so why worry? Because approving it, opponents seem to believe, will lead to many more.
Result: Colorado Springs will become sterile, dull and undistinguished. We’ll be Oklahoma City in the Mountains or Kansas City in the Rockies.
We’ll be owned, controlled and governed by ruthless developers who will bulldoze the beautiful and build the ugly. And why not leave our scraggly vacant lots alone? After all, they don’t block our views
The proposed building isn’t in the center of downtown. Imagine the outcry if a similar building had been proposed on the half-block parking lot bordered by Pikes Peak, Cascade and Colorado avenues.
One of these days, the sluggish owners of the now-historic historic parking lot (the 19th century buildings that once graced it were razed in the 1960s) will figure out something to build, and if it’s big and tall we’ll have a world-class dogfight. Opponents of the new tower might save their energy by focusing downtown’s heart, not its periphery.
The solution? Enact new height restrictions in downtown’s core. That won’t prevent developers from building dull lookalikes, but it’ll encourage urban amenities.
Consider Lumen8, the splendid rooftop bar/restaurant atop the Element and Springhill Suites in the 400 block of South Tejon Street. There’s no better place to watch the sunset (at least for the time being).
But maybe both opponents and proponents of the project are baying at the moon.
From this geezer’s perspective, it’s the kind of project that surfaces at the end of a long boom. Interest rates are high, inflation has made such projects more difficult to fund and prospective tenants might look elsewhere.
So we’ll see … but Kevin, reserve the penthouse for me. As I’ve already promised, I’ll use it as a weekend retreat when (not if!) I win Powerball.