WHAT: Official groundbreaking for Golden’s Gateway Station and Gateway Garage
WHEN: 10 a.m., Wednesday, Sept. 27
WHERE: 13th St. between Washington Ave. and Jackson St. in downtown Golden, Colo.
Please join us at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 27, for a combined groundbreaking ceremony for two long-awaited redevelopment projects in downtown Golden: Gateway Station and Gateway Garage.
The approximately $20 million Gateway Station mixed-use redevelopment is a project of Denver-based NexCore Group LP. The project will revitalize a stretch of Golden’s historic Washington Avenue that has been under-utilized since Hested’s Department Store vacated its building nearly three decades ago. The first phase of Gateway Station, which is to be completed by October 2007, will include about 16,600 rentable square feet of street-level retail and restaurant space and about 7,500 usable square feet of second-floor for-sale office condominiums, topped by 34 luxury residences.
“As an area resident, I have a personal stake in preserving and enhancing the character of downtown Golden,” NexCore President & CEO Greg Venn explains. “Many other developers passed on this project over the years, but we saw the opportunity to make better use of the property through a high-quality mixed-use redevelopment.”
The Sept. 27 event will also feature a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Gateway Garage.
“A key component of the Gateway Station redevelopment is the 268-space, GURA-funded parking structure,” says Mark Heller, Executive Director of the Golden Urban Renewal Authority (GURA). This $4.6 million, 85,000 square foot Gateway Garage will accommodate the increased commercial parking demand generated by Gateway Station, as well as future demand from the growing downtown area generally. The garage will occupy the middle of the block behind the Gateway Station building, thereby allowing for future “bookend” developable sites.
“Extra care was taken so that the garage’s design was derived from the neighborhood’s historic character, rather than the garage’s basic function because it needed to be an attractive addition to the Downtown and to Gateway Station,” Mr. Heller adds. The Gateway Garage and GURA’s earlier Clear Creek Square Garage will total nearly 600 spaces or 63 percent of the City’s roughly 950 public parking lot spaces. All of Golden’s public parking is free.
About Golden Urban Renewal Authority
Formed in 1989, GURA is composed of seven volunteers, appointed by City Council, who live, work in, and care about Golden. The Board meets publicly on the second and fourth Monday of the month at City Council chambers. The Board welcomes comments, input, and concerns and welcomes the public to attend meetings.