Three Athmar Park warehouses could make way for five-story mixed-use buildings, with factory space kept on the ground floor

A block of industrial buildings along the South Platte River in Athmar Park could be redeveloped with homes, shops and workspace under a rezoning that reaches a City Council committee Wednesday.

The request covers about 3.38 acres at 515 W. Mississippi Ave., 1050 S. Fox St. and 500 W. Tennessee Ave., in Council District 7, represented by Flor Alvidrez. The site sits just south of Vanderbilt Park and is now home to a glass factory, a storage warehouse and a flooring company, according to the city's staff report.

Why it matters: the city's plans call for more housing near transit and for keeping space for industrial jobs. According to the staff report, this rezoning tries to do some of each on the same site.

What's proposed

Council Bill 26-1578 would change the zoning from I-A, a light industrial district with a billboard overlay, to I-MX-5, an industrial mixed-use district that allows buildings up to five stories (Legistar). Unlike the current zoning, I-MX allows homes, and it requires buildings to meet the sidewalk with windows and active ground floors.

The owners, listed as Loulor Holdings LLC and Big Buildings LLC, have offered three waivers that limit what they could build. According to the staff report:

• Ground floors stay industrial in part. For half of each building's street-level width, to a depth of 125 feet, the space would be limited to industrial, manufacturing and wholesale uses. Homes, shops and other uses could fill the rest.
• No townhouses at the street. Row houses could not take up half the lot's frontage near the main streets.
• Two main fronts. South Platte River Drive and West Mississippi Avenue would both be treated as primary streets, which brings the stricter street-facing design rules.

The owners would also drop the billboard overlay. There is no billboard on the site now.

What our records add

Planning Board was unanimous. The staff report says the Planning Board recommended approval 8-0 at its Oct. 21 hearing, and city planners recommend approval as well.

Little public comment so far. Staff had received one neutral letter, from the Athmar Park Neighborhood Association, and no letters from the general public as of the report's Oct. 22 date. The association's letter is posted with the Legistar record.

Height is capped twice. The site is inside the Washington Park view plane, which would limit height to about 86 feet. The proposed five-story limit is lower than that, the report says.

Transit is nearby, but not easy to reach. The I-25 and Broadway light rail station is about a mile north. The report notes there is no easy route to it from the site today, though RTD's frequent bus routes 11 and 14 run along West Mississippi and Fox.

The area is changing. At South Broadway and I-25, Denver Summit FC broke ground Oct. 1 on its stadium at Santa Fe Yards, the Colorado Sun reported. Because this site sits along the river, the rezoning goes to the Council's South Platte River Committee rather than the Community Planning and Housing Committee.

What's next

• Wednesday, Oct. 28, 1:30 p.m.: South Platte River Committee (agenda).
• Dec. 7 (tentative): A required public hearing and vote before the full Council, according to the staff report's timeline. Anyone can speak at that hearing.
• See the full application and staff report on Legistar.