Redevelopment of a former surface parking lot into a public parking garage with private parking for residents of the Lofts at the Denver Dry.
By the mid-1990’s, Denver’s decade-long effort to create housing opportunities downtown was paying off. DURA had partnered with area developers to successfully rehabilitate a number of historic structures in the mid-mall area between California and Champa Streets into mixed-income housing (Denver Dry, Rio Grande, Boston Lofts, and Bank Lofts), and privately financed projects were coming to market as well. However, one of the challenges facing continued residential development was a shortage of permanent parking for downtown’s new residents.
In an effort to help address the situation and to redevelop a vacant and underutilized site between 16th and 17th on California Street, DURA partnered with BCORP Holdings to provide permanent, structured parking that could be included with the sales of residential condominiums and rented to tenants of residential apartment buildings.
In order to help finance the $5.8 million project, DURA provided a $2.1 million sales and property tax TIF reimbursement obligation. BCORP Holdings and DURA previously partnered on redevelopment of the Denver Dry and Rio Grande buildings — converting them into condominiums and apartments. The redevelopment of the vacant parking lot at 1627 California Street into a nine-story, 325-space parking garage allowed BCORP to dedicate 70 parking stalls to owners of the Lofts at the Denver Dry.
Completed in 1998, the California Street Parking Garage also provides 255 public parking spaces that are available for general use and are specifically marketed toward residents in the mid-mall area. Spots available to the public also offer easy visitor access to Downtown Denver businesses, theater, shopping and events.