An eight-acre site in northern Douglas County could soon be bustling with construction equipment now that a transit-oriented development is one step away from approval.
The creation of the tentatively named County Line Apartments, a four-building, 267-unit apartment complex proposed near an RTD park-n-Ride and the County Line light-rail station, is yet another sign of the rebounding housing market.
Paul Herskowitz, senior vice president of Grand Peaks Properties, said his company was ready to begin construction in 2008 when the economic disaster crushed the housing and employment markets. Grand Peaks delayed the project indefinitely, but four years later is encouraged by the emergence of higher-paying jobs and a tightening of the rental market.
“Demand has put pressure on supply,” Herskowitz said, adding there is an increasing desire for transit-oriented developments that put residents within feet of public transportation that takes them to work or downtown for an evening out.
The Douglas County Planning Commission approved a use-by-special-review application Aug. 6, and the county commissioners will decide during a meeting at 2:30 p.m. Aug. 28 at the Philip S. Miller Building in Castle Rock whether to give the final go-ahead for the project in the Inverness Business Park.
The property, south of County Line Road and east of the Interstate 25 frontage road known as South Valley Highway, is zoned for commercial use, which allows for a variety of retail, commercial and service uses. However, multi-family residential projects are allowed in the commercial zone district as a use by special review. An area of about 1,500 square feet is reserved as commercial space on the first floor of one structure.
If approved, each building will measure four stories tall and include one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans. The exteriors are brick and stucco, with limited wood trim. “Tuck under parking” will reduce the project’s overall footprint, according to planning documents from the county. A pond feature will include a community deck and picnic area.
The site is directly adjacent to the County Line Road park-n-Ride, and a quick walk from the light rail station across I‐25 and near Park Meadows Mall. Grand Peaks Properties said the project will be “in harmony and compatible with the character of the surrounding areas and neighborhood,” and is consistent with the initiatives of the Denver Regional Council of Governments, which has put a renewed focus on patterns of growth and its relationship to transit.
The northern portion of the site was approved in May 2008 for a 152-unit multi-family condominium building on 2.7 acres. In March, Grand Peaks Properties submitted an application for development of 265 multi-family residential units after purchasing five acres to the south. That land is now used as a storage lot for recreational vehicles.
More than $24 million worth of construction work will begin as early as next month, if the county commissioners approve the use-by-special-review application Aug. 28. Herskowitz said he anticipates the first occupants to move in around September 2013, with full completion scheduled for March 2014.
The Colorado Division of Water Resources was not required by law to address the adequacy of the water supply plan, but it pointed out that full-occupancy water demand is anticipated to be 40 acre-feet per year.
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