Athmar Park

Cherokee Redevelopment Update

May 14, 2006

By Karen Cuthbertson

History

The former Gates Rubber Factory was a Denver landmark for more than 85 years. Many former employees live in Athmar Park. In December 2001, Cherokee Investment Partners purchased the 50 acres west of Broadway (including a parcel in Athmar Park that abuts Vanderbilt Park). Cherokee specializes in cleaning up and redeveloping contaminated sites.

The Cherokee folks invited surrounding neighborhoods to participate in the redevelopment process and provide input about what the developed site would look like and what types of business/residential uses would be implemented. APNA members Tracy Cochran and Karen Cuthbertson joined the Cherokee Denver Redevelopment Advisory Committee (CDRAC) in the summer of 2002 to ensure that Athmar Park?’s interests were served; e.g., got an agreement to develop the Athmar Park parcel as park land (essentially expanding Vanderbilt Park) and to build a pedestrian/bicycle bridge over the Platte River to connect to that park.

In October 2002, CDOT workers doing construction work on the Cherokee property discovered a pocket of nearly pure trichloroethylene (TCE), an industrial solvent. Prior to Cherokee purchasing the property from Gates, Cherokee conducted testing that detected TCE in the groundwater (not used for drinking water), but not at that specific location nor at that concentration. Cherokee proceeded to drill monitoring wells in an effort to determine the extent of the TCE and also began remediation actions. Cherokee has installed more than 100 monitoring wells, both on- and off-site, and has determined that the TCE has moved with the groundwater layer northeast into the west Washington Park neighborhood.

Cherokee has undertaken to remediate this contamination by directly pumping off the TCE where it?’s been found at high concentration, by injecting a molasses mixture to fuel the reproduction of naturally occurring microbes that ?“eat?” TCE and break it down, and by forcing air down into the TCE layer and collecting the resulting evaporated TCE.

Cherokee has also conducted indoor air tests on a random sample of homes over the TCE ?“plume?”, with initial results showing that the TCE vapor has not migrated up into the homes in any health-impacting concentration. More tests were conducted in January 2006. (By the way, it was also discovered that there is a huge wall of bedrock along the eastern side of the Platte River that prevented the TCE from migrating into the river and into Athmar Park!)

In May 2003, City Council approved rezoning the property to TMU-30, which allows development of an ?“urban village?” that maximizes use of light rail and buses, pedestrian and bicycle connections within the development and to/from the surrounding neighborhoods, and combines small retail and residential uses in the same building.

At completion, the project will contain some 2,000 residential units and 2-4 million square feet of commercial space.

Latest Developments

The City Planning Board approved the design guidelines that CDRAC and Cherokee had been developing over the last 3 years on December 7, 2005. These guidelines include standards that all future developers must follow; including requiring extra-wide sidewalks, using environmentally sound building practices (e.g., non-reflective window glass to prevent birds flying into them), exterior building appearance requirements, open space, more than twice the required number of low-income housing units, etc.

Also, on January 14, 2006, there was a community meeting to discuss the project?’s public financing package. APNA board member Rick Taylor attended this meeting. Based on his report and the 3-year history of integrity and flexibility that Cherokee personnel have exhibited when dealing with CDRAC, APNA voted to support the request for public financing. The public hearing for this financing package request was at the February 6, 2006 City Council meeting.

For more information, visit the following websites:
?• www.cherokeedenver.com
?• www.vcab-denver.org
?• www.denvergov.org/development_ review (click on ?‘Cherokee GDP?’ link)