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DENVER -- If you’ve lived in Colorado for long, you know the old University Hospital site at 9th & Colorado. If you’re newer, you probably know it as a construction site. As of Friday, that site reached a major milestone - opening their first building.
“It’s a big deal to get the first one done,” Frank Cannon of Continuum Partners said, “After so many years of it having been vacant and so many years of construction activity.”
The brand new 275-unit apartment complex known as the Theo Apartments takes up one block of 12 that’s part of the 9CO development being spearheaded by Continuum.
“It’s one of the largest infill projects in the City and County of Denver right now,” Cannon said.
When finished, the $500 million project will include 1,100 new residential units, 160,000-square feet of new retail and entertainment, and about 60,000-square feet of new office space.
Last month, the first wave of retail companies were announced that would eventually call 9CO home. They include an AMC movie theater, Hopdoddy Burger, Postino Wine, Zoe’s Kitchen, Chase Bank, and Bellco Credit Union.
Developers have been working on the site for the last three years, taking down vacated buildings from the old University Hospital and building infrastructure. Cannon says it will likely take another three years to complete.
But when you’re basically building a new neighborhood on a blank canvas, there is concern about possible traffic issues.
“When the project is fully developed we will have about a third less traffic than when the hospital was here and operating,” Cannon said.
For more information on the development including monthly updates, head to http://9thandcolorado.com.