As Cherry Creek draws a new wave of upscale shops, NorthCreek reaches for a ‘narrow bandwidth’ of buyer
By Mark Samuelson
Why is Denver being ranked as a national market (perhaps THE market) most likely to lead a real estate recovery? In part for the excitement buyers and developers are finding in the city’s core urban neighborhoods…highlighted by Cherry Creek, where new upscale stores, exclusive restaurants, are emerging right now, this year.
Developers David Steel (left) and Roy Kline show off the Paris-inspired courtyard of NorthCreek, where residents have their cars valet-parked.
“Everybody’s trying to mimic Cherry Creek,” says Roy Kline of Western Development Group, overseeing the metamorphosis of an entire block of Cherry Creek North into NorthCreek, a medley of residential offerings that have already lured a complement of stores to the street level….including Hermes (famous Paris accessory house that opened in April); Eileen Fisher; Loro Piana, Marmi…all of them either a flagship, or making a singular appearance.
What you WON’T find are restaurants. Early on, developer David Steel says, NorthCreek buyers expressed a preference for keeping the hubbub that goes with popular eateries at arm’s length. When you tour NorthCreek’s blend of flats and brownstones (by appointment only), you’ll see Pekoe Tea House downstairs; but the rest of Cherry Creek’s thirty-odd dining spots are either up the street or around the corner.
You’ll visit plush offerings for any size preference. When Western took over the site from another developer, first thing they did was upsize the homes in NorthCreek’s Tower Residences (75% of them are now closed, one at 11,000 feet!), while decreasing the unit count. They also upgraded finishes: “This is a very narrow bandwidth of buyer,” Steel said, showing me one flat (from $1.2 million) with views to downtown, where the budget for showerheads exceeds $4,000.
You’ll find the same quality in the Brownstones (around 2,700 feet, from $2.7 million), with entries facing NorthCreek’s private, Paris-inspired courtyard, where residents drive in for valet parking and where their party guests do the same. The one place the developer has made no assumptions about finish is in some Courtyard Flats (from $3 million) with huge terraces, where finishes are left to buyers.
The set attracted to this, Steel says, include more than a few Aspenites. (“I see the mountains every day,” one told him. “I want this to be a city feel.”) But however you finish, adds Steel, don’t expect to find this waiting three years from now. “There’ll never be this location, this access,” he says. “When they’re gone, they’re gone.”
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WHERE: NorthCreek, medley of luxurious urban flats and brownstones with exclusive concierge services, created for a full block in the heart of Cherry Creek North. Information Center 2800 E. Second Avenue, between Detroit & Fillmore, Cherry Creek. Residential tours by appointment only.
PRICE: From $1.2 million; Brownstones from $2.7 million
WHEN: Tours by appointment only
PHONE: PHONE: 303-270-0101 WEB: NorthCreekDenver.com
Tags: Anschutz, brownstone, Cherry Creek, David Steel, Denver, Hermes, Loro Piana, Marmi, NorthCreek, recovery, Roy Kline
