Building Remodels: Torchy’s Tacos Falls Short While Belmar Groves Looks Successful

While one of my favorite things to post about on this blog is new construction, the reuse of existing buildings can also be exciting. It’s rare, however, to see it done right. 

Part of the problem is that so much of Lakewood’s existing infrastructure is low-density and car-based. Think one story buildings surrounded by a sea of empty and unused asphalt. Reusing these buildings, while cheap, doesn’t do anything to build a vibrant and walkable downtown. The Belmar shopping district is a perfect example of this. The old Villa Italia mall was surrounded by acres of unnecessary parking. Tearing the entire thing down paved the way for the Belmar to rise as a walkable downtown. 

With that in mind, let’s focus on two building remodels currently underway in downtown Lakewood—one of which appears successful from a design standpoint, and the other not so much.

The first remodel is of the Belmar Groves Apartments on the north side of Alameda and Wadsworth. Metro West Housing Solutions is the developer, and like everything they do, the Belmar Groves remodel appears to be a quality project. Starting with 118 apartments of undistinguished 1970’s design, Metro West is removing the bland outer facade and replacing it with a modern facade featuring a number of different textures and feels. The apartments will receive new kitchens, bathrooms, flooring, HVAC systems—the whole shebang.

What’s really exciting, however, is Metro West’s emphasis on connecting residents to the spaces outside their units. Apartments are getting balconies and doors that open onto the complex’s updated landscaping. There will be gardens, BBQ areas and a playground. 

It’s an impressive design of the kind we’ve come to expect from Metro West Housing Solutions. There work to bring affordable housing to Lakewood has been continually impressive.

The second remodel is being done by Torchy’s Tacos, which is taking over the defunct Village Inn location at 7381 W. Alameda, across from Belmar and along the beautifully renovated Alameda Parkway Business Improvement District. Although the interior of the old Village Inn building is being renovated, the outside footprint has been left unchanged. That’s my problem with it.

The Village Inn was a car-centric building that did nothing to interact with the surrounding space. It remains that way, despite its transition into a taco joint. Literally the only exterior change appears to be the replacement of the words “Village Inn” with “Torchy’s Tacos.” 

In my view, a better plan would have involved adding outdoor seating and perhaps a garage-style door connecting patrons to the landscaping along Alameda and adding to a sense of “urban bustle.” 

I put this term in quotes, but it’s a real thing. Being able to see people in an indoor/outdoor space encourages others to come into the business and patronize it. Connecting what’s happening inside a building to what’s going on outside keeps public spaces from feeling empty or dangerous. It’s what the Belmar Groves projects gets right and the Torchy’s Taco project ignores.

  

Plans on Paper: Belmar Residence Inn and Belmar Block 6 Multifamily Residence

As 2020 draws to a close, downtown Lakewood has begun to see signs of life after a long and dreadful year. A handful of new freestanding stores will soon be opening at 100 S. Wadsworth, including a Living Water Car Wash and a Sherwin-Williams paint store. This strip of undeveloped land between Wadsworth Blvd. and The Villas residential neighborhood has seen a number of proposed development plans appear on paper over the last ten years, including townhomes, a gas station, and an In-and-Out Burger. None got past the planning stage until now.

Another project that currently exists only on paper is one to build a Residence Inn at 470 S. Teller St. This undeveloped parcel is located in the heart of Belmar and was previously under consideration for development as an office building. This is a key parcel in Belmar, and I'd be very happy to see a hotel there, as it would bring in guests who would be likely to shop and eat in downtown Lakewood. How likely is this project to actually happen? I don't know. The city of Lakewood's Planning Department was looking at it as early as last March, so it may be frozen in place until the pandemic wanes and the hotel industry figures out what travel looks like post-pandemic.

A plan was also submitted this year too develop 7221 W Virginia Pl. as a multifamily residence. The undeveloped parcel also sits in the center of Belmar, between Target and the proposed Residence Inn. For a while there was talk of developing this site as an upscale retirement home, but that plan appears to have fallen through.

I'd love to see both these parcels developed, as filling in these parking lots would complete much of the original vision of Belmar. For example, a pair of 3+ story buildings on these parcels would complete the street wall around Belmar Square, defining the park's boundaries and giving it a sort of "hidden gem" feeling that's common to parks in European cities, where you can be walking one minute in a dense urban district, only the next to come unexpectedly upon a neat and orderly oasis of green.

Again, we'll just have to see if any of this goes from a mere plan on paper to actual construction.

7 Eleven at Pierce and Alameda

Construction is well underway on the new convenience store and gas station at S. Pierce and Alameda, and it will be a 7 Eleven, as I previously reported.

This will be only the second fueling station in downtown Lakewood (the other is at 5th and Wadsworth, across from the new Sprouts Market), and I think it'll be a welcome addition to the area. And while I'm sorry to see Alameda Burrito go, the old gas station on this site was an eyesore.

I'm particularly pleased with the footprint of the new building. Instead of sitting back from Alameda, the new building fronts the corner in a very visible manner. 

Large setbacks (as existed with the old gas station on this corner) are a characteristic or suburban or even rural street design. They're bad design in an urban setting, as they waste space and discourage pedestrian traffic by channeling people into an unsafe corridor between street and parking lot. 

The new building's position right on the corner will make S. Pierce feel safer for pedestrians to cross by giving the corner physical definition. This same definition will add to the streetscape, weaving the corner better into the more urban design fabric across the street in Belmar. At the same time, its height is much lower than anything in Belmar, serving as a transition into the lower density neighborhoods to the east and north.

So yes, it's only a gas station, but the design and location of it shows the behind the scenes zoning work that has been going on here in Lakewood to make the Alameda and Wadsworth area into a true urban space.

In Photos: Cityscape in Belmar

I love the bright red facade of the Cityscape building going up in Belmar. It's so crisp and modern, and it really punctuates the view when looking east along W. Virginia Ave.

Parking and Belmar

I've recently heard from a handful of people who are concerned about the loss of surface parking lots as more and more of Belmar is developed. It's an understandable concern, but one I don't share.

I'm not affiliated with the city of Lakewood or Belmar, but I feel good about the planning that's been done, and I strongly believe Belmar will still have enough parking after build out.

I also think it's important to consider how, in this day and age, the success or failure of a shopping district doesn't hinge on the available amount of surface parking.

In terms of parking, Belmar has three multistory parking garages (next to Staples, Whole Foods, and Elephant Bar) that I've heard from the city are under-utilized. As the temporary surface lots go away, car drivers will be able to use these parking garages. Drivers who don't want to walk a block or two to their destination can pay for street parking. The street parking in Belmar is over-utilized right now, but that's in part because no one seems to be getting ticketed. If the city decided to ticket, I think street parking would open up. The price of metered parking could be set high enough to insure parking is always available for anyone willing to pay for the convenience-- while anyone who doesn't can simply park in one of the nearby garages. In addition, all of the currently planned infill continues to allocate significant square footage to surface parking, so it's not like all of Belmar's surface parking is going away, by any means.

The second point I'd like to raise is that there a lot of people right now who can access Belmar without the need for parking. Walking and biking are extremely viable options for anyone living in downtown Lakewood, especially for the Millennials that Belmar's owners are targeting. And with all the new residential units currently being built in Belmar itself, there's going to be more and more people living within a quick walk who won't need parking. 

Car oriented developments, with their vast surface parking lots, are probably the defining characteristic of suburban living. But if readily accessible parking were all that mattered, we'd still have Villa Italia and Belmar would never have been built. But people stopped shopping at Villa Italia, even though it was never hard to find parking there.

Instead, it's pretty clear that a growing number of people want the feel of being in an urban center, and that feel-- dense, walkable, vibrant, happening-- is simply incompatible with lots of surface parking. Indeed, I would hazard that for a lot of people living in downtown Lakewood, more shops and more restaurants outweigh more parking. It certainly does for me.

So, again, I understand the concern. And yes, it's going to be a little harder to find close-in parking once Belmar is built out. But it's going to be an even better, more vibrant place to visit, whether it's by car, foot, bike, or bus.

David Weekley Townhomes Planned for Belmar Block 10

It looks like the surveying equipment seen recently on Block 10 was a sign of good things to come.

According to Denver Cityscape, David Weekley Homes will be putting 22 town homes on the site. This is the perfect development for Block 10, which sits between Belmar Square Park and the KB Home development.

And it really is perfect. Why?

Well, although I was really impressed by the layout of KB Home's "paired homes" (a.k.a. duplexes), I feel the higher density of town homes is better for Belmar's urban aspirations. Without gaps between each individual unit, town homes create a more defined and aesthetically pleasing street space. It's solid, not jumbled. The higher roofline adds to this as well. When you walk down a street lined with 3 and 4 story buildings, you have a sense that you are in an urban room, with the sky above you as ceiling. It looks like the David Weekley development will add to this effect, which is especially important given it's location next to Belmar Square.

One of the great pleasures in life is walking the streets of a dense city center and then suddenly coming upon a plaza or town square. One moment you're on a narrow, urban street, and then-- bam!-- you turn the corner and the sky opens up, the sun shines down, and a bench or fountain beckons. It's the sudden contrast that makes these spaces so memorable. You can't see the openness until you're standing right in the middle of it. Hidden from view, surrounded on all sides by taller buildings, a plaza or park feels elegant and jewel box-like.

I've always felt that Belmar Square has the potential to be a little like, but only if the blocks around it were developed with sufficient density. The Lofts at Belmar Square, immediately to the south of the square, are 5 stories high, and already hint at how great a park space Belmar Square could be. It just needs the other three sides.

So the good news is that the David Weekley development on Block 10-- at 3 and 4 stories--  appears to fit nicely with this vision.

Construction Begins at Firestone Complete Auto Care Site

Construction has started at 575 S. Vance St., the future site of a Firestone Complete Auto Care. This is across from the KB Home site and just north of Panera Bread.

I haven't come across any plans or architectural drawings online, so I don't know what it's going to look like when finished. It is clear from the positioning of the foundation, however, that the building will front Vance St., with parking hidden on the west side. This is a good thing, of course, as New Urbanist design principles call for parking to be kept away from the street, and instead for building facades to define the urban streetscape.

The Weakest Link

If there's a weak link in the effort to make an urban, walkable neighborhood out of central Lakewood, it's the Belmar Best Buy.

The site violates all sorts of new urbanist principles. Instead of defining the corner of Alameda and Wadsworth, the Best Buy sits back behind a massive parking lot. It presents a blank wall to the tree-lined sidewalk on W. Alaska Dr. The building has no windows. The list goes on.

Continuum allowed it during the darkest days of the recession, presumably under the assumption that bad development was better than no development.

Alas, this is not so, at least not for anyone who wants to see good urban planning in downtown Lakewood. The only bright spot is that there's plenty of talk in the financial world of Best Buy going belly up. Perhaps then this terrible building and its oversized parking lot can be repurposed by a retailer interested in something other than rehashing the greatest hits of 90's strip mall suburbia.