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.

Mini-Construction Boom

Sold!

On a quick walk around the Belmar KB Home site today I counted 16 sold signs. With 60 total units planned, that puts the development at a little over 25% sold after just a few months on the market. Wow!

Belmar Library

Located on the southwest side of the Wadsworth and Alameda intersection that forms the crux of downtown Lakewood, the Belmar library is one of the things that gives the neighborhood a new urbanist vibe.

In addition to books, the Belmar branch of the Jefferson County Public Library has a wide subscription of periodicals and a large children's collection. Spanish language materials are readily available, as Belmar, like the rest of the Denver metro area, is home to a large and diverse community of Spanish speakers. An open computer area in the center of the library providing internet access sees heavy use. Reflecting the larger community, the library offers computer classes for seniors and story time for young children.

Most importantly, at least for the idea of Belmar as a walkable urban neighborhood, Belmar residents can easily walk or bike to their library, although it does require crossing Wadsworth at grade (this is reason #1 why we need a pedestrian bridge).

KeyBank To Replace Ghost Bennigans

Callison Architecture has submitted a plan to the Lakewood planning commission for a 4600 square foot KeyBank at 7425 W. Alameda, the location of a defunct and ghostly Bennigans restaurant.  This location was re-zoned for a bank with drive-through last year, but this is the first time I've seen the name of the potential bank. (The empty Geico office building next store is slated to be replaced by a Walgreens.) I've been meaning to get some photos of our ghost Bennigans before it gets torn down. I suppose I'd better get to that sooner now rather than later.

Belmar Park

When I used to live on Capitol Hill, one of the highlights was going for a walk or a run in Cheesman Park.

Belmar has a pretty good park, too, on the west side of Wadsworth, behind the Lakewood Cultural Center and the Belmar Library. 

Unlike Cheesman Park's Beaux Arts sensibility, Belmar Park is 127 acres of open space, with three small lakes, a creek, a forested hill, and a grassy low area. A combination of paved and gravel paths loop around the park, along with an equestrian loop. Only the northwest corner of the park is neatly trimmed bluegrass. The rest is prairie grass. 

The south side of the park is home to the Lakewood Heritage Museum, which houses a collection of standard-issue antique farm implements and a collection of old buildings rescued from demolitions over the years. It's also home to an outdoor amphitheater and a summer concert series. Plus, this end of the park is where the annual Chili Harvest Festival and Lakewood Cider Days take place. Parking for these events is always crazy, but since the park is literally just across the street from Belmar, it's a short walk for locals.

KB Home Installs Bike Racks and Pocket Park

Construction is well underway on the new KB Home neighborhood in Belmar. Four of the paired homes have finished exteriors, and the foundation of a fifth has been poured. It looks like at least one of the units is already owner occupied.

On a quick walk through the area today, I counted seven or eight sold signs, mostly on the units that open onto the interior of the development. Much of the landscaping is also in, including sidewalks, trees, grass, a small pocket park and a row of bike racks. The quality of the landscaping is good, and in fitting with the rest of the Belmar development.

Although I had originally hoped to see higher density development on this parcel, I'm feeling good about this bit of infill. I think it'll encourage walking in the neighborhood, and it's certainly good to see new construction happening again in Belmar.