Jeffco School Board Makes the National News (in a Bad Way)

It's a truism in real estate that good schools support home values. This is particularly the case here in the city of Lakewood.

Much of the city's attraction to would-be residents has come from the fact that our city has the amenities of an urban downtown district but the school system of a well-funded suburb. Consider the fact that the innovative Belmar redevelopment is just a couple of miles from nationally recognized Lakewood High School.

So it might have been a surprise to many when teacher sick outs and massive student protests rocked our county this week.

Interested readers will find an excellent synopsis of the controversy in the New York Times and additional details in Newsweek.

Perhaps more relevant to this blog is that many supporters of the current, conservative Jeffco school board are also ideologically opposed to Belmar and other new urbanist redevelopments. The right-wing Independence Institute is perhaps the best example. The Independence Institute is ardently opposed to mass transit, smart growth, and has even gone out of its way to ridicule Belmar's row homes. They also fully supported the conservative slate in the last school board elections.

Although the current Jeffco school board is not up for reelection at this time, many of their supporters and ideological soul mates are vying for other offices this November. As the election season begins and ballots begin to arrive in mailboxes, I hope that supporters of downtown Lakewood and Belmar do their homework and support the candidates who in turn support the great things we have going for us here in Lakewood.

Photo: 7News Denver reports on today's student walk-outs in 

downtown Lakewood. 

Townhouses Coming to Block 15 (aka the Belmar Bocce Courts)

David Weekley Homes has filed papers with the city of Lakewood to build nine more townhouses in Belmar-- this time on Block 15 at the corner of Alaska and Saulsbury-- a space currently home to the Belmar Bocce courts.

Long time Belmar residents know that this lot was originally proposed for market-rate condos (the Alaska Flats). With the market for multi-unit condominiums crushed by the Great Recession, the temporary bocce court on Block 15 has been with us for a long, long time-- almost ten years, in fact.

Townhouses make a lot more economic sense right now, and won't compromise the quality of the urban environment (unlike the disappointing designs of the Belmar Chick-fil-A and Best Buy buildings).

The construction will at long last complete the corner's built environment, and will hide the surface parking belonging to the Gallery Apartments that is currently visible from the intersection. It will provide more for more owner occupied housing in Belmar, and brings us that much closer to seeing Belmar built out. It seems like a win to me.

2014 Festival Italiano is Happening Now!

In Photos: Big Changes at Saulsbury & Custer

Opening Soon: Dependable Cleaners

It's the little things that make an area livable.

Sure, the people who live in LoHi have over fifty of the Denver metro area's best restaurants to choose from. And anyone who live near Santa Fe Drive has a First Friday art walk at their fingertips that's a little like Spring Break on South Padre Island (if South Padre Island were a strip of art galleries, and its college kids were Denver art afficionados).

But I wouldn't want to live in either neighborhood because of the little things. In Belmar, we've got restaurants and an art walk, too, but if you live here, you can also walk to buy a gallon of milk or buy a roll of duct tape-- the kinds of things you find yourself needing to buy in real life all the time, and which require a car trip in most neighborhoods.

Soon, we'll also be able to walk to a dry cleaners. Dependable Cleaners is opening a location in the space that formerly held the Belmar Information Center, at 408 S. Teller St.

Yes, it's a little thing, but I'm looking forward to being able to drop off my dry cleaning without having to take a car trip down Wadsworth.

Opening Soon: The French Press

A new coffee shop called The French Press will be opening this fall in Belmar in the location recently vacated by Wystone's World Tea Cafe, and it looks like it will be cute, local, and low-key.

How do I know? Simple! I visited another French Press location-- there are two,  one in Aurora, one in Lakewood-- and checked things out for myself.

I went to the one in a Lakewood, which is located  at 85 S. Union Blvd., in a dilapidated strip mall that could easily double as the set for a post-apocalyptic zombie film. In fact, the barista I spoke to told me the French Press was moving to Belmar because their current digs were being torn down. "It'll be different," she told me rather wistfully. "Our current location has its charms." 

Really, I thought? Because all I saw were weeds and sun-baked asphalt. Yep, that strip mall was as charming as week old road kill. 

What did surprise me was how busy their Lakewood location was, especially for two o'clock on a Monday. But it was. The French Press, despite its post-apocalyptic location, clearly has a loyal following.

Their menu highlighted a list of inventive breakfast and lunch options. So, there's eggs benedict with your choice of crab, carnitas, or lox. There's a range of pancakes, including zucchini pistachio and raspberry oatmeal, and a number of interesting sounding variations on french toast (think chocolate bourbon pecan). I was most tempted by their chipotle cheddar biscuits with chorizo gravy, but alas, I'd already eaten.

Instead, I had come to inspect their coffee making equipment, because in my mind, that's what makes or breaks a coffee shop. 

Wystone's, for example, as much as I want to like the place, doesn't have an espresso machine that meets my expectations. I know, I know, Wystone's is a tea place, first and foremost, but they do have coffee on the menu, but they have a weird looking super automatic espresso machine that's clearly meant to run smoothly even in untrained hands. And it may in fact run smoothly. But it also doesn't have what it takes to make good espresso-- so far, every coffee I've had there has come out watery tasting, with milk foam that's way too frothy and way too hot. I've learned my lesson. At Wystone's, I stick to the tea. Update: As of late August, Wystone's has upgraded their espresso machine and the coffee situation there has completely turned around. Read about it here.

The French Press, on the other hand, has a real, commercial espresso machine, an Italian-made Wega. It's a semi-automatic, meaning the quality of the coffee depends on the skill of the barista. But in the right hands, it should be fully capable of turning out excellent coffee drinks. 

And my strip mall loving barista? How did she do?

I order a cappuccino-- always a good test-- and it came with a nice, stiff foam and a full-bodied, even shot of espresso. Perfect.

I'm looking forward to writing a full review once the new location in Belmar opens, but I'm excited already. The French Press could prove to be just the local breakfast place that I've been looking for.

Construction Underway on Holland Partners Belmar Project

If you live in the neighborhood, this won't come as a surprise, but construction is well underway on Holland Partners' 226,543 sq. foot residential project in downtown Lakewood's Belmar development.

The current work appears to be on the two-story parking garage that will be hidden inside the larger of the two properties (i.e. the development on the west side of S. Saulsbury Street).

The development on the east side of Saulsbury will feature tuck-under parking, also hidden from the street. Work looks a little less far along on this eastern parcel, but is happening there as well.

All in all, this is very exciting, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the main facades of these substantial structures add to the "city feel" of Belmar.