This one should be another interesting comparison. Our topic is all about Alternative Transportation.
We thought today we would discuss how friendly each building is for the person who chooses to give up their car and focus on walking, biking, and public transportation. If you read our last post "Mad Man actor Vincent Kartheiser shares "no car" lifestyle you will know that this is a recurring topic of discussion for us. And it is growing in importance every day.
Many of our clients are including among their many reasons to live downtown the choice to be free from their cars. They want to be free to walk for the morning cup of coffee, commute to work reading the newspaper or their favorite book, travel to see a movie, go to a game, or see a show without worry of parking and traffic. Additionally, many of our clients are choosing to be socially responsible in lowering their carbon footprint and as Vincent put it... “They’ve done a study and they’ve found that people under 30 no longer view cars as status symbols or even positive things,” Mr. Kartheiser said. “They look at them as pollutants.”
So how do these two extremely popular buildings measure up. They measure up incredibly well. In fact it might be said that the buildings we are asked about most are among the two most alternative transportation friendly. For those bike commuter fans out there... yes both locations have B-cycle stations.
Let's start with Glass House. Located in Riverfront Park, Glass House has access to pedestrian bridges on both sides connecting it to downtown via 18th street and 16th street. Going the other direction there are bridges extending over into the lower highlands that are both pedestrian and bicycle friendly. Commons Park next door is on the bike trails that connect into downtown for easy biking and just across the bridge is the start of the 16th street shuttle system. Perhaps one of the biggest alternative transportation benefits is in the future. With Union Station under development and a planned train out to DIA the new transportation hub will change the transportation options not just in this area but for the city of Denver.
SPIRE is located in the heart of downtown and is almost equidistant between the biking trails along Cherry Creek and the 16th street shuttle. With a light rail station located right next door access to this system is something commuters have easy access to. A connect by Hertz partnership in the building provides easy car sharing options. While many of our clients still want to have parking spaces for possible resale down the road a number of clients are looking at the advantages in price of purchasing a residence with no parking. SPIRE makes parking an optional expense. Perhaps the reason SPIRE does this is tied to it's downtown location. Scoring a 100 out of 100 for walkability at walkscore due to the surrounding businesses residents could simply access the amenities around them.
The reality is that both buildings are incredibly friendly to an alternative transportation lifestyle. In fact both are just a short walk off the 16th street shuttle from each other and connected by the sames trails, shuttles, and mass transit that are a benefit to both. So we will leave it up to you to call this very close comparison and we invite you to allow us to take you on a tour of these and the many great downtown Denver condo and loft buildings.