Voice
LONE TREE 1/31/13
Lone Tree
Douglas County, Colorado • Volume 12, Issue 3
January 31, 2013
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourlonetreenews.com
RidgeGate west side nears buildout Construction running five years ahead of company’s projections By Jane Reuter
jreuter@ourcoloradonews.com With Charles Schwab’s acquisition of a prominent corner lot at Lincoln Avenue and Yosemite Street, only about 10 lots remain in RidgeGate’s West Village. Most could be developed for either commercial or residential uses. “We thought it might be more like 15 to 20 years to get this West Village built out,” said Keith Simon, director of development for RidgeGate developer Coventry. “I think it’s really going to happen more in the 10- to 15-year range.” The next largest remaining site surrounds the targeted future site of the Sky Ridge Medical Center light rail station. Developers envision “very dense, higher-rise buildings with structured parking,” accord-
ing to Simon. “We think we can accommodate close to a million square feet of office,” he said. The West Village, west of Interstate 25 and south of Lincoln Avenue, accounts for one-third of the 3,500-acre RidgeGate property, and so far is home to about 1,000 residents. When the remaining four square miles east of Interstate 25 is built out, about 40,000 people will live in RidgeGate. Developers maintain buildout is decades away, but it hinges on a many factors. Simon won’t hazard a guess when the east side will see its initial construction. “Everything we do is market driven,” Simon said. “What it will really take is some type of fairly large commercial user to be able to support the kind of infrastructure that will be needed over there. Somebody could show up in the next two months looking for a corporate campus, or it could take two years.” In anticipation of such development, Coventry’s starting down the often-long road to build a wastewater treatment plant. RidgeGate continues on Page 7
The single-family Montecito neighborhood on RidgeGate Parkway is one of the residential projects under construction in RidgeGate’s West Village. Photo by Courtney Kuhlen
Lone Tree not waiting at station City leaders exploring private financing to move final extension forward By Jane Reuter
jreuter@ourcoloradonews.com
At 87 years young, Yvonne Dowlen still hits the ice at the Family Sports Center in Centennial with style. She is a member of the International Skating Institute and is the oldest figure skater still actively competing in the U.S. Photos by Deborah Grigsby
Ice, age no problem for skater Area woman still competes after more than seven decades By Deborah Grigsby
dgrigsby@ourcoloradonews.com When Yvonne Dowlen laced up her first pair of skates in 1939, Franklin Roosevelt occupied the White House. And now, almost 75 years later, the former Ice Capades soloist still hits the ice with poise and grace — even skating competitively. “It’s just my thing,” Dowlen said. “I love to skate.” Dowlen began her career as a professional skater at 13 on a lake in Evergreen. By the time she was 18, the Lakewood resident was skating on a 20-foot by 20-foot square of ice at the famous Adolphus Hotel in Dallas. Skater continues on Page 7
If the City of Lone Tree gets its wish, light rail trains will glide an additional 2.3 miles from the current end-of-the-line Lincoln station to RidgeGate Parkway by 2017. Otherwise, that $210 million to $225 million extension may not happen for 30 or 40 more years. The latter is a scenario Lone Tree’s leaders don’t like. So they’re exploring ways to raise money for the final stretch of the southeast line with private investors. “We agree that the full buildout of the FasTracks is a priority, but we don’t necessarily think that should be at the expense of the southeast extension,” Lone Tree’s Deputy City Manager Seth Hoffman said. “So we are coming up with a plan that will hopefully help move that forward.” Hoffman was light on details. “It’s still baking,” he said, but promised more information soon. The Regional Transportation District’s FasTracks transit expansion program is funded by a 0.4 percent sales tax, federal funds and other sources. But there’s not enough money to build all the planned light rail sections at once, and taxpayers north of Denver say it is their turn. The vision of a light rail extension and three more stations, serving Sky Ridge Medical Center, the future Lone Tree City Center and a RidgeGate Parkway/Interstate 25 Park-n-Ride plays heavily into the city’s economic future. It helped tip the balance in Lone Tree’s favor for Charles Schwab, which plans to build a corporate campus near the future extension at Lincoln Avenue and Park Meadows Drive. It’s also a vital cog for the high-density, transit-oriented developments planned around those future light rail stations. “So many businesses are looking to be close to transit to give their employees that option,” said Keith Simon, director of development for RidgeGate’s development FasTracks continues on Page 7
Yvonne Dowlen and her daughter Sherry both actively compete in figure skating. Yvonne, who is 87, laced up her first skates when Franklin Roosevelt was president.
Printed on recycled newsprint. Please recycle this copy.