Belmar – Lakewood, CO

In 1987 the fifth largest city in the state of Colorado, Lakewood, opened one of the country’s most expansive indoor shopping malls to date. Built on 105 acres, the Villa Italia shopping mall included 140 retail stores, 4 anchor stores, and was surrounded by many restaurants and commercial retail lots (Urban Land). Unfortunately, due to an economic downturn in the late 2000s and a competitive market with other nearby shopping malls, the Villa Italia Mall closed for good on July 15th, 2001 (Urban Land). However, the city was motivated to establish a true downtown and revitalize Lakewood as a popular

destination for shopping, dining, and entertainment.

“Urban renewal took an outdated mall with an abysmal 60 percent vacancy rate and morphed it into a vibrant urban landscape that serves as home to more than 2,000 residents and generates approximately $200 million a year in retail sales,”

- Lakewood Mayor Bob Murphy (2015) (Belmar)

In 2004 the city of Lakewood finished construction on what is now known as Belmar, a vibrant mixed-use shopping district named after the historic Belmar estate the Villa Italia

Mall once replaced. Belmar offers: 10 acres of parks, plazas,

and urban spaces, over 80 shops and restaurants, weekly/ seasonal events, a wide variety of entertainment, 300,000

square feet of office space, and is home to over 1200

residence (Belmar). The ambition of the Lakewood city’s idea of Belmar was to transform the once one-

FIGURE 4.1 ARIAL VIEW OF VILLA ITALIA MALL 1995 Source: Urban Land Institute Award Winning Projects 2006. “Belmar History.” Home -, 14 Mar. 2018, continuumpartners.com/project-page/belmar-history/.

FIGURE 4.2 BELMAR MASTER PLAN 2004 Source: “Belmar Master Plan.” Van Meter Williams Pollack LLP, 12 Dec. 2018, www. vmwp.com/projects/belmar-master-plan/.

use retail mall into a community oriented mixed-use urban center to serve as a new downtown for the city. This project was no small feat and came at great risk for the city tasking over 250 million develop. Belmar however, ultimately transformed 100 acres of what used to be the highest crime rate reported property in the city to the highest value residential neighborhood in the country (Belmar). Belmar, a now award-winning mixed-use development serves as one of the chief examples of sustainable, urban

redevelopment projects in the country (Belmar).