A low-key development group has been quietly planning a $225 million mixed-use development in the Curtis Park neighborhood.

Barrons Development, headed by Justin Henderson and Sam Mahnke, is in the process of acquiring 11 lots roughly bordered by -Glenarm Place, Park Avenue West and Welton Street from 21st to 23rd streets. "That is a no man's land right now, and that is a negative," Mahnke said. "But there are a lot of surface parking lots in the area, and that is a positive because it is more easily developed."

They can develop 588,000 square feet - about half the size of Republic Plaza - on the 147,000-square- foot assemblage. Henderson said the project will be similar to the ones being built in parts of Chicago and New York. His contacts led him to Felix Satter of the New York City-based Bayrock Group, which is affiliated with the Trump Organization.

Satter, working with Trump, offered $22 million for the El Jebel, which it planned to incorporate into the tallest building in downtown, but the deal collapsed because of an internal dispute with the owners of the historic property at 1770 Sherman St. Barrons Development also owns the 1.2 acre parking lot across from the El Jebel, where more than 400,000 square feet can be built.

The transit-oriented development in the Curtis Park area, tentatively called Welton Station, would include urban versions of big-box retailers mixed with high-end boutiques, housing and restaurants, Henderson said.

The area, which is known as the Arapahoe Triangle, may eventually be served by a trolley line, which would link it to the Colorado Convention Center, the Denver Performing Arts Complex, the Pepsi Center and Denver's Union Station, he said.

"I call this Main Street Urbanism," said Brad Buchanan, principal of the Buchanan Yonushewksi Group. "That Welton corridor has been identified by the downtown area plan as a critical connector from downtown to Curtis Park and the Five Points area," said Buchanan, who will serve as the architect, master planner and neighborhood liaison on Welton Station.

Also, the site is large enough to accommodate a 40,000-square-foot retailer, which is not large by suburban standards but is hard to find in downtown, he said.

Developer buys lots in Five Points area
Triton Land also hopes to buy a building owned by RTD that is between the parking sites on Welton.
   Margaret Jackson

Denver Post Staff Writer
August 9, 2006; Page C-03
Section: BUSINESS
Article ID: 1321998 -- 366 words
A Denver firm specializing in urban development is one step closer to assembling a key block for transit-oriented development in the Five Points area.


Triton Land Development LLC has contracts to buy a pair of surface parking lots on Welton Street between 22nd Street and Park Avenue West. The lots are separated by a building owned by the Regional Transportation District at 2224 Welton. RTD's planning and development committee supports selling the building to Triton, which has offered to pay $544,000 for it.

“We’d like to see some sort of development that creates additional ridership and adds civic value,” said Susan Altes, RTD’s real-estate manager. “Any development other than surface parking in that block is of interest to us.”

Welton is a sea of parking lots interspersed with run-down buildings. But with the T-REX light-rail line scheduled to open in November, developers are circling the area for property.

“Now everybody who lives in that area can work at the Tech Center,” said Chris Coble, a broker with CB Richard Ellis who specializes in transit-oriented development. “In the old Denver, you’d have to live close to where you work. Now, anything that has rail will serve the Tech Center.”

The projects would be a mix of ground-level retail with either offices or residential space above it, Coble said. Noise from the trains shouldn’t be a problem.

“Look at the Central Platte Valley,” Coble said. “Some of the highest-price residential real estate is sitting next to freight rail. Light rail is pretty quiet.”

The El Jebel building downtown would have been developed into a luxury hotel and condo tower under a plan by Barrons Development. The company's plans called for a 54-story building, and it may pursue it later.

Barrons Development, the low- key Denver group that introduced Donald Trump's organization to the historic El Jebel building at the edge of downtown Denver, has made an unsuccessful run to buy and redevelop the site itself. Barrons, headed by Justin Henderson and Sam Mahnke, would have incorporated the historic building at 1770 Sherman St., with its Moorish-styled, onion-shaped dome, into a new luxury hotel and condo tower.

Martin Wohnlich, one of the El Jebel's owners, said Monday the group had until Nov. 21 to buy it but didn't close the deal by the deadline. He said they "didn't burn any bridges" during the negotiations and conceivably could pursue it again later. Barrons' building would have been 54 stories, compared with Trump's plan for 51 stories, Mahnke said. "We couldn't make the numbers pencil out" and couldn't get an extension on the deadline to close the deal, Henderson said. Mahnke said that he doesn't think the building will be developed during this cycle, but said he is certain it will happen eventually. "In my opinion, it won't get built until the next wave," Mahnke said. The two partners have about a million square feet in downtown under their control, Mahnke said. One of their holdings is across the street from the El Jebel at 1800 Sherman St.

Initially, they were planning to link a building on that site with the El Jebel and the new tower. But Henderson said that hotel operators would prefer to have a stand-alone building at 1800 Sherman St. So they are now focusing on a 400,000-square-foot, nine- to 12-story building on the site. The Buchanan Yonushewski Group, a Denver architectural and construction firm, is working on that development. Separately, Henderson and Mahnke also are working on a $225 million mixed-use development in the Curtis Park neighborhood. Mahnke said they purchased the first of about 11 lots last week. They are now looking for a "senior developer" to team with on that project, he said. By John Rebchook, Rocky Mountain News

November 28, 2006

Barrons Development,   goes Live - September 2007: 

www.barronsdevelopment.com is completed and launched by www.i4consultant.com

February 2007- Barrons Development. Acquires Royalty Interest in Limestone County:  Univest, Inc. Acquires 100% R.I. in a 688.7 Acre Tract described in a Declaration Pool Created and Dated April 31,1982 in Limestone County, Texas. 

Denver developer Barrons Development, made an appearance before the Clear Creek School District board on August 6^th to express interest in purchasing the football field and bus barn in Idaho Springs. The properties are not formally on the market, but school district officials are debating the future of their investments in property and facilities across the board to save money.

Options include selling the football field or building an elementary school on it. “We are looking at our options. We have a facilities and finance committee made up of board members and community members to look at different options”. The Developer also plans to buy 47 acres above the school that the school district doesn’t own, said Dingman. “They approached us,” “They called and asked to be put on the agenda.”

Proposed development includes retail shops, residential units and office. Though President Justin Henderson was unavailable for comment, Barrons has been linked with several high powered property owners in Colorado as well as Trump International and The Vatican. Current projects include a 12 story 5-star hotel on Sherman St. in Denver and a mixed use neighborhood called Welton Station in Downtown Denver’s Curtis Park.