Doing Business on The FAX
Jack Kerouac memorialized the western road trip in his novel On the Road, when his characters “roared east along Colfax and out to the Kansas plains.” Though Colfax Avenue once served as the gateway to the Rocky Mountains, it suffered from decades of dormancy following the construction of I-70.
But times are changing. If uniqueness, authenticity and the ability to bring together “place, people and investment” are attributes that distinguish the Creative City, East Colfax is well on its way. From tats to tapestries, furniture crafts to framing, research to retail, creative endeavors are alive and well on “The FAX”, helping it regain its main street glory without losing its distinct charm.
Likewise, residents adjacent to The FAX live in some of Denver’s most well regarded neighborhoods -- Park Hill, Bellevue-Hale, Mayfair, Historic Montclair, East Montclair -- all part of the creative class of: entrepreneurs, engineers, doctors, designers, financers, architects, artists, musicians and the like. Those same residents also founded The FAX Partnership, a non-profit organization focused on revitalizing East Colfax by connecting people, place and new investment.
Seizing on this prime opportunity, Minneapolis-based Sherman Associates Inc. envisions a mixed-use affordable rental project as the next major step in the revitalization of East Colfax, where it intersects with Pontiac and Poplar Streets. In keeping with the new “Main Street Zoning” classification that has been implemented on East Colfax, this development will be the first building east of Colorado Boulevard to rise four stories above a commercial floor as home to a popular local pizzeria and affordable apartments. Recognizing this is a seminal project for the area, it has been dubbed “Phoenix on The FAX.”
Other significant assemblages of property represent opportunities for more development to take advantage of The FAX district, situated in the crosshairs of downtown Denver to the west, Fitzsimons Medical Campus to the east, and the recent infill developments of Stapleton and Lowry to the north and south. With the support of The FAX Partnership, residents, business entrepreneurs and developers, the area is poised to explode with residential and commercial opportunities as East Colfax reinvents itself as a vital, thriving main street community.
Over the past several years, the City of Denver has made significant investments in the Colfax corridor as well. The following outlines current and recent commitments to the Colfax corridor.