South Sheridan Commercial Corridor TAP Report

Report Summary: Thirty years ago, Southwest Denver’s South Sheridan Commercial Corridor was a bustling commercial node with retail, entertainment, restaurants, groceries, recreation, and services. Over time, it hosted a movie theater, a skating rink, a grocery store, and a Target, all of which were popular with locals, but have since disappeared. When the 110,500-square-foot Target store closed, the company included a standard 20-year “no compete” clause in the deed and sold its 13-acre parcel to a California investor, who opened a 99-cent store. The 64-acre site houses 37 irregularly shaped lots ranging from less than 6,000 square feet to 13 acres, with ownerships both local and out of state, and uses that range from a couple of small restaurants to under-performing retail, and swaths of vacant parking lots. The City of Denver was not be able to start a neighborhood planning process in Southwest Denver for at least two years, but the community vision is for a walkable mixed use revitalization that provides local entrepreneurs with the opportunity to open neighborhood-serving businesses and services, as well as home-ownership opportunities. Councilman Kevin Flynn sponsored this Technical Advisory Panel (TAP) to provide recommendations on how to move forward on the site, which may be the perfect place to demonstrate how to retrofit an auto-oriented suburban corridor into a more sustainable, neighborhood-oriented community gathering place.