Zeppelin Development predicts where Denverites want to live, work and play with uncanny accuracy.
How the Zeppelin team reads the teas leaves and builds what the people of Denver want, and where they want it, stems from committing to socially responsible development.
“We’re going to build up value and care more about the quality of life along the way,” said Kyle Zeppelin, President of Zeppelin Development. “We can’t flip properties the way other developers can – we’re in it for the long haul.”
The newest project undertaken in this vein and opening in February is Zeppelin Station in Denver’s River North Art District.
Think of it. Who pours time, treasure and reputation into a 100,000 square foot building bearing the family name on an unlikely site at a dead-end corner? Only a commercial developer riding a 17-year winning streak in the neighborhood, working with an award-winning architect and a well-traveled impresario of what makes food-lovers tick.
Kyle Zeppelin’s enlightened thinking about commercial development in Denver is likely an inheritance from his father. Following Mickey Zeppelin’s founding of the family business in the late 80s, he established himself as one of Denver’s urban pioneers.
Last June, Bisnow.com called the elder Zeppelin “a driving force for decades in the redevelopment of Downtown Denver, the Golden Triangle and, more recently, River North.”
Credit for Zeppelin Development’s River North accomplishments goes to an apt synthesis of business and social behaviors.
“People want the same things at work that they have at home: well-designed spaces, a nice flow, fresh air, views and natural light in a location that’s accessible by foot, bike and transit, and has great amenities,” said Kyle Zeppelin. “We believe in features with social relevancy, that there’s an underserved niche in the local market.”
What animates his theory of the case is a niche he dubs the “New Economy Professional.”
These are people working locally but involved with team members and partners on a global scale. The incomes, households and interests vary among these workers, but they trend younger, many but not all being under 40 years of age. What binds them into a definable group is a shared quality-of-life perception, something identified and acted upon by Zeppelin Development. That, and being located in Colorado helped.
In 2017’s State New Economy Index, Colorado ranks seventh in the nation in the degree to which its economy relies on innovation. The index uses 25 indicators to measure the extent to which the 50 state economies are knowledge-based, globalized, entrepreneurial, IT-driven and innovation-oriented.
Embracing these New Economy Professionals in RiNo, as Denverites call River North, along with the neighborhood’s built-in idiosyncrasies has proven gainful to Zeppelin Development.
RiNo, once a hub of Denver industry, grew increasingly vacant in the 90s as manufacturing waned. A mish-mash of low-rise industrial, faceless warehousing and the occasional bungalow stood as souvenirs of better days.
As with other cities where cavernous spaces become available on the cheap, in came artists, designers, makers and others whose businesses thrive on low-cost space.
Collaborators all, they came together in 2005 to form the River North Arts District. Had the 2007 recession not happened, their steady progress might have continued unabated.
The recession’s effects on Zeppelin Development’s progress in River North slowed but did not stop it. Today there stands a clutch of buildings by Zeppelin Development, having evolved from what started with a single parcel purchased in 2000.
In that year the working relationship between Zeppelin Development and Dynia Architects began. This architectural firm, whose work has earned the Denver duo a host of awards, was founded in 1993 by Stephen Dynia, FAIA, an alumnus of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s New York City office.
Mr. Dynia believed as the Zeppelins believed that sustainable development incorporates a neighborhood culture, rather than interfering with it. As a philosophy, he and the Zeppelins have more than embraced it conceptually – they have saturated their public offerings with the local culture.
“We are only interested in doing buildings that have some kind of social relevance and incorporate or create culture of the building as well as a cultural integration of the community,” said Mr. Dynia.
Among the transformations willed into reality by Zeppelin Development is Denver’s first food hall, the Source. It’s sited at an 1880 foundry building that was previously disused and in ill repair.
“The Source had its own character as a cathedral to 19th century industrial architecture, so this was about not messing up something that was really magical,” said Mr. Dynia.
Now a bustling center, come May 2018 it will gain The Source Hotel featuring a brewery, three restaurants and a continuum of the Source’s retail and food hall. These would not be the Zeppelin’s only food hall projects, nor the last with ideal siting.
If a crystal ball for site selection exists on this side of life, the Zeppelins have mastered its use.
Zeppelin Station locates at the east end of a four-block strip of 35th street slated for conversion to a people-friendly woonerf [a living street, in which devices for reducing or slowing the flow of traffic have been installed]. A pedestrian bridge at the west end coming this year spans the South Platte River and leads onto Taxi, another Zeppelin property.
“The enlivenment of what had been a dead-end street in no man’s land, gaining opportunity from Denver’s ongoing infrastructure improvements, becomes more than some neutral office building or a simple residential block,” noted Mr. Dynia.
The site’s characteristics served to inspire more than stifle. To the south lies open undevelopable land promising full sun and prime city views. To take advantage, a series of terraced gardens face south. The car park locates at the building’s northern side, easily accessed by vehicular traffic off Wazee Street.
At the west, Zeppelin Station tenants on the building’s three floors of office space get mountain views over an existing warehouse that Mr. Dynia believes could be redeveloped later on. That leaves the building’s east face, trackside to Union Pacific’s right-of-way.
Also in that right-of-way is the region’s light rail system whose A line service operates from downtown’s Union Station to Denver International Airport.
“The east face became very important to us,” explained Mr. Dynia. “With all of the railway activity, we had to super-insulate windows and wall cavities.”
Remarkably that same railway exposure drove a look sure to become a signature to A-line passengers.
The building’s proximity to the RiNo stop at 38th and Blake on the A-line and the reality that this stop is merely a platform with a 200-space car park attached led to including the word ‘station’ in the building’s name. It drops passengers at Zeppelin Station’s front door. Not literally, but it is just a few minutes’ walk over the railroad’s right-of-way on a newly built pedestrian bridge.
When the L-line extension completes, this same stop becomes a transfer point, expanding the audience for what awaits them at the other end of the pedestrian bridge.
Mr. Dynia recalls his client’s intentions. “The Zeppelin’s programmatic objective was a ground floor that would be something welcoming to all, a space people filter through and have cocktails, lunch, coffee.”
Realizing those intentions meant building the 22,000 square foot mixed-use space to include a nine-vendor food hall.
This was to be Zeppelin Development’s third project of a similar nature, and not the time to go with the same approach again.
Denver’s light rail system and along the Union Pacific right-of-way. Photo: JC Buck
“The market is shifting to accommodate food halls,” wrote EATER’s Whitney Filloon in August 2017. “Diners appreciate them for their myriad (and typically affordable) options, and real estate developers have come to see them as an attractive option for anchoring the ground floor of their buildings.”
Yet there is a trend within the trend. Joe Gose’s New York Times article reported a Cushman and Wakefield analyst’s observation that smaller food halls with seven to 10 vendors are “popping up with more regularity.”
While smaller incarnations are becoming more regular, Mr. Dynia’s interpretation of it is decidedly irregular.
“The difference at Zeppelin Station is that you don’t enter it and consider it a grand open space,” said Mr. Dynia. “This market hall has an object in the middle where there are food stalls that you circulate around – and then there is a mezzanine above it with a bar.”
“The shape of the inside of the island and the mezzanine above mimics the shape of the whole building in that it has an angle that cuts through it,” said Mr. Dynia.
He muses that it’s probably something only architects will notice.
More easily noticed are opportunities for intimate spaces that the plan creates. Mr. Dynia identifies these intimate spaces as another departure from food hall norms. This break is only the start of Zeppelin Station’s differences from the firm’s earlier market spaces.
“From the beginning, we wanted to give Zeppelin Station’s food hall more of an international street food focus.” That is Justin Anderson’s overview of the concept governing the selection of vendors for the project. Mr. Anderson is the firm’s Director of Hospitality.
“Denver’s culture is expanding, and it’s reflected in the food and beverage scene,” said Mr. Anderson. “It has enhanced what we’re doing here, leading us away from staples like pizza and fries toward unique concepts that allow the community to have choices that are new and different.”
His big idea is going small.
“Let’s scale down and include a select number of vendors that fit our culture at Zeppelin, a few who are community minded with design-forward thinking,” he said. “We sought vendors that I thought fit this niche.”
Top choices from Denver’s eclectic food scene include Vietnamese banh mi, pan-Latin American specialties, Montreal-style barbecue and fresh stylings on traditional Korean dishes.
New for hungry Denverites at Zeppelin Station is gelato from a favorite Boulder-based shop, Hawaiian-inspired sushi-to-go from a Chicago restauranteur and a unique offering of espresso drinks and pastries from Duc Huynh of Denver’s storied Vinh Xuong Bakery.
Not forgotten are Zeppelin Station’s themed watering holes. Kiss + Ride recalls Europe’s trackside bars for spirits on the go, while Big Trouble on the Mezzanine level sets a classic tone for lingering over cocktails under dim lighting in opulent surroundings.
“Part of our strategy has been building a culture within the building that also helps build and maintain the culture that is River North,” said Mr. Anderson. “This is a very people driven project.”
What’s especially relevant to people these days is delivering a food experience that has excellence and affordability in equal measure. Mr. Anderson has that base covered.
Mr. Anderson’s thoughts on programming to each hour of the day include the late supper bunch, the after-work crowd and the multiple uses to start the day.
He says that morning commuters can get their coffee, while in the same space is room for those looking for a meeting over coffee outside the office. “I see people hanging out with their tablets, reading, friends meeting and collaboration happening.”
QSR Magazine’s Danial Smith mused on the different hours of the day in food service in April 2016. In “The Daypart Dance,” he wrote that “breakfast: where the action is. According to NPD Group data, quick-service traffic for morning meals jumped 5% in 2015, and breakfast now accounts for 24% of all quick-service visits.”
The QSR article then characterized the noon day section: “Lunch traffic at fast-casual eateries has jumped 11% in 2016.” He added that lunchtime “focal points” are including diversified menus, healthier fare and greater customization.
Mr. Anderson has a similar take on noontime.
“I think it will be quick – just sort of in and out.” Speed is essential, as is price and value. Mr. Anderson envisions New Economy workers that Kyle Zeppelin sees as a prime customer. They want a $30 lunch experience for $15 in a 30-minute interval. QSR Magazine’s article echoes the same point.
“I think you’ll have this late afternoon and evening push,” said Mr. Anderson. “There’s the after-work cocktail hour and those having a drink while waiting for their train.” He envisions being opened late enough for couples and families to have supper.
“People can go home to roommates or family and say ‘Hey it’s only seven o’clock, let’s change and go out to dinner.’”
The attraction is the menu and the value. Mr. Anderson says that four people can come to Zeppelin Station and spend $50.00, instead of dining in a restaurant setting “at $60 per person in a long drawn out meal.”
One thing Denver can use is more late-night spots for cocktails and dining, which also plays well with Mr. Anderson’s planning. “We’re hoping to capture a large audience on weekends and provide a late-night destination for drinks and dining.”
The angles to consider seem endless. Why bother with it all? Why should Zeppelin Development nurture RiNo’s food and drink landscape?
For one, Zeppelin Station has 78,000 square feet of office space to fill on the upper three floors. Could the food hall itself be a reason those spaces are filling up quickly?
Kyle Zeppelin believes so.
“A food and beverage amenity at the highest level becomes a game-changer for companies looking to draw talent of all ages, but especially the under-30 group.”
And he believes he knows his fellow Denverites. By doing right for them, he shows them respect.
“There’s the idea that we do things that aren’t typical in commercial real estate,” he says. “But they add value to how people want to live and cause them to get involved in our projects.”
Hearing about Zeppelin Station and where Kyle Zeppelin is leading the father-son firm leaves even the most jaded listeners planning how soon they might experience his buildings.
For more information, visit the Zeppelin Station website.