Business

Even though housing prices in metro Denver have been moderating in some areas thanks to an increase in inventory, home buyers in Denver still face huge challenges, including a shortage of modestly priced properties and the speed with which the ones that are listed disappear. But while the majority of lower-priced houses showcased on MetroDenverHomeListings.com at present are already under contract, we managed to find six listings near or under $200,000 that are still active at this writing.

Today, August 28, marks the debut of Blazin’ Hit Radio, the new online home of Larry and Kathie J, whose popular KS 107.5 morning show was canceled after a contract dispute earlier this year. The station is sponsored by The Green Solution, a powerful Colorado marijuana dispensary company with a growing national profile, and its signature show, which will broadcast live from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays, promises to combine an uncensored variation on the humorous antics that scored big ratings in Denver for fifteen years with a mix of hip-hop, reggae, contemporary hits and throwbacks.

A real estate pro recently argued that renting makes more sense than buying in Denver right now, particularly for newcomers to the area, because an increase in the number of available rental units is finally leading to better deals. But while August rents in many metro communities are actually down from last month, or rising at a more modest pace than during the craziest periods of the past few years, they’re still up in almost all parts of metro over this time last year for both one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments, sometimes by double-digit percentages.

Veteran journalist Peter Marcus is leaving the ambitious ColoradoPolitics.com website he helped launch last November in favor of a communications director position with Terrapin Care Station, a marijuana dispensary chain that’s spreading beyond Colorado. And in explaining the factors that led to his decision, he makes an observation that speaks to the divergent trajectories of the two professions.

Denver’s housing market has been red hot for the past few years, with buyers of more modest means often finding themselves priced out of properties thanks to bidding wars that routinely generate over-list offers. But as indicated by the presence of a “Price Reduced” sign on a home in a sought-after part of Centennial, as seen in the photo above, this situation may finally be about to change.

While the neighborhoods of Globeville and Swanson-Elyria appear more desirable than ever, many residents feel alienated and uncertain about their futures. The National Western Center has claimed many properties — including a second home owned by the Torres family, who already lost a first to road construction — and CDOT’s Central 70 project has met with fierce opposition.

A new study maintains that two-thirds of Denver renters plan to move to another city, a figure higher than the national average, with most listing high rent costs in the Mile High City as the main reason. At the same time, however, so many people from other places want to move here that the actual number of renters in Denver will likely remain steady in the near-future and could actually rise.

Just how deep into public-private partnerships is Mayor Michael Hancock’s administration willing to go?

There’s no doubt: Denver is growing. With this growth comes change, and with this change comes issues. And with these issues come super-angry Denver residents. The newest pissy nest of resentment? RiNo. The River North neighborhood is especially mad about the Brighton Boulevard construction, with its massive detours and endless…

Studio420, an Englewood marijuana club, has been ordered to shut down following an administrative hearing. The business is planning to appeal the latest negative ruling in a years-long fight with the city that dates back to a time when it was called iBake Englewood and fronted by an entrepreneur who called himself Thurlow Weed.

Proposed DIA renovation partner Ferrovial manages two refugee camps for the government of Australia, which have been denounced as “islands of despair.”

Our recent post about the most expensive neighborhoods for rent in Denver this summer included ten areas in which the average cost for a one-bedroom apartment ranged from just under $1,500 per month to almost $2,000. In contrast, the ten least expensive Denver neighborhoods in terms of rent prices all boast an average rent price of less than $1,000.

It may not be good for his business, but Joshua Hunt, the co-founder and CEO of the local real estate brokerage TRELORA, says that for a significant number of people in Denver, including many of those who’ve just moved to the Mile High City, renting makes more sense than buying.

There’s good news and bad news in Zumper’s report about rent prices in Denver during the summer of 2017. The good news is that the average cost of renting a one-bedroom apartment in the most expensive Denver neighborhood circa spring of this year has actually fallen by nearly $100 in three months, and there have been similar declines in three other top-ten areas. The bad news is that prices are up in six of the ten priciest neighborhoods, a couple of them by almost $200 over that same period.

Wednesday, August 2, will mark the grand opening of youbaby Skin Spa, a new business in Lafayette whose specialties include tattoo removal. In advance of the big event, co-owners and sisters Susan Melching and Nina Smith spoke with us about the ten most common reasons people in Colorado (and plenty of other places, in all likelihood) decide to have their tattoos removed.

Even with more than 13,000 new apartment units expected to be available in metro Denver by the end of 2017, rent prices remain high in the city and suburbs, with a two-bedroom in the priciest current neighborhood going for nearly $3,000 per month. But that’s a bargain compared to the most expensive condos available in Denver right now. Indeed, the rent for one of them actually hits the five-figure mark.

Although rent prices in Denver have been sky high in recent years due in part to a severe shortage of available units, that situation may be changing. A new report estimates that more than 13,000 new apartments will open up in Denver over the course of 2017, with the majority of them situated in some of the city’s hottest and most rapidly growing areas.

Mobility is a hot issue, what with a major transformation to I-70 on the way (maybe), a population boom in Denver that’s clogged its streets and light rail woes dragging down commuters. Another hot-button issue? Parking.

9News’ Kyle Clark has been engaging in a war of words with Denver-based Frontier ever since needling the carrier for turning flight attendants into “awkward props during executives’ speeches about the virtues of the ultra-low cost airline,” which has recently scored poorly in airline quality rankings. And when he learned that Frontier staffers had accessed his personal travel records in an apparent effort to learn if he was an Ann Coulter-esque whiner about air travel, he became even more exercised, as he makes clear in an interview below.

According to a new study, the number of high-poverty neighborhoods in the Denver metro area nearly tripled over a fifteen-year period, due in part to high housing costs. In addition, poverty is increasing more quickly in the suburbs than in the city itself.

The dream of a world-class speedway was kept alive on Tuesday, July 18th by an Aurora judge, who ruled in favor of a recent city council charter amendment that would remove the 1999 ban on speedway subsidization while paving the way for a massive “entertainment district” in Northeast Aurora.

So many streets are experiencing lane shutdowns or complete closures because of construction in the Denver area right now that getting from one point to another without sprouting an epic migraine is practically impossible. If a team of experts spent months trying to create the perfect formula for inspiring road rage, they couldn’t do better than this.