A panel of Denver councilmembers on Tuesday moved to advance a motion to rezone the west end of Cherry Creek Shopping Center, expressing relief that the project has finally reached their desks, even as they said it should have guardrails, given its scale.

Cherry Creek West by East West Partners is on track to bring seven office and apartment buildings — some to 13 stories high — to the site where the old Bed Bath & Beyond store now overlooks University Boulevard and the soon-closing Elway’s steakhouse. 

“I’m glad we’re finally here. This has been going on for a really long time,” Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer, who represents the district Cherry Creek is in, said on Tuesday.

It’s the first time that Sawyer has publicly spoken about the project, which, at 1.6 million-square-foot project, is estimated to be 45% larger than the Cherry Creek Shopping Center. Neither Sawyer nor Mayor Mike Johnston had returned requests for comment.  

Last week, the Denver Planning Board’s also green-lighted the proposal, paving the way for the full City Council to vote on rezoning the west side of the mall into a mixed-use property that would allow for the building of retail, housing and office space.

On Tuesday, members of the council’s Land Use, Transportation & Infrastructure committee met to discuss the development project and residents’ concerns, giving a peek into where some officials stand on the issue ahead of the council’s vote.

The rezoning passed the committee meeting with one vote against it. The lone dissenter was Councilman Paul Kashmann.

Even among the approving councilmembers, a few raised doubts.

Sawyer said she understands her district residents’ worries about traffic and density and that she shares those concerns.

The planning board’s decision to approve the project left a variety of neighborhood groups upset, saying it failed to better define the potential size of development. Those groups, as well as the developer, have all concurred that the planned urban development documents comprising the rezoning plan do not set limits on the project’s scale — even on the final numbers of buildings involved and their heights.

Critics also worry it would exponentially increase traffic in the area, effectively choking it. Supporters countered that such fears are overblown and argued the project would add to the city’s housing inventory.   

“I’m not 100% comfortable with — because we have a form-based zoning code — giving a blank check to this without any sort of guardrails with the community conversations that are happening,” Sawyer said.

The councilwoman asked the project developer East West Partners to solidify a community benefits agreement — which community organizations have asked for to outline project specifications, such as the number of buildings and density that is not covered in the rezoning process — ahead of the council’s public hearing.

All eyes on Denver City Council over massive Cherry Creek West project

Amy Cara, managing partner at East West Partners, responded to Sawyer, saying it’s the company’s goal to get the community agreement done.

Councilmember Chris Hinds, who represents District 10, said he is disappointed the Cherry Creek West concept rolled back on some of its pedestrian friendliness and is proposing to create a privately-owned street grid.

“I still think it’s a great plan,” Hinds said, “But in my opinion, I believe that the original design was better for pedestrians.”

Cara replied that the development’s central streets can be closed for events and will be closer in line with Cherry Creek West’s original vision.

Kashmann of District 6, which borders the south boundary of the development, is the most critical about the forecasted traffic impact of the project.

“I’m having a hard time with a 5% increase over a shopping area that is already problematic, traffic wise,” Kashmann said.

The councilman was referencing a traffic impact study done by East West Partners after the developers disputed another study, which shows a much bigger traffic impact. 

That other study — from developer David Steel and former Denver City Councilman Wayne New — suggests that an additional 1,922 vehicle trips would be generated by the project, boosting traffic at First and University, which is already reaching its maximum capacity during rush hours. Also implicit in the study is the assumption that any projection will likely underestimate actual growth, just as the 2013 estimate understated the development that materialized over the last 10 years.

Cara earlier told The Denver Gazette that the scale of East West’s study is more extensive than Steel and New’s, and that it is based on newer numbers rather than extrapolations from previous works. The study projects a 5% increase in traffic from Cherry Creek West’s arrival, as opposed to increases from other factors, including the area’s ongoing pass-through traffic to and from downtown.

Brokers have said Cherry Creek West’s 600,000 feet of offices could command top dollar at a moment when companies, some of them relocating from three miles northwest in downtown Denver, are anxious to lure employees back to the office.

It’s precisely that draw that leads some to worry about the project’s impact on the city’s efforts to revitalize downtown Denver — arguing that limited resources such as money for transportation infrastructure, is better allocated to struggling areas — not to Cherry Creek. Notably, the Johnston administration has outlined an aggressive campaign to revitalize downtown Denver, which has struggled following the pandemic and further disruptions by 16th Street Mall’s drawn-out renovation construction project. 

And the city is looking for all kinds of funding mechanisms to pay for that campaign. 

During the land use committee hearing, Cara said the project is expected to increase traffic in the busy corridor, but most of the traffic comes from commuters from Glendale or Parker heading downtown and vice versa. The developers are advocating for more public transportation to the area, regardless of the development, Cara said.

“The majority of traffic through there is not generated by Cherry Creek,” Cara said.

But with a project of Cherry Creek West’s size that’s expected to draw visitors, Kasmann said he doesn’t buy it.

With the committee’s vote, the rezoning will head to a City Council public hearing for final approval. It is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 23.

Mark Samuelson contributed to this article.