Vibrant and successful communities are designed for the people that live, work and play in them.
They promote healthy living with walkable streets and bicycle infrastructure, and have acres of open space and parks for outdoor recreation. Neighborhood identities form organically, and housing, jobs, shops, and restaurants are located in close proximity. To move around the area people can choose from multiple transit options.
Traditionally however, neighborhood development is a piecemeal process. Rarely do designers and developers have access to large areas of land to redevelop.
In 1990, a neighborhood of Denver, Colorado, was given the opportunity to decide how to take on that challenge. The Stapleton International Airport located 20 minutes from the new Denver International Airport was closing, leaving 4,700 acres of the former airport available for redevelopment.
Rather than allow the site to be parceled off to a variety of developers, a group of citizens, civic officials and business leaders formed with the goal of redesigning the area to maximize public benefits by following new urbanism and sustainability practices. They created the Stapleton Development Plan, commonly known as the “Green Book,” and it was adopted in 1995. Forest City Enterprises, Inc. was hired as master developer for the site to bring the plan to life.
Construction began in 2001, with inspiration from Aurora’s street patterns and Denver’s classic neighborhoods. The community is expected to be home to some 30,000 residents in 12,000 homes, and will have 10-plus schools, an 80 acre Central Park, with an additional 1,1000 acres for parks and open space, and a commuter rail station. About 10,000,000 sq. ft. is set aside for planned office space, and 1,500,000 sq. ft. for retail space.
One of the basic tenets of Stapleton’s master plan is that the community be sustainable, using the best and most efficient building practices. The city is now home to several commercial buildings, community facilities and homes that have been LEED Certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. This includes the LEED Silver Certified Northfield Stapleton, a 1.2 million sq. ft. regional shopping center certified as LEED Silver.
The city is seamlessly connected to an 850-mile regional network of bike routes, and residents and visitors can easily travel between neighborhoods for work or pleasure. With all of the bike trails and green building design practices in place, the city was in need for safe and secure long-term bicycle parking.
CycleSafe Bike Lockers were purchased and installed throughout the city because of their quality and sustainable design. CycleSafe intentionally employs local and regional suppliers and vendors for all of its products, and makes these commitments as the company is also dedicated to manufacturing environmentally friendly products.
These lockers provide cyclists protection from theft, vandalism and inclement weather, and in turn this helps to encourage more biking in the community. They have been designed to be impenetrable to pry bars, and keep out rain, wind, snow, and are vandal and fire resistant. The high-security locks provide a peace of mind for cyclists.
The bike lockers are extremely durable and last decades, designed for urban environments. The compression-molded fiberglass reinforced shells are made from modern structural-grade aerospace automotive composite materials that are also non-corrosive, rust free, and impact resistant.
Aesthetically, the bike lockers fit in well with the design of the city. They are sleek and modern with ergonomic finishes and colored accents that blend in well with the environment. They are also easily re-locatable, which is important for a city that continues to grow with more residents every year.
CycleSafe is proud to have been a part of this project. The City of Stapleton is an excellent example of what a can happen when grassroots participation happens in tangent with large-scale neighborhood development, and of how a vibrant community is created.
More information about this project can be found at The Stapleton Story, and stapletondenver.com.
Project in Brief
Location: Stapleton, Colorado
Developer: Forest City Enterprises, Inc.
Architect: The Mulhorn Group, USGBC LEED Silver Award
