Denver Mayor and Gov. elect John Hickenlooper spoke today at 1800 Larimer St., the most energy efficient office tower downtown

John Hickenlooper, Denver’s mayor and soon-to-be Colorado’s governor, today told about 200 people standing in the most energy efficient office building in downtown, that the state state can emerge from all of the turbulence, anguish  and chaos in the world as the place to be. He emphasized how important it is to “create a sense of place,” where people are drawn to  work, play, education and raising families.

“If we are focused and diligent, it can make great things for Colorado,” said Hickenlooper, speaking on the 20th floor of 1800 Larimer Street, one of the few Platinum LEED-designated offices in the country. Hickenlooper was speaker at a half-day Urban Land Institute forum, Recharging Colorado: Energy, Jobs and Land Use.”

Hickenlooper said that Colorado needs to show the same kind of collaboration it did in 2004, when all 32 metro mayors agreed to the FasTracks project, still the nation’s largest transportation project ever approved by voters. “I think Colorado is the most collaborative state in the country,” Hickenlooper said.

Economic growth only option

Because there is no appetite for raising taxes, and every aspect of the state’s budget is  ”under water,” – whether it is funding  transportation, education or health care to education and health care – economic development is the only way to emerge from the financial morass. For example, one small thing might be to place a billboard near Manhattan promoting “colorful Colorado” as a place to vacation, adding that you might want to open a business, here, too. He said that the same factors that make people want to vacation in a place, increasingly makes them want to live and work and raise families there. That means that while the economy grows, Colorado needs to have the “highest environmental ethics” in place, as the natural beauty of the state is as important as any minerals extracted from the it, he added.

Hickenlooper said once his administration and cabinet is in place, he will be asking all 64 counties in Colorado what their ideal economic development plan would be. “What do you think your economy should look like? And we’re not going to just ask the economic development experts, but we’re going to go to the Rotary Clubs and school teachers and real estate agents and bankers and ask them.”

Then, he plans to put together a “statewide vision of a strong economic vision…You are all deputized to help with this.”

1800 Larimer green model

Hick notes he got his start in a campaign by trying to save the name "Mile High Stadium." He admits that part of it was to get people to drink at his bar. Through a compromise, the football stadium is Invesco Field at Mile High, he noted.

Meanwhile, Randy Schwartz, chief operating officer of Westfield Development, the developer of 1800 Larimer St., noted that the building is 70 percent leased by Xcel Energy and they and Westfield’s sister company, Newmark Knight Frank Frederick Ross Co., decided not to initially lease the top four floors.

One view from the 20th floor of 1800 Larimer

They started their lease efforts about five months ago, and in that time, they have signed deals for two of the floors, or 50 percent of the space, despite the tough economy.  Many companies find that because the building is so efficient that they don’t need as much space as they did before. For example, they might be able to lease 40,000 square feet instead of 50,000 square feet. Also, the building offers 360-degree, picture postcard views from its energy efficient windows.

“So it might look like they are paying a little bit more for rent, but they actually are economically better off,” Schwartz said. “And, they get to lease the best building downtown.”

This is a view of Coors Field from 1800 Larimer.

He said the Platinum LEED designation added about 6 percent of the cost. But it only cost incrementally more, maybe 2 percent or 3 percent, to move from a Gold to Platinum designation. He said he hopes this will be a model for other buildings in the future. He noted that Westfield is still working on its construction loan, and currently are shopping for permanent financing. He said they will have no problems getting the financing, as many groups are putting aside money earmarked for super-efficient buildings such as 1800 Larimer. Given how low rates are, this is an ideal time to be putting long-term debt on the building, he added.

Asked by one audience member if there are any “lessons learned” that would lead him to make any changes, if he could start the building from scratch, he came up empty.

“I hate to say we got it right, but I think we did.”

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The Denver Union Station Project Authority and the U.S. Department of Transportation today announced the closing on a $145.6 million Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan and a $155 million loan under the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing Program for Denver Union Station.  Denver Union Station is the centerpiece of the Regional Transportation District’s FasTracks transit expansion program and will serve as a multimodal transportation hub for the region.

$3 billion economic impact

“We are delighted the Department of Transportation found a creative way to use different loan programs to help fund the Denver Union Station redevelopment,” said Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. “This project will generate thousands of jobs and put more than $3 billion into our state’s economy over the next decade. We are grateful to the Department of Transportation for helping us invest in Colorado’s future and improving transportation options for everyone who lives in and around the metro area.”

The loan closings guarantee the completion of the public transportation infrastructure of the redevelopment including a 22 bay underground bus facility, a light rail station for current and future light rail routes, a commuter rail station that will serve Amtrak and the East, Gold, North Metro and Northwest Rail commuter rail lines, extension of the 16th Street Mall Shuttle and public plazas to integrate transit service with adjacent neighborhoods.

“Remarkable achievement”

“The DUS project is the most important economic development initiative for the City of Denver and the State of Colorado.  It has taken commitment and determination from very dedicated Board members, city and RTD leadership, staff and other stakeholders for this project to move forward and it has been worth every step,” said DUSPA Board President Elbra Wedgeworth. “This is a remarkable achievement for DUSPA and our partners.”

The DUS project represents the first time the two federal loan programs have worked together to fund a major infrastructure project. By working with the DOT, the interest rates on the loans are slightly below 4%, well below what could have been secured in the tax-exempt capital markets.

“This transaction has had many loan structuring challenges due to the prospective nature of the tax-increment revenues,” said Claude Pumilia, Denver’s chief financial officer. “We met this challenge by tailoring debt service to our future revenues and using the cash flow to create additional reserves to act as a safeguard, while still meeting the loan repayment criteria.”

In addition to the federal loans, funding for project includes money from state and federal grants and allocations from the FasTracks program.

“Critical step”

“Today’s announcement ensures Denver Union Station will be ready when our new transit corridors are completed,” said RTD Chairman Lee Kemp.  “This is a critical step in helping deliver the voter-approved FasTracks program that will greatly improve mobility around our region.”

Early construction work including utilities relocation and excavation of the regional bus facility has been underway since 2009.  The RTD Board approved bridge funding to DUSPA to allow DUS construction to advance while the project awaited approval of the federal loans.

The DUSPA was formed by the City and County of Denver in July 2009 to serve as the financing and contracting entity for the transportation improvements at DUS, through a partnership with RTD, the city, the Colorado Department of Transportation, the Denver Regional Council of Governments and the DUS Metropolitan District.

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com or 303-945-6865.

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The home was built in 1986 and 1987 by Bill Daniels, a cable-TV pioneer.  Daniels  bought adjoining homes, tore them down and built the 19,500-square-foot main mansion  – with 24,000-square-foot when the enclosed patio is included – of the estate at 4150 Shangri La Drive, near South Colorado Boulevard and Alameda Avenue.  Daniels completed his version of urban redevelopment  long before the phrase ”scrape off” crept into the  real estate lexicon. A dozen years ago, when his health was failing, Daniels donated Cableland  to serve as the mayor of Denver’s residence (if the mayor wanted to live there) and and to be used for fund-raisers. More than $12 million has been raised for charities and non-profits at Cableland. Neither Hickenlooper, nor his predecessor, Wellington Webb, used the estate as their main home.  Although Daniels was a lifelong Republican, and he knew that the mayor of Denver was surely going to be a Democrat, he didn’t care. He wanted the ”House that Bill Built” to serve as a legacy long after he was gone. Daniels, who was born in Greeley, died in March 2000 at the age of 79.

Unique opportunity

“Cableland has provided an attractive venue for many gatherings in our city and is a favorite location for local charity events,”Hickenlooper said. “Today, we have a unique opportunity to invest in our future generations. We are pleased to partner with the Daniels Fund and the Denver Scholarship Foundation to provide greater access to college scholarships for Denver’s students.”

Daniels donated Cableland  to the city in 1998 to serve as the mayor’s official residence and be utilized for certain civic and charitable purposes. An agreement at the time stated the property would revert to the Daniels Fund should it no longer serve the needs of the city.

Childears, the president and CEO of the Daniels Fund, said Bill Daniels was pleased to donate Cableland as the  mayor’s residence and he ”would have been delighted that it has been home to major events, especially those that helped raise money for charitable purposes. With the economic downturn and the rising cost of higher education, affording the cost of college is increasingly difficult for many students. After careful consideration, our board decided that converting the value of the property into scholarships for students in Denver made perfect sense.”

Not a snap decision

The city and the Daniels Fund began meeting nearly two years ago to discuss the potential sale of the home after agreeing that  Cableland could  be put to a better use to further Bill Daniels’ philanthropic wishes. The board of the Daniels Fund agreed that money from the sale of Cableland must go to the Denver Scholarship Foundation for use by eligible students who want to attend designated Colorado institutions of higher learning.

Today’s announcement is the first in a number of steps required before the sale can move forward. The agreement to sell must be reviewed and approved by the Denver City Council and an appraisal must be completed. The Daniels Fund and City Council must also approve any offer to buy the home.

$5 million home?

Jan Nelsen, a top broker and co-owner of Kentwood City Properties, estimated the home would fetch in the neighborhood of $5 million. The home has 14-bathrooms, four bedrooms and 88 TV sets – including 64 of them on a “viewing wall,” a fitting feature for a cable TV guru. The home inclues a 44,000-gallon, 1,102-square-foot swiming pool,  staff quarters, a laser security system, an indoor resistance exercise pool, an ice crean bar and even a 12-foot fireman’s pole.

“Wow! I love that house,” Nelsen said. “I’m guessing it’s going to be listed at more than $5 million, but I think it would be a nice $5 million house. I’m not sure how dated it is. The buyer might spend a lot of money upgrading it. I think the buyer might be some CEO of a company that does a lot of entertaining.”

The home is one of the biggest in Denver, although homes that size are not uncommon in Cherry Hills, she noted. The historic Phipps mansion, which Tim Gill and his partner recently agreed to buy from the University of Denver, has 33,123 square feet, and sits on 6.5 acres. The Phipps estate was priced at $9.2 million. An agent has been chosen to list Cableland, but the name has not been released as details are still being worked out, according to Hickenlooper’s office.

Dee Chirafisi, co-owner of Kentwood City Properties, said Cableland will be a difficult one to price.

“It is such a unique property and unique location,” Chirafisi said. ”I think the buyer could be just about anyone. When someone asked me that questions about the Phipps Mansion I thought a foundation would have purchased it and it ended up being a couple who will use it as their primary home. So it could be a foundation, organization or a couple or a family …I do know that it will be someone who is looking for a one-of- a- kind, found-no-where-else, property.”

About $12 million has been raied in funderaisers at Cableland.

The city intends to designate another property in Denver as the mayor’s official residence. No decisions have been made.

The Denver Scholarship Foundation was founded in 2006 to provide college advice and scholarships for low-income Denver Public Schools students. To date, DSF has given away 1,658 scholarships totaling $5.2 million and helped to increase the number of DPS graduates enrolling in college by 52 percent.

Cableland was built by Bill Daniels, a Cable-TV pioneer. Although a life-long Republican, Daniels donated his massive home to the mayor of Denver, who almost sure to be a Democrat. But Daniels cared more about the community and education than he did about political labels.

“The Denver Scholarship Foundation is thrilled that the proceeds of the eventual sale will help Denver students achieve their college goals,” said Cindy Abramson, executive director of the Denver Scholarship Foundation. “Today’s announcement is just the first step in a long process, but we are delighted to know that even more young people in Denver will receive the financial support they need to attend college,”

Mayor John Hickenlooper, Cindy Abramson, and Linda Childears at Cableland.

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HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, left, Mayor John Hickenlooper, and Rep. Ed Perlmutter, lauded the Benedict Park Place community in Uptown. The latest phase will include geothermal heating and cooling.

The head of HUD praised a mixed-use downtown Denver community as the “poster child” for an energy-saving, sustainable development that provides both subsidized and market-rate housing.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said that the Benedict Park Place community on 15 acres at 305 Park Avenue, is a prime example of the type of projects that the Obama Administration wants to see take shape nationwide.

“It absolutely will serve as a model for what we will do across the country,” Donovan told InsideRealEstateNews.com, following today’s press conference last  Friday morning.

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan was in Denver last week, and came away impressed with a sustainable, mixed-use development nearing completion on the former East Village site in the Uptown neighborhood.

He said few other government housing projects in the U.S. include all of the “cutting edge” features of Benedict Park, which will include a geothermal system, solar arrays and water conservation measures. It also benefits from its proximity to light rail and the central business district, officials said.

HUD chief visits Denver

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan today toured and lauded Benedict Park Place in DenverDonovan was a keynote speaker Friday morning at the the site of a four-story, 75 -unit building under construction that will be heated and cooled with geothermal power. Because of the geothermal system, which taps underground energy for heat during the winter and to cool them during the summer, there is no need for air conditioning units on the roof, which allows for larger photovoltaic systems – solar panels – on the roof, he noted.

$43,000 in annual savings

All told, the geothermal system, with 42-bore wells to supply underground water for heating and cooling, will cut utility bills by more than 50 percent, combined with 100kw photovoltaic system, will save $43,000 annually. The payback is estimated to take seven years. “In the eighth year, we start reaping the rewards,” Donovan said.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper called it a “tremendous” asset for Denver that provides a “maximum benefit” for the use of taxpayer dollars. Hickenlooper said there is “unprecedented” cooperation in Washington, D.C., to bring together the various components of Benedict Park, including its green features, sustainability affordability and job creation. Hickenlooper said this is an example of what the “right money, at the right time,” can create.

“I’m not talking Democrat vs Republican administrations,” Hickenlooper said. “I’m talking about how things had been for the past 20 or 30 yeas, and how they have finally evolved.”

Perlmutter watched site evolve

Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colorado, noted that when he was a lawyer in the nearby 56-story Republic Plaza, the tallest office tower in Denver, he could overlook the site. Sen. Michael Bennett was scheduled to attend, but was still in Washington, D.C., working on legislation.

Congressman Ed Perlmutter has been watching the evolution of Bededict Park Place in Uptown for decades. He likes what he sees.

Once Denver’s worst housing project now blooms

“The evolution of this neighborhood is exciting,” Perlmutter said. “It’s what we call a livable community. “The great thing is that it is a real neighborhood, but with really easy access to everything downtown.”

Originally built for the Olympics

For years, the development was considered the worst and most forlorn housing in Denver. It was first built in the 1970s to house athletes attending the 1976  Winter Olympics in Colorado. But when the Olympics did not come to Denver, the development, then known as East Village, became an eyesore, with rundown housing, plagued by drug dealing and prostitution, which stifled development in the area.

Sal Carpio, the former head of the Denver Housing Authority, was once thrown off the property, (along with this reporter), as he spoke to residents living in units filled with code violations, such as exposed wiring.

Then Mayor Wellington Webb finally worked out a deal for the Denver Housing Authority to buy the property, and re-develop it as a public-private partnership. The completed value is estimated at $203.94 million and it will include 699 units, with about a third of them subsidized, and the rest market rate.

“We preserved all of the subsidized units and added a lot market-rate units, in partnerships,” said Ismael Guerrero, executive director of the Denver Housing Authority.

Sea change to former East Village

The change from its East Village days have been amazing, he said.

“One of the biggest changes is that we really have integrated Uptown with downtown,” Guerrero said. “When it was East Village, it was a major obstacle to getting to downtown. You had to drive five or eight blocks around it to get downtown from the multi-block project. We’ve punched streets through to open it up and to provide a direct connection to Uptown to downtown.”

Aesthetically, he noted that people cannot tell the difference between the subsidized units and the market-rate ones. On part of the site next to the geothermal fueled building – land is being reserved for market-rate, single-family homes.

“Quite frankly, we’re waiting for the housing market to pick up before we start pursuing partnerships for that land,” Guerrero said.

Congressman Ed Perlmutter has been watching the evolution of this part of Uptown for more than 20 years. That may be sooner than later, said Chris Behrens, a broker with New Era Realty.

Behrens said he knows an infill developer that is aggressively searching the areas for parcels to buy for future housing developments.

“It’s a neighborhood with everything,” Behrens said. “It’s really close to downtown, and has just great views of the skyline.”

Video: Ismael Guerrero, the executive director of the Denver Housing Authority, discusses Benedict Park Place.

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com or 303-945-6865.

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“Fuming mad,” over Forbes

“Here’s a story about Forbes and housing stats that has everybody in Denver, from the Mayor on down, fuming mad,” Samuelson wrote to Bialik. ” Two weeks ago Forbes ran a story calling the Denver area “second-Worst Housing Market in America,” after rust-belt Milwaukee, barely better than Los Angeles. Economists here were shaking their heads trying to figure how Forbes reporter came up with the numbers that suggested we had twice as much inventory on the market as local stats show.”

Samuelson noted that Forbes later pulled the articles. He also mentioned me, describing me as the “flagship real estate reporter for the Rocky Mountain News,” (Thanks, Mark) and sending him a link to InsideRealEstateNews.com.

“The list quickly drew scrutiny from Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, who called Forbes to question the results,” Bialik wrote in today’s Wall Street Journal. He quoted Hickenlooper as saying: “We were in the process of coming out of [the housing downturn].To hear that we’re lagging just didn’t make sense.” (For the article in which Hickenlooper first drew his scrutiny to  the Forbes.com article, please visit Hick: Forbes has some explaining to do.)

Zillow data, Forbes response

Bialik’s column continued:  ”Two weeks later, Forbes retracted the ranking, blaming a misuse of inventory data from real-estate site Zillow.com. Zillow regularly adds vendors to its database, so an increase in listed houses from year to year might reflect more listings on Zillow rather than a real-world rise in homes that aren’t selling. “It’s not necessarily a complete picture over time of what’s happening in those markets,” says Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist. After announcing the problems with the ranking, Forbes withdrew both the ranking and the retraction from its Web site. “We couldn’t rerank in any meaningful way, so we didn’t,” Paul Maidment, editor of Forbes Media, said in an email.”

The rest of the column examines rankings, such as  the world’s most livable cities, and provides consumers with advice on how to determine which rankings make the most sense.

Please visit The Numbers Guy to read the entire column.

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com or 303-945-6865

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Forbes.com severed the link to two stories on the Denver housing market on Friday. The first one ranked Denver as the second worst housing sales market in the U.S., based on information from Zillow.com.The second article explained why the Zillow information should not have been used.

But a video, using the same Zillow information in the first article, can be viewed at  this link.

First In, Last Out, or First In, First Out?

An analysis of various housing markets by New York-based real estate executive  Jonathan J. Miller, said that Denver was one of the first in as far as a housing downturn, and appears to be one of the last out. Interesting enough, almost exactly a year ago, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, at a Denver conference, described the Denver housing market by using the accounting term, FIFO –  First In, First Out. There’s also an accounting acronym LIFO – Last In, First Out. But First In, Last Out?

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com or 303-945-6865.

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After heavy criticism from Denver-area Realtors, economists, and even Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, Forbes.com wrote another article, backing off the first. The first article ranked Denver the second worst in the nation as a housing sales market, based on data it said it got from Zillow.com. Since that article, Zillow.com has said it did not supply that information to Forbes.com, and would have advised it not to use that information, as it is constantly changing, as Zillow  adds real estate partners. Forbes responded by explaining that it a second article.

Forbes.com, an online version of the Forbes magazine, has since removed both articles.

Kraft not letting Forbes off the hook

Here is what Denver Realtor Kristal Kraft wrote about Forbe’s decision on Friday:

“If you have been reading my last several posts, you will be aware of how Forbes placed Denver as #2 of the Worst Housing Markets coming as a severe shock to real estate professionals who watch the market, and seasoned veteran of the Denver real estate reporting world, John Rebchook, Mayor John Hickenlooper and scores of others,” Kraft wrote on her blog. “ Today Forbes deleted not one, but two online posts relating to the false and inflated stats found by writer Francesca Levy. The report came as a surprise to many experienced people who watch and know the Denver real estate market. Many who asked or in the case of the Mayor DEMANDED a retraction, I was told personally by Francesca Levy that Forbes doesn’t do retractions, just more reporting. Well Forbes second article failed to take personal account for making the mistake to begin with. Instead they pointed the blame at Zillow, who had Francesca Levy bothered to ask would have informed (suggested) she not use the stats they presented for her specific article.”

Zillow’s take

Here is what Spencer Rascoff, COO of Seattle-based Zillow had to say, when he stepped into the Forbes-fray.

“Earlier this month, Forbes.com published a story naming the “America’s Worst-Selling Housing Markets,” Rascoff wrote. “The reporter used data from the National Association of Realtors, Moody’s Economy.com and Zillow to create an index that ranked metropolitan statistical areas. Much to the confusion of Denver real estate professionals, the Denver region was number two on the Forbes.com list. One of the statistics Forbes.com cited in the article was a number from Zillow which Forbes.com referred to as “inventory.” There has been lots of confusion about this story and the data in it. Forbes published a follow-up last week, but I’d like to clarify a few points.

· Zillow did not name Denver one of the worst-selling housing markets. Forbes.com used one statistic from Zillow, along with statistics from NAR and Moody’s, to create their own index. Zillow was not consulted on the construction of this index.

· The number Forbes.com took off of our website was labeled on Zillow as “Homes for Sale on Zillow” in the month of January, and that’s what it captured. It was never labeled as a total inventory number, and we never presented it to them as such, in writing or verbally.

“The methodology behind the statistic which the Forbes.com reporter pulled from Zillow.com showed the cumulative number of homes listed for sale on Zillow during the month, not a snapshot at a single point in time. This explains why the number wouldn’t match MLS inventory statistics, and further explains why the reporter shouldn’t have used it in the way that she did. (And had the reporter contacted us before writing the article, we would have recommended that she not use it in the way that she did.)

“In fact, the median daily number of listings in March posted on Zillow was 31,947 – extremely close to the 31,740 listings reported by a Denver economist using Metrolist MLS data,” Rascoff continued. (Rebchook note: Actually, he is referring to economist Patty Silverstein. She used Zillow data, not MLS data. For that article, please visit a previous blog.)

Rascoff’s response went on to say: “But the cumulative number of listings on Zillow during March (which is what the “Homes for Sale on Zillow” metric represents) was 43,157 listings. In other words, new listings came onto the market and some homes came off the market. The point is that the discrepancy was caused by the Forbes.com reporter not reading the fine print on the Zillow website and not calling her Zillow PR contact; it was not due to inaccuracies in Zillow data.

“Although our January listings number was representative of the number of homes on the market at the time, we have added partners in the past year, which have brought us new sources of listings. We routinely warn media against using year-over-year numbers when referring to homes on Zillow, since changes might be more reflective of new partnerships than market conditions.

“Contrary to some blog reports, Forbes.com did not say they would stop using Zillow data. They said they would limit the use of year-over-year comparisons when using the metric “Homes for Sale on Zillow.” (We support this decision, and as I said above we would have discouraged the use of this statistic anyway since the reporter was trying to show total overall inventory.) On the contrary, Forbes and Forbes.com (and dozens of other media sources) continue to use Zillow data, and in fact I’m personally one of five proud members of the Forbes Expert Real Estate Panel which conducts monthly online discussions of real estate issues (and frequently uses Zillow data).”

He concluded by saying:  ”We stand behind the accuracy of our data, but like all statistics, they can be misleading if not properly understood or explained. It’s regrettable that this situation occurred.”

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com or 303-945-6865.

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Below is the article posted on Monday by Francesca Levy. She even mentions me in the piece, although I would not describe myself as a “critic.” Rather, I am messenger giving others a forum to voice their opinions. In this case, however, it was difficult finding someone supporting the conclusions of the first article.

Forbes article

“An April 5 article that ranked the Denver metro area’s real estate market as the nation’s second worst-selling elicited objection from the city’s real estate community. Some Realtors and real estate bloggers disagreed with the housing inventory numbers, provided by Zillow.com, that contributed to the rankings.

Many felt that Zillow’s numbers, which showed a 27% year-over-year increase in homes for sale on the site and an inventory of over 42,000 unsold properties, were inflated, because the site hosts multiple same-property listings, and transactions may not be recorded as quickly as they occur. This means properties could be on Zillow, but no longer on the market.

Zillow’s metric measured inventory from January 2009 to January 2010, the latest available when the article ran. Metrolist, a firm that collects and analyzes Colorado real estate data, shows a March 2010 inventory of 20,073.

Zillow.com confirmed that double counting was possible. Zillow spokeswoman Katie Curnutte says that Zillow’s numbers represent the homes for sale on the site, and that data from January will differ from any count that’s more current. She added that the company regularly takes on new partners who provide the site with listings, skewing year-over-year comparisons.

“It can be difficult to derive any assumptions about market conditions from the year-over-year numbers,” she says.

Zillow provided Forbes.com with year-over-year homes-for-sale numbers for each of the metropolitan statistical areas examined; each metro was scored by the same measures. Since Zillow has acknowledged that these numbers may have been artificially increased, Forbes.com has decided to limit the use of year-over-year homes-for-sale statistics from the data provider.

“Though Zillow’s numbers allowed us to compare the number of homes for sale across the country’s metros,” says Lucy Maher, executive editor, Forbes. “We recognize that these numbers may not have given us an accurate look at local inventories.”

In addition to the number of homes for sale on Zillow.com, used to measure inventory, the story looked at home price data from the National Association of Realtors; and sales rates from Moody’s Economy.com. The article looked at each of the country’s Metropolitan Statistical Areas with a population of more than one million.

Metrolist’s data looked at the housing market two months later. What’s more, it may not account for all foreclosures and new home sales. Still, Metrolist spokeswoman Melissa Olson says that those differences alone can’t explain why Zillow reported over twice as many homes for sale than Metrolist.

“In the Denver market, new home sales and foreclosure sales are not significant enough to make a doubling effect,” she says.

Critics including John Rebchook, who writes about local real estate in his blog InsideRealEstateNews.com, Krystal Kraft, a local Realtor who first raised her objections to the story via Twitter, and Denver Mayor John W. Hickenlooper also voiced their objections to Zillow’s data.

“It was hard for me to imagine we could have gotten into such a desperate environment without anybody noticing, and without me hearing about it,” says Hickenlooper. “When I first read the story I talked to brokers who said a year ago we had a six-month supply of homes and now we have a five-month supply, so we’re actually doing better.”

The National Association of Homebuilders, a lobbying group, reports that because of a lack of overbuilding in Denver during the housing boom, signs that home prices are normalizing and foreclosures falling below the national average, they anticipate that, on the whole, Denver real estate will steadily emerge from the recession.

“We don’t expect the Denver market to be either best or worst, but rather to be pretty middle of the pack, improving with a broad swath of United States housing markets,” wrote Donna Reichle, NAHB spokeswoman, in an e-mail. “Our forecast for the Denver housing market is for recovery continuing this year from the early 2009 bottom and gaining momentum through 2010 and beyond.”

Local response to article.

“I thought it was interesting,” Hickenlooper said Tuesday afternoon. “They didn’t go as far as describing the health of the Denver housing market as we might have liked or desired. But they did explain, and they were very open about, what the problem was.  I would have liked to have heard some more positive descriptions of our real estate market. But I have no complaints.”

Hickenlooper said it is difficult to measure if the first article caused any damage to the market.

“Anecdotally, you do hear about transactions that deals that didn’t close that might otherwise not have closed because of the article,” he said. By the same token, Hickenlooper said, it is difficult to know whether the second article will erase doubt from prospective buyers who were influenced by the first one. “The thing now is to put it to bed in an official way and put it behind us,” Hickenlooper said.

Peter Niederman, an owner of the Kentwood Cos., said he was pleased with the second article, ‘but I was hoping that she would go into detail about how great the Denver market is. The main thing that came out from her second article is that she realized that Zillow might double-count information and isn’t the best source of information on the local housing market. She admits it and was quick to do it, which is commendable.”

Niederman, however, said he wished she had pointed to statistics that showed the improving market. “We probably started the year with eight months of inventory, and now we’re at about five months,” Niederman said. “That is a very good place to be. Those are good numbers. I like the trend.”

Like Hickenlooper, Niederman said it is hard to quantify the impact of the first one, and the second article, for that matter. “You do hear rumblings that some deals might not have happened, or people have had second thoughts, of course,” Niederman said. ‘”If a real estate broker who may be working with a buyer who read the article, can now show him the second article, which provides some ammunition, or cannon fodder, to say this may be the best time to buy.”

Word getting out

Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp., said he wants to get the word out about the second article.

“I think it is great,” Clark said. “We plan to give it wide distribution.”

He said that he was disappointed and surprised by the first article, because he had always held Forbes in high regard. “Whenever I was interviewed by Forbes in the past, it was always old-school, with the reporters calling me back to check their facts,” Clark said. “Of course, that was Forbes, the magazine, and not Forbes.com. But I would think that the same standards would apply.”

Clark said in this fast-paced information world, it may be tempting to use information from any source, without checking  its accuracy first.

“We have always been kind of suspect of Zillow, which is why we don’t use their information,” Clark said. Many Denver-area Realtors have said since the first Forbes.com article came out, that they frequently find that homes they have listed on Zillow remain there after they have been sold, giving credence to the notion that Zillow over-counts unsold homes on the market.

David Simonson, a broker with RE/MAX Professionals, said he is “excited” about the second article.  He said he has found Zillow to be “problematic” for years, and thinks using MLS statistics from Metrolist paints a much better picture of the market than Zillow does.  He said about two years ago, a  buyer almost backed out of buying a $600,000 house that had been appraised twice, because Zillow estimated its value at only $483,000.  Also, he said he has had problems with other brokers pretending on Zillow that they were listing homes in which he was representing the owners.

Somewhat surprisingly, perhaps, none of the buyers or sellers Simonson was dealing with were troubled by the first article. He said his clients shopping for expensive homes do their own extensive due diligence, while those at the lower-end find what a national publication says irrelevant.  ”I did get a few phone calls from people who were neither selling nor buying, who wanted to know how the MLS could get it so wrong,” Simonson said. “These are the people who glance at the headlines before rushing to work.  I explained to them that they got the “wrong one, wrong,” Simonson said. “I told them that Zillow is very user-friendly, but is not a good real estate-evaluation tool.  I told them the MLS is good data, with no leeway or emotion involved. It factually tells you what 20,000 Realtors in the Denver area are doing.”

Unintended benefit of first article

Larry McGee, principal of the Berkshire Group, said that the second article will not immediately reverse any damage done by the first one, such as people being spooked from buying homes or suffering buyer’s remorse.

“I do think the first article was bad,” McGee said. “I do appreciate the fact, personally, they reconciled the fact that they did have a problem. I do think they threw Zillow under the bus. I think we all know now that Zillow’s approach to listing active inventory is not very good for statistical analysis. They don’t vett the information, they don’t purge it, they get information from different sources, which  constantly changes. Zillow does serve a purpose. We probably list all of our active listings there. The problem is it is very hard for the typical broker to change the status once the home has been sold, so it languishes there for months.”

Now that Forbes.com has indicated it will not use Zillow’s year-over-year data for inventory comparisons, it should save other cities in the country suffering the problems faced in Denver, he said. “Since it looks like Forbes learned from the mistake it made in Denver, other cities probably won’t have to go through what we did,” McGee said.

But even the first article had an unintended positive consequence, McGee said.

“I think the best thing that came out of this is that a widely disparate group of people came together with no other interest than to make things right, came together,” McGee said. “Without any leadership, a sort of grassroots movement started and I was happy to have something to do with it. There is something extraordinary positive about that. That may even be more important than the article.

(To see what all of the fuss is about, please visit these blogs: Forbes writing another article on Denver,  Hick not buying Forbes’ take on Denver housing market, Forbes article criticized)

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com or 303-945-6865.

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Mayor John Hickenlooper celebrated the growing number of Denver’s homeowners, small business owners and developers who have made design excellence a priority in their community.

The trendy Root Down restaurant, which would not have gotten off the ground without the help of borker Paul Tamburello, was one of the Mayor Design Award winners.

“Great cities are just as enriched by many small and beautiful design interventions as they are by large and bold civic gestures,” said Hickenlooper.

The awards were presented earlier this month at the L2 Arts & Culture Center located at 1477 Columbine Street in Denver.

“No matter how large or small the project, design matters. We all benefit when owners go the extra mile to invest time, money and creativity into their property, creating a culture of quality design and encouraging others to follow suit. These honorees are diverse examples of how attention to design details makes Denver a special place to live, work and play,” said Mayor Hickenlooper.

“The Mayor’s Design Awards recognizes and encourages well designed small projects throughout our neighborhoods,” said Denver Planning Manager Peter J. Park. “Good design happens on its own when enlightened owners recognize the benefit and invest in quality design. Their design efforts make our city interesting, provocative and memorable.”

Co-sponsoring the 2009 Mayor’s Design Awards were: AIA Denver, a chapter of the American Institute of Architects;  Colfax Events Center, 5280 Urban Homes, Steuben’s,  Pasquini’s, Whole Foods and the Denver Community Planning and Development Department.

The 2009 Mayor’s Design Awards recipients are:

Category: A Perfect Fit

1. Hodgin/Binswanger Residence, 640 Race St.

2. Bement Residence, 999 S. Euclid St.

3. Krisana Park Neighborhood, bounded by East  Louisiana Avenue,  South  Filbert Way, East Florida Avenue and South Edison Way

Category: The Past Is Present

1. Hangar 61, 8800 East 21st Ave.

2. Dry Ice Factory, 3300 Walnut St.

3. JohnstonWells, 1321 East 15th St.

Category: Reclaimed Splendor

1. Luna Residence,1715 Ogden St.

2. Root Down,1600 West 33rd Ave.

3. in situ DESIGN, studiotrope Design Collective and Grassroots Neighborhood Development, 2942 Welton St.

Category: Home Is Where The Art Is

1. The Pattern Shop, 3349 Blake St.

2. The Reading Garden, 5th Avenue and  Trenton Street.

Category: Many Shades of Green

1. The Shoppe, 3103 Colfax Ave

Category: Buildings That Beckon

1. Steam Plant Lofts, 7752 East  4th Ave.

2. Marco’s Coal-Fired Pizzeria, 2129 Larimer St.

3. Metro Frame Works, 4400 Tennyson St.

Hangar 61 was one of a number of projects lauded by Mayor Hickenlooper.

Previous honorees may be viewed on www.DenverGov.Org/MDA .

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About 850 people attended the event Wednesday night

About 850 of Denver’s movers and shakers owere moving and shaking – and having an old-fashioned good time – at Wednesday’s  A Night in Old Union Station fundraiser to restore the Welcome (Mizpah) Arch that once stood in front of the historic building.

Many people dressed in the dapper flapper-style of the Roaring ’20s and beyond, during the heyday of Union Station, when it was  considered the grandest building in Denver. Tickets cost as much as $100 each.

Men wearing railroad-style  hats carefully rode penny-farthing bicycles through the crowd, while talented Barber Quartet and several bands entertained. They even had professional jitter-buggers that drew crowds.

People dined on things such as salmon, chicken, salads and pizza, while beer and wine flowed. A documentary called Denver Union Station: Portrait to Progress, was displayed on a giant screen.

“You can see the Oxford Club, and the Union Station and there is our office,” a proud Dee Chirafisitold me when one historic slide was projected.  Chirafisi, co-owner of Kentwood City Properties, across the street from the station, was arguably the most authentically dressed women there. She wore 1926 flapper dress loaned to her from a woman she knows from Pilates class, who is in charge of costumes at the DCPA.

“It fits me like a glove,” Dee said and inDEEd it did.

Dee Chirafisi wore an authentic flapper dress from 1926.

Early in the evening, Mayor John Hickenlooper spied me and asked if I knew where to find Dana Crawford, the urban pioneer responsible for the shingdig. I pointed him in Dana’s general direction.

“I’m here because Dana Crawford tole me to be,” Hickenlooper quipped during his speech.

Also giving speeches were Walter Isenberg, head of hotel company Sage Hospitality, and developer Evan Makovsky, who among many other things, saved and restored the historic building commonly called the Fontius shoe store building along the 16th Street Mall.

After the speech, both Isenberg and Makovsky said that it was really Crawford deserved all the credit. Crawford shrugged off any praise and said she was glad to do it.

“What I like most about this,” said Jim Theye, co-owner of Kentwood City Properties, as he surveyed the crowd from the back of the station, “is that everyone who is here, is here because they care.”

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com or 303-945-6865.

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• Union Station deal update
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