Santa Fe Drive boasts country's highest concentration of galleries: new art museum wing will...

Not too long ago Santa Fe Drive was a rough neighborhood near the railroad tracks. Now it boasts the largest concentration of galleries in the United States, 40 in a few blocks, plus numerous architects' offices, photo galleries and shops, arts supplies stores and more. Once a month, 2,000 people gather for the Art District on Santa Fe's First Friday Art Walk.

Santa Fe's unexpected artistic/ownership uprising is transforming not only the core art district of Santa Fe from 7th Avenue to 10th Avenue, but a larger area with developments that include Platte River Art Services at West 3th Avenue and Santa Fe; Breckenridge Brewery on West 4th Avenue and Kalamath Street; the Maravilla condominiums, now under development by Ted Gill on West 9th Avenue and Kalamath; another Gill project at West 9th and Inca Street; the Russian Ark Gallery and innovative Nine10Arts loft and art-studio community, both at 9th and Santa Fe; and La Villa de Barela apartments on 10th and Santa Fe.

NEWSED Community Development Corp. President/CEO Veronica Barela calls Nine10Arts and La Villa de Barela "the two catalyst projects for the northern end of Santa Fe."

La Villa de Barela, 1001 Santa Fe, opened in 2004 with 38 residential condos (now 100 percent occupied), office condos (100 percent occupied), and retail (45 percent occupied), "with a letter of intent from a restaurant for the remaining space," Barela adds. The complex was named for Barela by her staff because few could pronounce its initial moniker, "La Bougainvillea."

Architect/developer Cheryl Spector's 24,000-square-foot Nine10Arts transformed an abandoned 7-Up bottling plant into an arresting stucco-exterior space that looks hip--friendly-hip, not snobby-hip.

Nine10 contains eight artists' lofts and 17 artist studios, many priced affordably. In early September, the Studio 6 Coffee Shop and adjacent open inner courtyard were open for business, and four of eight residential lofts remained available. An exhibition-meeting-party space available for rent also was busy.

Santa Fe Drive's revival began 30-some years ago when NEWSED Community Development Corp. inspired a drive to refurbish storefronts, and add amenities and affordable housing. Its next epochal turning point was Sandy Carson's purchase of 760 Santa Fe and the move of her Sandy Carson Gallery there from LoDo in 2000. The move magnetized other gallery/property owners.

Today, art exhibition seems woven into the scene: Even NEWSED, at 1029 Santa Fe, shows dozens of artworks on its walls, as well as employee holdings accumulated at neighborhood galleries. Also today, "rent prices continue to get better, obviously, because it's becoming the art district of Denver," says developer/landlord Gill, who rents gallery and office space to CHAC, the Chicano Humanities and Arts Council, and its two galleries--the Kanon Collective gallery, 766 Santa Fe; and Remmi Fine Art, at 776 Santa Fe.

"Sales are picking up, it seems like every month, for all the galleries, or at least that's what they tell me," Gill says.

Early on in its most recent transition, Santa Fe Drive witnessed wild increases in real estate values that have returned now to normal gains, many say, but amazing stuff keeps happening, both in art and real property.

And the ingredients needed to set off further explosions are almost built-in. Take for instance the vision of a Daniel Libeskind-designed Civic Center coupled with his Denver Art Museum expansion and linked in a great arc to the Art District at Santa Fe by RTD. No surprise that Art District on Santa Fe members already have that vision in hand, working with RTD to create a free First Friday Art Walk shuttle from the Osage Light Rail Station to 10th and Santa Fe.

In a major development, in September John Fielder, Colorado's most famous and market-savvy photographer, closed up shop in Cherry Creek Mall to move to Santa Fe Drive. Fielder leased space from Reed Photo Imaging, 833 Santa Fe, where he has processed his pictures for more than 20 years. He says he did it because rents on Santa Fe Drive are eight times lower than rents at Cherry Creek Mall. Throw in overhead and shorter hours, Fielder says, and the ratio is more like 10-to-1.

"I can get a little more reward for the effort we put into it financially," Fielder says, "both by being in a place that is not quite so expensive and a place that is known more for its art than its shoe stores."

John Passaro, Art District on Santa Fe spokesman and owner of the Standing Sun Fine Art Gallery, at 826 Santa Fe, agrees that Fielder bridges high- and middle-demographic art buyers, a welcome development for the district.

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"Bring me the foot traffic," Passaro says. "And I'll take my chances on the rest."

1 NINE10ARTS

LOCATION: 910 SANTA FE DRIVE

DEVELOPER: SPECTOR AND ASSOCIATES PC

PHONE: (303) 333-2820

PROJECT TYPE: MIXED USE: GREEN CONSTRUCTION; AFFORDABLE HOUSING

ACRES: 3.85

HOUSING UNITS: 15 LOFTS THAT COMBINE AN APARTMENT AND ARTIST'S WORKSPACE

PRICE RANGE: LOFTS FROM $146,000 TO $265,000

COMMERCIAL SQUARE FEET: 1,400 EXHIBITION SPACE, RENTABLE IN THREE-WEEK INCREMENTS: $20 AN HOUR FOR A SMALL MEETING OR WORKSHOP, TO $2,100 FOR THE WHOLE SPACE FOR A THREE-WEEK EXHIBITION.

ALSO: 17 ARTISTS' WORK STUDIOS FOR SALE OR LEASE.

PRICE: "AFFORDABLE" ARTISTS' LOFTS, $166 PER SQUARE FOOT; "MARKET RATE" LOFTS, $229 PER SQUARE FOOT

GROUND BREAKING: May 2004

BUILD-OUT: June 2006

2 LA VILLA DE BARELA/SANTA FE COMMONS

LOCATION: 1001 SANTA FE

DEVELOPER: NEWSED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORP.

PHONE: (303) 534-8342

PROJECT TYPE: MIXED USE

ACRES: 1.35

HOUSING UNITS: 38 UNITS OF AFFORDABLE APARTMENTS

COMMERCIAL SQUARE FEET: 6,000 GROUND-FLOOR RETAIL SPACE; 6,000 SECOND-FLOOR OFFICE; TWO LEVELS OF UNDERGROUND PARKING.

GROUND BREAKING: JUNE 2004

BUILD-OUT: APRIL 2005

3 SANDY CARSON GALLERY

LOCATION: 760 SANTA FE, NO. 1

DEVELOPER: SANDY CARSON DBA J.O.D.I. DEVELOPMENT LLC

PHONE: (303) 573 8585

PROJECT TYPE: FINE-ARTS GALLERY

COMMERCIAL SQUARE FEET: 4,788

BUILT: 1944

PURCHASED BY CURRENT OWNER: 1999

OPENED GALLERY: AUGUST, 2000

Carson knew she had the right space when she read the property's deed and discovered it had been owned by Vance Kirkland (see the Kirkland Musem at 1311 Pearl, St., Denver.) The gallery divides its 4,788 square feet "into a 2,700-square-foot exhibition space with moveable walls, which create an ever-changing backdrop for our shows," Carson says, while leaving the back "always open for perusal."

4 MARAVILLA CONDOMINIUMS

LOCATION: 832-878 KALAMATH ST., THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF WEST 9TH AVENUE AND KALAMATH

DEVELOPER: TED GILL

PHONE: (303) 877-9879

PROJECT TYPE: ONE-, TWO-, AND THREE-BEDROOM CONDOS

ACRES: 1.03

HOUSING UNITS: THREE FOUR-STORY BUILDINGS OF 25 UNITS APIECE

PRICE: "IN THE $220 PER SQUARE-FOOT RANGE," SAYS GILL.

With the support of seven neighborhood groups, the project received Denver City Council PUD approval in January. "The next thing is all the construction permits and all that," Gill says. Maravilla will feature underground parking and Southwestern styling. One-quarter of it will be four-story penthouse units.

5 HARRY'S MOTORS BUILDING

LOCATION: 965 SANTA FE DRIVE

SELLER: JDJ DEVELOPMENTS

PHONE: (303) 798-5125

PROJECT TYPE: B-4 ZONING, MIXED-USE POTENTIAL

LOT SIZE: 23,000 SQUARE FEET

COMMERCIAL SQUARE FEET: 13,700

BUILT: 1944

Available for a year at $1.25 million, the building housed the business run by the descendants of Harry Tagaris, a member of the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame. Now it is owned by a trio of patient investors. "You buy it when they don't want it, and you sell it when they want it," says Don Kramer, one of the investors.