DENVER — A 14-story mixed-use development proposed for a quarter-block stretch of Larimer Street in the River North Art District would demolish four buildings that currently house more than 30 working artist studios, igniting a preservation fight that has drawn together visual artists, muralists, and neighborhood activists who say the project represents the final stage of a gentrification process that is hollowing out the culture that made RiNo valuable in the first place.
The proposal, submitted to the City of Denver’s Community Planning and Development office last month by a Denver-based development firm, calls for 180 market-rate apartments, 12,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, and a rooftop amenity level on the 2700 block of Larimer — a stretch that includes the Bindery, a century-old warehouse converted to studio and gallery space in 2011, as well as three smaller building that collectively house ceramic, textile, and printmaking studios.
“This block is not a placeholder,” said [Name], a painter who has rented studio space in the Bindery for seven years. “It’s where work gets made. And the developer is betting that the city will let them replace it with another building full of people paying $2,800 a month to live near the culture they just destroyed.”
The Denver Arts & Venues office has not taken a formal position on the project. A spokesperson said the office is “monitoring the situation” and reviewing whether any of the affected buildings qualify for the city’s Cultural Facility Overlay program, which provides limited procedural protections for established creative spaces.
The development company argues the project would include dedicated affordable artist live-work units — four of the 180 apartments are proposed as income-restricted at 80 percent AMI — and that the ground-floor retail is intended to be leased to arts-related tenants. Critics say four units and a retail provision with no binding arts use requirement do not constitute a replacement for 30 studios.
A community meeting organized by the RiNo Art District’s neighborhood association drew more than 120 people to the Denver Central Market on Brighton Boulevard earlier this month — an unusually large turnout that organizers say reflects deep anxiety about the pace of change along the Larimer corridor.
“We’ve watched 10 years of this neighborhood,” said [Name], a muralist whose large-scale works are painted on several buildings within two blocks of the proposed site. “Every year, another building goes. Every year, the same conversation happens. And every year, nothing actually protects the people who are here.”
The project requires a rezoning from the current industrial-mixed use designation to a higher-density residential classification. That process involves a public hearing before Denver Planning Board and a final vote by City Council. No hearing date has been scheduled.
Artists in the affected buildings have launched a coalition calling for a six-month development pause on RiNo properties currently housing active studio space while the city develops a formal cultural preservation policy. The proposal has attracted support from three City Council members representing adjacent districts, though none represents the RiNo area directly.