Go Denver!

Development worth bragging about?

"Denver has this opportunity to create a series of linear cities where development is dense at these rail stops," Case said. "Combine the fact that you create this transportation system with the fact that people are liking this urban lifestyle, and it's a pretty powerful force. It becomes a lifestyle choice."

FasTracks and Denver International Airport have earned Denver a reputation as a world- class city, said Chris Coble, a senior association with CB Richard Ellis who specializes in transit-oriented development.

"When developers look at different investments across the country, Denver rolls up at the top of the list," Coble said. "We're serious about our future. We're concerned as voters and public professionals that we want a sustainable city."

"Denver did an exceptional job of contemplating the realities of population growth and urban sprawl," said Zack Davidson, a Tulsa-based developer who has a $170 million mixed-use project a quarter-mile from the Orchard Road station in Greenwood Village.

"Denver is not one of America's largest cities, but there are phenomenal initiatives going on," said ULI chairwoman Marilyn Taylor, urban design partner with the New York architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP.

One of Denver's attributes is its great street life, a key component of transit-oriented developments, Taylor said. Lower Downtown, the 16th Street Mall and the region's bike paths all are evidence of people's willingness to get out of their cars and be part of public spaces.

"When people ride transit, they're pedestrians," Taylor said. "The scale of community building and place-making around transportation nodes has lots to do with addressing the places between buildings where people interact."