by Jenni Lantz

On Thursday, September 10, ULI Colorado hosted another installment of the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) series: “The Next Wave in Smart Transit: How Technology Supports Future TOD.” Held at the new Gensler offices in downtown Denver, the event focused on the relationship between technology and transit-oriented developments and public transportation as a whole.

The breakfast event began with an introduction by Deana Swetlik, Owner and Founder of entelechy. Ms. Swetlik welcomed guests and discussed technology and how it has changed over the years through the lens of the Jetsons television show. She humorously and seriously looked at technology in the Jetsons and what we have or will shortly have in our time. Surprisingly, much of the “futuristic” technology in the show is here or with us today, or we have created better-suited alternatives, such as the Jetsons’ flying car versus the driverless car of the not-so-distant future.

Tom Brennan, Principal at Nelson Nygaard, Portland, Oregon spoke on smart transportation, offering the big picture view on technology and transportation. He discussed his work on the Seattle transit master plan and that city’s focus on fitting in transit over the next 50 years. A highlight included a dedicated lane for street cars.  Mr. Brennan also looked at driverless cars and how that idea will change public transportation. He proposed or suggested a mixture of Uber and the driverless car as a potential future of transportation and explained how this would work with our current transportation options. Mr. Brennan concluded by emphasizing that we need to focus on what we need, not what we can do.

Dan Schuetz, Project Manager with Nichols Partnership, and Donald R. Monahan, Vice President, Walker Parking Consultants, dove deeper into the technology topic with a case study:   the automated parking system at the PearlWest project in downtown Boulder. PearlWest is a mixed-use development on Pearl Street, which includes both retail and office spaces and conventional underground and automated garage valet (AGV) garages. Per Mr. Schuetz, AGV garages best suit projects with small sites, expensive dirt, strict height limits and a high-end product, such as PearlWest. While costs for an AGV garage are lower than a below-grade conventional garage, operating costs are higher. Alternatively, the upside of an AGV garage is that it takes up less space, enabling the site to accommodate additional amenities, like a green plaza.

The final speakers of the morning were Jim Doyle, President, Panasonic Enterprise Solutions, and Ferdinand Belz III, Senior Vice President, L. C. Fulenwider Inc.  Their topic was Panasonic’s new “Smart Town” development at the Pena Boulevard Station TOD at 61^st and Pena on the East Line. Patterned after the Japanese sustainable smart town of Fujisawa, Panasonic, Denver International Airport and Fulenwider are working together to create a new kind of multi-generational, mixed-use, transit-oriented community in the Denver area. It will be the first American community to integrate the five tenants of Fujisawa: energy, security, mobility, wellness and community. Mr. Doyle and Mr. Belz reviewed each tenant and how it was included in the Pena community, from bike access and DIA to an 800 space solar parking lot.

Pena Station rendering

The breakfast offered a great look at the future of public transportation. Attendees were able to glean some useful ideas for future communities and developments that could help to shape the future of our great city.

ULI Colorado thanks Gensler for hosting the event in its new healthy workplace, Transit Alliance as a community partner and the TOD planning committee, including co-chairs Dan Cohen and Deirdre Oss, along with committee members Jason Kleinhelter, Patrick McLauglin, Deana Swetlik, Nick Talocco, and Les Simpson.