ELEVATED PARKING DESIGN
Originally Published by Modern In Denver
The Arbory in City Park West has a clever solution to city parking. We spoke with developer Chris Lonigro to find out more.
Parking space is precious in Denver. With the majority of Colorado’s population living in the Front Range Urban Corridor, and the majority of Denverites owning cars (over 90 percent), creative parking solutions are necessary if oft debated.
Not long ago, Chris Lonigro, President of Generation Development, went on a parking solution quest while working on The Arbory, a 41-unit condominium building in City Park West currently under construction that his company developed and Slifer Smith & Frampton Real Estate is selling. Innovation is always top of mind for Lonigro, in all aspects of his projects. The search took him to Portland, Oregon, where he toured automated parking solutions and settled on the WÖHR Combilift 543 parking system manufactured in Germany. WÖHR has been making space-saving parking solutions for six decades and installing them all over the globe. We spoke with Lonigro about The Arbory and its unique parking solution.
MID: Tell us about The Arbory.
Chris Lonigro: The Arbory is a 41-unit for-sale condominium project of high design with attainable price points. Our projects focus on the layout and look of the units and overall building. We engaged Studio PBA to design The Arbory. The building is clad in a thermally modified wood product inspired by projects in Europe. It is perfectly situated in one of Denver’s most sought-after neighborhoods, City Park West, and is one of the few newly constructed condominiums to hit the market in the Denver metro area this year.
MID: Why is parking such an important component of The Arbory?
Lonigro: We generally see people in Denver live here because of a variety of the city’s benefits. One of those that always ranks high is the proximity to the mountains. Today the only way to access this great feature in our state is with a vehicle. Until that changes, Denver residents will have vehicles, and we need to provide creative parking options.
MID: The Wöhr parking system is an interesting choice. What’s unique about the parking system, and what made you choose it for this project?
Lonigro: Innovation is a core value at our company. We are constantly looking for innovative solutions to serve our properties. When we first came across the automated parking systems, I traveled to Portland to tour five projects where they were installed and talked to several manufacturers. There are many automated parking system configurations out there. They generally allow two to four vehicles to fit in the ground area of one. Our projects tend to have smaller ground footprints where parking becomes the limiting factor. There are thousands of spaces installed with these systems, primarily on either of the U.S. coasts, where land prices are higher, and in Europe and Asia. The WÖHR Combilift 543 system was selected for this project because of its configuration, features, and design in our garage. To be as space and cost-efficient as possible, we chose to install two independent WÖHR car stacking systems, equaling 48 total parking spaces for our 41 residences.
With greater demand for increased housing density, innovative systems like WÖHR and the spirit to pursue them, like Lonigro’s, are necessities. We hope to see both flourish in Denver. Parking need not be a roadblock for the conveniences of city life, nor the desire to venture out.
Learn more: Arbory City Park West
