Englewood planning advisory group recommends 'horizontal mixed use' for much of city, splits on Sentinel corridor

The General Plan Advisory Committee on Wednesday recommended that the city adopt "horizontal mixed use" for large parts of its draft land-use plan instead of requiring ground-floor retail beneath housing, citing local market analysis that finds vertical mixed-use projects often do not pencil out.

Staff and consultants told the committee the change is a response to two main factors: rising vacancy and shrinking retail footprints nationwide and pro-forma modeling that showed higher construction costs and parking/loading constraints make vertical mixed use less financially feasible in most non-core corridors. "Vertical mixed use performs even worse in terms of rents and vacancies," said Brian Grant, who staff introduced as a recent appointee representing District 4. He added that developers face higher construction costs and operational challenges that make many ground-floor retail spaces hard to lease.

The recommendation preserves mandatory ground-floor retail in high-foot-traffic areas — notably Market Street downtown and…