Denver, CO
A Mid-Season Update – DU Clarion
All statistics and standings as of Jan. 28.
With All-Star Weekends on the horizon and dozens of regular season games in the rearview, the Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets are both well into their 2023-24 campaigns. The Ball Arena tenants, each fresh off of recent league championships, deserve a mid-season evaluation as they look to bring home another title to Denver.
Colorado Avalanche: 31-14-3, 1st in Central Division, 2nd in Western Conference
Nathan MacKinnon has been leading the charge for the Avs this season, totaling 31 goals and 53 assists for 84 points. This is good enough not only for the most points on Colorado, but also second in the entire league, narrowly trailing Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov (85 points).
Superstars Cale Makar, Mikko Rantanen and Valeri Nichushkin have been producing as expected, while free agent and reclamation project Jonathan Drouin has begun to realize his potential, recording 20 points in his last 21 games.
Key injuries to Arturri Lehkonen and captain Gabriel Landeskog have made the Avs’ second line their biggest question mark. However, the “Roaring Twenties” line of Miles Wood, Ross Colton and DU alumnus Logan O’Connor, who scored a hat trick in his outing against Philadelphia on Jan. 20, has stepped up, each player on pace for a career year.
Criticism has befallen goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, who despite winning 27 games has a disappointing 0.899 save percentage. Regardless, he will join MacKinnon and Makar in Toronto for his first All-Star weekend, bringing a much-needed break for the rest of the team.
Denver Nuggets: 32-15, 3rd in Northwest Division, 4th in Western Conference
The Nuggets have experienced a season full of ups and downs. After winning eight of their first nine matchups, they dropped five of their next seven. They started out their In-Season Tournament campaign with two wins, before losing their next two and failing to qualify for the elimination rounds.
Despite this, it has been the consistently fantastic play of reigning Finals MVP Nikola Joki? that has kept Denver near the top of the standings. He’s averaging a near-triple double for the second season in a row, recording 26.3 points, 12 rebounds and 8.9 assists per game.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon have been pulling their weight in starting roles. Meanwhile, veteran Reggie Jackson, rookie Julian Strawther and second-year players Peyton Watson and Christian Braun provide consistent support from the bench.
Jamal Murray, despite scoring more points per game than his career average, has recently caught flak for an inexplicable lack of the clutch factor that defined him during the 2020 and 2023 playoffs. He’s averaging almost six fewer points than he was last postseason, by far the largest deficit of any of the starting five. However, Murray’s reputation as a playoff performer has most Nuggets fans confident that he will once again show up when it matters.
Joki? will attend his sixth straight All-Star Game as Denver’s only representative, while the rest of the team will get to resting and preparing for their upcoming title defense.
Denver, CO
Family: Injured firefighter improving after deadly wrong‑way crash on I‑25 in Denver
DENVER — A lieutenant with Berthoud Fire who was injured after he was struck head-on by a wrong-way driver in Denver last month is making progress, according to a Tuesday update.
The wrong-way driver, identified as 25-year-old Kevem Dos Santos, was killed in the May 17 crash inside the barrier-separated HOV lanes on Interstate 25.
Ken Bradley, the Berthoud Fire lieutenant, was traveling to work when the crash occurred. He was transported to the hospital with serious injuries.
The crash left Bradley with multiple fractures in both legs, fractures to his left arm, a dislocated right shoulder, several broken ribs, and a collapsed lung.
Bradley’s family said he is now able to get in and out of his wheelchair on his own. But he faces additional surgeries this week to reconstruct his ankles and feet.
His family thanked the more than 800 donors who have contributed $85,000 to his GoFundMe and said he remains in good spirits.
Police have not said how Dos Santos managed to access the gate-controlled HOV lanes, leaving many questions unanswered.
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Denver, CO
Denver City Council approves $15.5 million tax break for Rossonian Hotel development
Denver will reimburse developers working on reviving the Rossonian Hotel up to $15.5 million in sales and property taxes after the council approved the urban development proposal during its meeting Monday.
The decision comes after Denver Urban Renewal Authority found that the site was “blighted,” meaning there are unsafe living or working conditions and environmental contamination.
DURA recommended the city allow “tax increment financing,” or TIF, to remediate those problems and get the project off the ground.
“This tax increment financing is one of the final pieces that makes the Rossonian possible. Without it, this project does not happen,” said Paul Books, one of the owners of the building. “But with it, we are working through the last remaining steps to break ground this summer.”
The project, in the Five Points neighborhood, is part of the Welton Corridor Urban Redevelopment Plan. The six-parcel property is in the namesake intersection of Welton, 27th and Washington streets.
The building, once called the Baxter Hotel, was a popular event space for jazz performances between the 1930s and 1950s. Performers such as Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday took the stage there. It is on the National Register of Historic Buildings. The building has been vacant since the 1990s.
Palisade Partners, who purchased the property in 2017, plan to build 126 hotel rooms, a restaurant and an event space. They will also construct a new 8-story building between the Rossonian and the Hooper building as part of the redevelopment.
“We’ve concluded that the project does require assistance in order for it to be delivered as it has been contemplated,” said Bill Pruter, executive director of DURA.
Tax-increment financing, which is essentially a tax break or subsidy, allows developers to freeze how much is paid in property or sales taxes at a base level for up to 25 years, and then reinvest what would be paid above that back into certain elements of their projects.
For this project, the developers will be able to reinvest up to $15.5 million — which would otherwise go to the city’s bank account — into their project.
The city will reimburse the tax dollars for specific project costs mostly related to rehabilitation of the building. That includes up to $6.7 million on the plumbing and HVAC work in the new building and up to $2.3 million on the visible structure of the Rossonian Hotel.
The city will also reimburse up to $155,000 for “project art,” according to a presentation from DURA. DURA requires that 1% of the project’s costs be spent on art.
The tax freeze will last until the $15.5 million is reimbursed or in 25 years, whichever comes first.
“This project will bring new life to one of the most important corners in our neighborhood while preserving one of Denver’s most iconic cultural landmarks,” said Norman Harris, executive director of the Five Points Business Improvement District.
The total project is expected to cost $101 million and to be completed in 2028.
Denver, CO
Broncos’ Salary Cap Picture Just Got a Lot Better
A roster move the Denver Broncos made back in March to clear cap space has come to fruition, as linebacker Dre Greenlaw’s post-June 1 designation release has taken effect.
As it turns out, the Broncos did gain more cap space with the move. While it appeared that the Greenlaw release had already been accounted for on sites such as Over The Cap, it actually had not.
Broncos’ Cap Space Grows
Instead, it turns out the $18.8 million in cap space the Broncos had prior to June 1 did not account for Greenlaw’s release. The Broncos now have more cap space than before, with $25.7 million available with his release in effect.
This means the Broncos have less need to cut players simply to create cap space. They can afford to keep the players they have on the roster until training camp starts, then make roster decisions based on what happens in the preseason.
The additional cap space will also help with accommodating any extensions the Broncos decide to give to players with expiring contracts. Players such as wide receiver/returner Marvin Mims Jr. and cornerbacks Ja’Quan McMillan and Riley Moss are among the younger players who might be in line for extensions, depending on how the Broncos value them and what they are seeking in a new deal.
Not to mention veterans, like backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham and left guard Ben Powers, both of whom are entering a contract year.
Potential for More Cap Carryover
The cap space also helps with the potential for more salary-cap carryover heading into 2027. Right now, the Broncos are projected to have just $2 million in cap space, but that does not account for carryover.
If the Broncos are wise with how they manage the cap in the coming months, they could carry over a significant amount of cap space into 2027. That alone will help alleviate the team’s cap situation next year.
Some might wonder whether the Broncos try to make another big move before training camp, but doing so would mean giving up cap space or draft capital that could be useful when it comes to improving the roster in 2027. We can’t rule out a trade, of course, but the added cap space doesn’t guarantee a trade is coming.
But the good news is the Broncos will be in a better cap position than before. We’ll see what moves come next and how that impacts cap space.
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