Bringing Cinderella City to Life

In 1960, Gerri Von Frellick was the king of Denver shopping centers. He had already spearheaded the development of the Villa Italia in Lakewood, which would open in 1962, but was itching for a project that was substantially larger.

That's why he approached the Englewood City Council with an idea that was as risky as it was visionary. Von Frellick wanted to purchase a 55-acre lot near the Englewood City Hall, which had once housed the KLZ radio transmitters, and redevelop it into something the likes of which Denver had never seen.

His project even had a glamorous code name, Cinderella City.

Like the ideas of so many visionaries before him, Von Frellick's plan was met with no small amount of friction. Many locals, including those in Cherry Hills Village, were not happy about the prospect of living near the world's largest shopping center, and the Englewood City Council wasn't crazy about the name. In fact, at various points throughout the mall's early development, Englewood lawmakers openly offered Von Frellick small concessions if he changed the name.

During the early planning stages, in November 1962, the Englewood City Council killed the project entirely. In a 5-2 vote, the Council denied the zoning changes that were required to bring the mall to life. There were, in fact, five votes in favor of the mall, but a two-thirds majority was required for zoning decisions.

A Rocky Mountain News article from November 11, 1962, explained the opposition as stated by attorney Harold Feter saying, "Residents seeking to protect zoning integrity of the area were generally against the shopping center proposal."

After a few courtroom battles, Von Frellick and company finally gained approval for their ambitious plan.

As for the name, Von Frellick claimed that it was just a placeholder. For reasons that appear to be unexplained, he kept the name anyway.

With the challenges of fighting/working with City Hall behind him, Von Frellick was all set to move Cinderella City from dream to reality.

(Cinderella City's move from dream to reality is a subject that's practically worthy of a book-length treatment and falls far beyond the parameters of a single blog post. For more information on this subject, see the scanned news articles in the attached Remembering Cinderella City gallery.)