The 200 block of Columbine Street in Cherry Creek North is poised for transformation if Western Development Group can get a zoning change to allow it to build a project that includes offices, retail and condominiums.

The company is planning an eight-story, 70,000-square-foot office building on the northeast corner of Columbine and East Second Avenue. The $100 million development would step down gradually as it approaches Third Avenue, where a three-story building would include about 80 condos. The development also includes about 38,000 square feet of retail space.

However, neighborhood opposition to the project could stall its progress, said David Steel, a partner in Western Development. The area already has suffered a decline in occupancy because of lack of investment by other property owners.

The privately held company, whose managing director is Christian Anschutz, can be patient because it does not have to jump through the financing hoops other developers do.

“We need a capital investment in this area,” Steel said. “Once we get going, maybe that will spur a lot of other people on. We really need more people and more density. Retail is all about eyeballs and footfall, and the more people we get in the neighborhood, the better.”

Western, which developed the NorthCreek residential and retail development along Fillmore between First and Second avenues, is requesting two mixed-use- zone districts for the block, which under current zoning is permitted to have four-story buildings. For the south portion of the block, Western is requesting zoning allowing for an eight-story building. It wants permission to build up to five stories on the remainder of the block.

“This zoning strategy is to complement the existing allowable height and uses already permitted for Clayton Lane, which allows up to 158 feet of height (including permitted overruns) near the south portion of the property,” the application states.

Western Development anticipates the measure will go before the Denver City Council in April and said the project could be completed by 2014.

Residents in the neighborhood worry that increasing density will create more traffic in the area, said Wayne New, president of the Cherry Creek North Neighborhood Association. They also say the vision that the Cherry Creek North Business Improvement District has for the area has changed over the years and now favors taller buildings, allowing for more density.

“From four stories to eight stories is quite a jump,” New said. “Where does all that traffic go? It’s quite a concern. I’m not sure seven- to eight-story buildings are what we envision living next to.”

The Cherry Creek North district does not take positions on individual projects but generally supports the appropriate redevelopment of functionally obsolete buildings, said Julie Bender, president and chief executive of the business-improvement district.

Representatives from the city’s community-planning and urban-development office declined to comment until its review of the application is completed.

Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com