CityLab includes Dairy Block project in story on alley activation

A CityLab story on alley activation included Dairy Block, formerly known as Z Block.

Excerpt:

When it opened in 2012, the East Cahuenga Alley in Los Angeles swiftly drew crowds. The brainchild of a member of the Hollywood Business Improvement District, the plan for the lane -- once known as "Heroin Alley" -- re-imagined it as a pedestrian space filled with outdoor dining and an artists' market on Sundays. The Los Angeles Sustainability Collaborative compiled an extensive report on the space, Freedman says, to “put a spotlight on what happened in one community, to show what could be possible for others."

Though Freedman's organization focuses primarily on the Los Angeles area, the success of the East Cahuenga Alley model has radiated out to other cities. The [Dairy] Block office and retail development is slated to open in Lower Downtown Denver next year; the developer on the project told The Denver Post that the alley bisecting the site was as much a focus as the buildings themselves. While previous alley activations in Denver were limited to one-offs, the [Dairy] Block alley will play permanent host to a distiller, a chocolatier, a coffee-bean roaster, and an ice-cream shop, all of which will open out onto the small street.

Read the rest here.