Martines Palmeiro Construction began construction in December on AvalonBay Communities Inc.’s first ground-up apartment community in the greater Denver area, this one in the River North Art District.

Taxi, the mixed-use brainchild of urban pioneer Mickey Zeppelin, not only sparked the Renaissance of RiNo, one of Denver’s trendiest neighborhoods, but it predated it. While the River North Art District traces its roots to 2005, the former Yellow Cab campus at 3507 Ringsby Court first caught the attention of Zeppelin, a pioneer developer in…