City leaders and developers gathered at the feet of a giant rhino sculpture on Thursday to celebrate the opening of the first phase of the Denargo Market redevelopment.

The project’s developer unveiled 4 acres of public spaces — which will eventually anchor a development with more than 1,000 rental units.

Of all the visitors, Joe McDanial probably had the shortest commute to the celebration. He walked over from a block away — not from any of the recently built apartment complexes, but from the city-owned, Salvation Army-operated homeless shelter known as Crossroads.

“I respect these people and I’m sure they don’t like Crossroads,” he said of his new and future neighbors.

A Crossroads resident for six years, he has watched as the neighborhood around him has been transformed by new apart

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