DenverInfill Blog

Candidate #2 - Block 001-B!!!
 

3B is the largest gap in downtown
 

Block 029-B!
 

029-B
 

block 039
 

Block 039
 

003-b. Context. Its all about the context.
 

block 176
 

Block 039
 

#2, Block 001-B by a mile
 

Put me down for 039.
 

block 029
 

Block 39 for me. They're all bad, but I see this one more than the others, plus I think development in this area would be a bigger catalyst for change.
 

001-B ... only because it's bigger than 176 and at a more important intersection than 39.
 

tough choice...039.
 

In honor of the former Cosmopolitan Hotel, I vote for Block 003B.
 

I would say #1 (039). The others are equally bad, because of their location (however, they just look like run down, urban parking lots (oxymoron?)) But 039 looks like a rural parking lot (welcome to cowtown!)
 

I'm for Block 003B as well. It's a damn shame folks can knock down one of the city's Top 10 finest buildings and just leave a gaping hole like that for years and years.
 

Block 39 due to LoDo location and horrible condition.
 

#2,001-B!
 

block 039.
 

block 039
 

Candidate #5. Block 029-B. I used to walk by those lots for year going between work and the bus station, along with thousands of other people every day, and they are just awful. The best is when it snows and no one ever bothers to shovel anything.
 

Block #39 for me!
 

Block 039 - what a huge hole in an otherwise beautiful part of lodo
 

001-B
 

Block 029-B. Hard to pick just one but the stairs to nowhere on this block did it for me. And is there a body in stall #140???
 

003-B
 

Block 039, mostly because the walk along Market is a desert on both sides, utterly spoiling the walk into LoDo along one of the most obvious paths.
 

Block 039 for me - ruins a walk to the ballpark and Lodo.
 

Block #039 is absolutely hideous and its a prime location!!
 

001-b
Because its location offers so much possibility. This block represents ground zero in the parking lot wasteland of upper downtown.

-Dan
 

001-B, because it looks like shite.
 

For many of the reasons that were listed on the original post, I have to go with Block 029-B. While it doesn't look the worst per se, it represents the quick abandonment of downtown. This link will show what used to be on the northeast corner of 16th and Lincoln:

http://photoswest.org:8080/cgi-bin/cw_cgi?fullRecord+23858+594+623739047+10+0


The Central Christian Church was one of the oldest congregations downtown, dating from 1873. One hundred years later, they left their location at 16th and Lincoln and built a new building at 3690 Cherry Creek Drive South. Their new building definitely says "1973" all over it. The foundations seen at 16th and Lincoln are undoubtedly from the old church and possibly adjacent houses that I presume were hastily demolished to make way for the unfortunate parking lot that has been on the site ever since. I can only guess that the sale of this land allowed Central Christian to build their new building in SE Denver, a story repeated over and over with many of Denver's oldest congregations who began to flee downtown after WWII. Other examples are Augustana Lutheran which once stood at 23rd and Court Place and then moved to 5000 Alameda and also Grace Methodist at 13th and Bannock until 1959 and then moved to Yale and I-25. A parking lot now stands at the site of 13th and Bannock....SURPRISE!
 

Churches abandoning their neighborhoods....Gee what a surprise!
 

Block 39!
 

I have to go with Block 001-B, because that is a huge parking lot, surrounded by other blocks with parking lots. It is also next to the light rail line. If this block got developed, it might spur more development of all the surrounding blocks. But, this one is the worst, this is huge and in the middle of a sea of parking.
 

001-B
 

Looks like 039B is ahead!
 

Canidate #2 - 001-B. So much asphalt... makes it look like an urban wasteland! Something needs to be done. Plus, it's right out of my window. I hate looking at such a waste of great space.
 

Block 39: prime location in LoDo, dilapidated condition, no sidewalks and railroad tracks that lead to nowhere. What a waste.
 

I'd have to say #3, Lot 176. As much as I enjoy an old bar with some character, which Shelby's definitely has, I absolutely think that that entire lot would serve the city of Denver much better with something consisting of 30+ stories.
 

This is hard, so many good (or bad!) choices.

I have to vote for 001-B.

I think it's time to reawaken the DURA beast, and in the name of 'Urban Renewal', start razing these parking lots in order to recreate the old buildings that stood prior to their demolition.

How ironic would that be!?!
 

Block 001-B - You said it, its the center point of all of this.
 

Block 001-B. By far the worst- and in the most prime location.
 

Block 029-B

I walk by this ALL of the time - it is a real hazard when ice is present - and to think that a few of Denver's architectural firms have officed across the street or adjacent to it over the years!
 

Well, there are so many worthy candidates, remarkable for their states of disrepair or the depressing feelings they invoke in me. But, location, location, location. Block 039 murders LoDo. 039 is the worst.
 

001-B
 

Block 039

prime LoDo location, terrible condition, no sidewalks.
 

Block 039 - like others have said, all of these parking lots are awful (especially the one with the stairs to nowhere), but given this lot's location in the #1 tourist destination in the City (LoDo), it gets my vote.
 

To Shawn Snow and others about urban churches - in case you did not already know, Historic Denver's Sacred Landmarks Program was created to provide technical assistance for historic urban houses of worship (churches, temples, etc.). They help with SHF grants too...
 

I'm going for 029-B. Not surprised it's owned by the Dikeou family. Makes me ashamed of my heritage....
 

I can't hate 029-B as much as others do, because I find the remnants of the vanished buildings to make this parking lot more interesting than the others--for the wrong reasons, of course, but more interesting nonetheless.

I agree with those posters who say 039, in the heart of LoDo, is horrible--you'd think that after a 15-year boom in this part of town this lot would have been redeveloped by someone sometime.

I also agree that 001-B is an egregious example of waste at a very important site. At one point I think a developer had commissioned Philip Johnson, or some equally famous starchitect, to build some really ugly office towers here (I have a rendering in a book in my basement).

I once parked in block 176--it was in 1980, so this has been a surface lot for a very long time. It's an even more prime location than 001.

But I must vote for 003-B. It was one of my nominations, and it's the worst of these five for me because of what caused it to happen in the first place: pure greed. The Cosmopolitan wasn't in the same league as the Brown, but it nevertheless had a long and storied past, and was still a viable hotel. It could have been renovated and upscaled to compete with the Brown, given its prime location near so many office towers. But instead a now-forgotten developer wanted there to be yet more office space here, but couldn't get the financing after he'd torn down this piece of history.

I hope someone builds a hotel here some day, and calls it the New Cosmopolitan.
 

Downtown Denver's Worst Parking Lot Candidate #2 - Block 001-B
Easy traffic flow of people coming in & out of downtown would make Block 001-B a great location for a grocery store.
 

Although I'm in favor of high-quality, mixed-use, etc. development in Denver, and although I'm certainly against ugly parking lots that make inefficient usage of downtown land, is it reasonable to suggest that we also, now,consider our prettiest parking lot? Some might suggest that it is underground, beneath some beautiful building, but that I would suggest doesn't address the problem we have: lots of ugly ill-kept parking lots. Until they are all filled in with office towers, condos, retail, etc., we might also concentrate on cleaning these parking lots up. So which one is the prettiest?
 

My vote for the worst goes to block 001-B!! It's a HUGE undeveloped gap with great potential in a great location.
 

I'm voting for Block 001-B. The parking lots in that part of downtown create a depressing no-man's-land between downtown and the otherwise interesting (and increasingly vibrant) neighborhoods of Five Points, Curtis Park and Uptown. Looking at the "Before They Were Parking Lots" pictures of Block 001-B today, I was amazed by how much difference it made to see buildings in this location. Suddenly this was a real place.
 

I vote for 039 -- it's far too much land to be devoted to parking in that part of downtown, plus it's ill-kept (mmm...eroding sidewalks), and the view from there is of a parking garage.

(Plus, I got towed from there once, so it's personal. But it was a tough choice, given the awful nature of all of the candidates.)
 

Choice 5 block 029-B.
This is a stinker. It sits with frontage on a Major thoroughfare and amidst some high density development. The result is an urban non-sequitor. Surely, there is a better use of this prime real esate. Although the staircase may serve as a metaphor for 1970's urban renewal.
 

I vote for No. 5 -- the exposed foundations did it for me.
 

My vote is for #2 Block 001-B- I used to have to walk past it every day... ugly!
 

I vote for block 029-b.
 

Block 029-B
 

Block 001-B