Saturday, August 04, 2007
Two Tabor Center Design Update... Getting Taller!
Not too long ago, on July 7, I blogged about the preliminary design for the long-awaited Two Tabor Center tower at 17th and Larimer, planned by the Tabor Center's new owners, Callahan Capital Partners. Over the past few months since Callahan announced their intentions to move forward with Two Tabor, they've provided just a square footage and floor count range for the new tower. The first design rendering from July 7 looked to be about 30 stories. Since then, not only have I been hearing rumors that Callahan was leaning more towards a 750,000 SF, 37-story version instead, but also a commenter to the July 7 blog who works for Callahan confirmed that the tower would be taller than the 30-story One Tabor Center.
Callahan has recently updated their corporate website's section on Two Tabor Center with new renderings and project details, and I'm happy to report that the rumors were true! How does a 38-story tower sound? The roofline design has also changed and Two Tabor will not have a flat top! Here are a bunch of new renderings and elevations from their website, which I'm pleased to share with you here:
View from near 17th and Lawrence:
View from across the intersection of 17th and Larimer:
17th Street elevation:
16th Street elevation (note the curved façade that will face One Tabor's curved façade):
Larimer Street elevation:
Lawrence Street elevation:
The tower will have a total of 750,000 SF, 20,000 SF (approx.) average floorplates, and will be LEED certified. The greenish-blue glass will infuse a nice dose of color into a part of Downtown that has a lot of brown, beige, and silver-colored towers.
Now let's see if Callahan can get Two Tabor Center under construction before the year's end as originally promised. One nice thing about this site: no big hole to dig and subterranean levels to build. Just rip off that medal cladding covering the elevator core and go vertical!
The Larimer Street side of Two Tabor, unfortunately, continues as the "blank wall" side, but with the remaining three-quarters of the Larimer block face already that way from the original 1980s construction, I guess I'm not too surprised by that. Hopefully, the 17th Street and plaza (Lawrence) sides will have good pedestrian-active uses. The plaza generally has a fair amount of people coming and going during the day, but few people seem to linger there--no doubt because there's nothing to do there. I hope Callahan has a ground-floor restaurant planned for Two Tabor, with outdoor patio seating spilling out onto the plaza. That, along with some new benches, public art, landscaping, and maybe a vendor kiosk or two would greatly help enliven that space and make it a vital pedestrian activity center. Doing so would be consistent, after all, with the newly adopted Downtown Area Plan. I hope Callahan has that in their plans.
Callahan has recently updated their corporate website's section on Two Tabor Center with new renderings and project details, and I'm happy to report that the rumors were true! How does a 38-story tower sound? The roofline design has also changed and Two Tabor will not have a flat top! Here are a bunch of new renderings and elevations from their website, which I'm pleased to share with you here:
View from near 17th and Lawrence:
View from across the intersection of 17th and Larimer:
17th Street elevation:
16th Street elevation (note the curved façade that will face One Tabor's curved façade):
Larimer Street elevation:
Lawrence Street elevation:
The tower will have a total of 750,000 SF, 20,000 SF (approx.) average floorplates, and will be LEED certified. The greenish-blue glass will infuse a nice dose of color into a part of Downtown that has a lot of brown, beige, and silver-colored towers.
Now let's see if Callahan can get Two Tabor Center under construction before the year's end as originally promised. One nice thing about this site: no big hole to dig and subterranean levels to build. Just rip off that medal cladding covering the elevator core and go vertical!
The Larimer Street side of Two Tabor, unfortunately, continues as the "blank wall" side, but with the remaining three-quarters of the Larimer block face already that way from the original 1980s construction, I guess I'm not too surprised by that. Hopefully, the 17th Street and plaza (Lawrence) sides will have good pedestrian-active uses. The plaza generally has a fair amount of people coming and going during the day, but few people seem to linger there--no doubt because there's nothing to do there. I hope Callahan has a ground-floor restaurant planned for Two Tabor, with outdoor patio seating spilling out onto the plaza. That, along with some new benches, public art, landscaping, and maybe a vendor kiosk or two would greatly help enliven that space and make it a vital pedestrian activity center. Doing so would be consistent, after all, with the newly adopted Downtown Area Plan. I hope Callahan has that in their plans.
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Does the rendering shows the building height to be 718'? That would be one foot taller than Republic Plaza!
Permalink Posted by 
: 8/04/2007 04:55:00 PM
: 8/04/2007 04:55:00 PM
denverjason... don't we wish it was that tall, but you'll note that the ground floor is at about 200' or so, making the tower about 520' in height. Not too shabby nevertheless. :)
this will probably be built since the demand of office space is so high and it's only office use, if we could only get some construction going, there went the reign of the 1999 building as the best looker in denver.
Permalink Posted by : 8/05/2007 08:42:00 AM
: 8/05/2007 08:42:00 AM
Ah, yes. That seemed strangely tall for a 38 story building. And out of curiosity -- why start at 200'?
Permalink Posted by : 8/05/2007 08:55:00 AM
: 8/05/2007 08:55:00 AM
Start at 200 because if you add 5000, you get the height above sea level.
Permalink Posted by : 8/06/2007 10:21:00 AM
: 8/06/2007 10:21:00 AM
Add this building, 1800 Larimer and 1900 Sixteenth and that could possibly be (if all the planets stay aligned and the economy doesn't tank) 3 office towers under construction downtown. Add that to Spire, One Lincoln Park, Four Seasons/Teatro and we could be looking at a boom unseen since the early 80s.
Permalink Posted by : 8/07/2007 12:03:00 PM
: 8/07/2007 12:03:00 PM
The height and LEED certification are exciting, but I hope the new tower does a better job of matching the old one than it seems to in the rendering. Tabor I is one of the more interesting high-rises, with a good contrast of colors and an appealing blend of curves and angles. I'm afraid the new one might be too boxy if they can't manage something interesting with the surface material.
Hey Matt, the new Tabor 2 isnt really that boxy...there's a nice curve shown in the Lawrence Street elevation.
By the way, im the anon poster from Callahan. Wanted to let you guys know that we've had a ton of interest in the Tabor 2 tower. We expect to file a building permit application within 60-90 days. We're really excited to get started!
By the way, im the anon poster from Callahan. Wanted to let you guys know that we've had a ton of interest in the Tabor 2 tower. We expect to file a building permit application within 60-90 days. We're really excited to get started!
Permalink Posted by : 8/10/2007 11:29:00 AM
: 8/10/2007 11:29:00 AM
Hi, anonymous Callahan employee. Thank you for posting. If you would be so kind, please email me your contact info so we can communicate directly about Tabor II. Thanks. (feedback @ denverinfill.com)
I'm with Matt P. as far as the design goes. I know it's not 1984 any more, and I wouldn't expect them to build the exact one designed by KPF back then, because it's basically watered-down PoMo, and PoMo was dead by the time Tabor I opened. But seeing as it's KPF that's designing this building, I'd hope for more sensitivity to the firm's own prior work.
But it could be another case of renderings not really matching the architect's intent (like the renderings for the Museum of Contemporary Art, to pick another example), and I hope for the best. And if this does happen, I'm never going to say a negative word about it.
But it could be another case of renderings not really matching the architect's intent (like the renderings for the Museum of Contemporary Art, to pick another example), and I hope for the best. And if this does happen, I'm never going to say a negative word about it.
I think that it is in the spirit of the original design. Much more so than the 1999 idea. Plus it has a ton of glass which i love. I hope that they plan on more of equal or greater size in the future in other spots downtown :)
Permalink Posted by : 8/11/2007 09:01:00 AM
: 8/11/2007 09:01:00 AM
Matt, there is a curve on one side that complements One Tabor. Check out the brochure on Callahan's site.
http://www.callahancp.com/ftp/TaborII_brochure_072707.pdf
Also, anonymous Callahan employee. Here's something to think about for the ailing retail element in the Tabor Center.
Tabor Retail
http://www.callahancp.com/ftp/TaborII_brochure_072707.pdf
Also, anonymous Callahan employee. Here's something to think about for the ailing retail element in the Tabor Center.
Tabor Retail
Permalink Posted by : 8/13/2007 10:38:00 AM
: 8/13/2007 10:38:00 AM
did anyone do the math on the floors sq. footage its not adding up? not for a building this small it would have to be taller then this.- not to mention the parking also how is this?
Permalink Posted by : 8/16/2007 06:57:00 PM
: 8/16/2007 06:57:00 PM
Mr Denverinfill Blogger, I unfortunately cannot provide my contact information at this time. As we move closer to groundbreaking, I will make every attempt to add you to our media-loop. Thanks for providing this great venue for all of us to share our thoughts and news in an anonymous fashion. Hope to make your acquaintance sometime in the future. -STB
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Permalink Posted by : 8/18/2007 09:54:00 AM
: 8/18/2007 09:54:00 AM Links to this post:
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