Thursday, May 15, 2008
Reminder: Denver Union Station Meeting Today
This is just a friendly reminder that today at 4:00 PM, Union Station Advocates will be hosting a meeting open to the public at the Oxford Hotel to discuss several topics related to the Union Station redevelopment project. For details on the meeting, please visit the Union Station Advocates website at www.unionstationadvocates.org.
More on the 15 & Stout Project
Over the past couple of days since DenverInfill broke the news about the new hotel/condo tower at 15th and Stout, John Rebchook at the Rocky Mountain News has had two blogs on the topic that contains some very interesting information about the project. In case you missed them, please check out his blogs here and here. Or, if you prefer, here are the PDF versions: Financing will be tough for hotel on Burger King site, More on the latest hotel planned downtown
Thanks, John, for your excellent follow-up on this story!
Thanks, John, for your excellent follow-up on this story!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
LoDo District Upgrade
The headline says it all. I'm happy to report the Lower Downtown section on DenverInfill has now been given the full upgrade treatment. Up next: Central Downtown. By the way, if you spot a broken link or a missing image or something, please let me know. Thanks.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Mixed-Use Tower Planned for 15th and Stout
If a developer’s plans for Block 131 stay on schedule, the old Burger King-turned-Asian-restaurant at the corner of 15th and Stout could be history by this Fall.
Ranko Mocevic, president of Hotel Gold Crown Champa LLC, plans to replace the old Burger King building with a 17-story hotel/condominium tower. Hotel Gold Crown Champa LLC recently closed on the 100’ x 125’ parcel at 15th and Stout. They previously had planned to develop the property with the same dimensions across the alley at 15th and Champa where Tarantula Billiards and a small parking lot are located. Mocevic originally planned to construct the tower at the 15th and Champa corner but decided to move forward with the 15th and Stout site instead as that site provides the opportunity to begin construction sooner. Here's a closeup of that block:
The proposed 17-story tower would include lobby, restaurant, and other hotel functions on the first and second floors, 264 hotel rooms on Floors 3 through 14, and twelve condominium units (4 per floor) on Floors 15 through 17. Two underground parking levels are also planned. Here are some renderings of the proposed tower, courtesy of OZ Architecture LoDo. (Please note: these renderings were prepared when the tower was originally proposed for 15th and Champa. The tower at 15th and Stout would be a mirror image of the building depicted in these images.)
The colored roof panels serve as a mechanical screen as well as an architectural design element. The developer is planning to seek authorization from the city to allow those panels to be illuminated with slowly-changing colored lights to add interest to the Downtown skyline.
Hotel Gold Crown Champa LLC will be both the developer and hotel operator. The builder is Alfa Design & Construction Inc. and, as mentioned above, OZ Architects LoDo is doing the design.
The developer’s timeline has the project receiving a foundation permit from the city later this summer and completing the tower in 2010.
Ranko Mocevic, president of Hotel Gold Crown Champa LLC, plans to replace the old Burger King building with a 17-story hotel/condominium tower. Hotel Gold Crown Champa LLC recently closed on the 100’ x 125’ parcel at 15th and Stout. They previously had planned to develop the property with the same dimensions across the alley at 15th and Champa where Tarantula Billiards and a small parking lot are located. Mocevic originally planned to construct the tower at the 15th and Champa corner but decided to move forward with the 15th and Stout site instead as that site provides the opportunity to begin construction sooner. Here's a closeup of that block:
The proposed 17-story tower would include lobby, restaurant, and other hotel functions on the first and second floors, 264 hotel rooms on Floors 3 through 14, and twelve condominium units (4 per floor) on Floors 15 through 17. Two underground parking levels are also planned. Here are some renderings of the proposed tower, courtesy of OZ Architecture LoDo. (Please note: these renderings were prepared when the tower was originally proposed for 15th and Champa. The tower at 15th and Stout would be a mirror image of the building depicted in these images.)
The colored roof panels serve as a mechanical screen as well as an architectural design element. The developer is planning to seek authorization from the city to allow those panels to be illuminated with slowly-changing colored lights to add interest to the Downtown skyline.
Hotel Gold Crown Champa LLC will be both the developer and hotel operator. The builder is Alfa Design & Construction Inc. and, as mentioned above, OZ Architects LoDo is doing the design.
The developer’s timeline has the project receiving a foundation permit from the city later this summer and completing the tower in 2010.
Denver Union Station's Public Spaces: You're Invited!
Now that a fundable, buildable design for the transportation component of the Union Station project has been devised and a letter of intent signed between the master developer and the public entities managing the project, attention can now be paid to some of the other aspects of the big Union Station project, such as the design of the public spaces.
The consultants for planning the public spaces will be selected soon, and this summer the design and program for the public realm areas of the whole Union Station redevelopment district will be determined. Ensuring the public's participation in exploring what those public spaces could look like and in deciding their final design is critical. To that end, there are two meetings scheduled this week that the public is invited to regarding Union Station's future public spaces.
First, this Tuesday, May 13, the graduate students in the Advanced Urban Design Studio at the University of Colorado-Denver's College of Architecture and Planning will be presenting their final design concepts for Union Station's public spaces. Led by professor Jeremy Németh, PhD, four student teams have been evaluating and developing different design concepts for the public spaces around Union Station. Their presentation will take place from 6:00 - 7:30 PM at the Wellington Webb Building - Room 4.F.6. If you plan to attend, please RSVP to the email address shown on the presentation invitation. For more information on the student project, please visit the class website at www.cudenver.edu/dus.
Then, this Thursday, May 15, Union Station Advocates will be hosting a meeting open to the public to discuss several topics relating to Union Station and its future public spaces. The meeting agenda includes an update of the Union Station project, a recap of the four UCD student teams' concepts and a discussion about their studio experience, a presentation on Union Station Advocates' planned Union Station Video Project, and a Union Station public space "branding" exercise. Should be fun! The meeting will take place from 4:00 - 5:30 PM at the Oxford Hotel, Theatre Room (17th & Wazee). Cost is $10 at the door and includes hors d'oeuvres and beverages. A cash bar will be available during the meeting and afterwards, join Union Station Advocates for happy hour at the Oxford's Cruise Room. Please RSVP to the email address shown on the meeting invitation or visit USA's website at www.unionstationadvocates.org. (By the way, I'm on the Union Station Advocates' Board of Directors and will have more to say about the organization and its mission in a blog coming soon.)
The consultants for planning the public spaces will be selected soon, and this summer the design and program for the public realm areas of the whole Union Station redevelopment district will be determined. Ensuring the public's participation in exploring what those public spaces could look like and in deciding their final design is critical. To that end, there are two meetings scheduled this week that the public is invited to regarding Union Station's future public spaces.
First, this Tuesday, May 13, the graduate students in the Advanced Urban Design Studio at the University of Colorado-Denver's College of Architecture and Planning will be presenting their final design concepts for Union Station's public spaces. Led by professor Jeremy Németh, PhD, four student teams have been evaluating and developing different design concepts for the public spaces around Union Station. Their presentation will take place from 6:00 - 7:30 PM at the Wellington Webb Building - Room 4.F.6. If you plan to attend, please RSVP to the email address shown on the presentation invitation. For more information on the student project, please visit the class website at www.cudenver.edu/dus.
Then, this Thursday, May 15, Union Station Advocates will be hosting a meeting open to the public to discuss several topics relating to Union Station and its future public spaces. The meeting agenda includes an update of the Union Station project, a recap of the four UCD student teams' concepts and a discussion about their studio experience, a presentation on Union Station Advocates' planned Union Station Video Project, and a Union Station public space "branding" exercise. Should be fun! The meeting will take place from 4:00 - 5:30 PM at the Oxford Hotel, Theatre Room (17th & Wazee). Cost is $10 at the door and includes hors d'oeuvres and beverages. A cash bar will be available during the meeting and afterwards, join Union Station Advocates for happy hour at the Oxford's Cruise Room. Please RSVP to the email address shown on the meeting invitation or visit USA's website at www.unionstationadvocates.org. (By the way, I'm on the Union Station Advocates' Board of Directors and will have more to say about the organization and its mission in a blog coming soon.)
Block 162 Tent Under Construction
Evan Makovsky doesn't waste time. Within days after announcing plans to install a mega-tent on the vacant lot on Block 162, it is already under construction. Thanks to Scooter for sending in a quick shot of it from this weekend:
For more information about the tents, check out the Wright Group Event Services' website here.
For more information about the tents, check out the Wright Group Event Services' website here.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
1800 Larimer Lands Xcel Energy, Officially Breaks Ground
The moment many of us have been waiting for has arrived. Westfield Development has just officially announced that Xcel Energy has agreed to lease approximately 350,000 square feet of 1800 Larimer's total 500,000 square feet.
Site prep work has been taking place at the 18th and Larimer location on Block 066 for several months now, but until today Westfield had not made any official acknowledgement that construction had started. With today's announcement, it will be full-steam ahead for 1800 Larimer toward its 2010 completion.
Here's the full press release issued moments ago by Westfield: 1800 Larimer Press Release and in case you haven't seen the rendering lately, here's what the 22-story tower will look like:
1800 Larimer has been pre-certified as LEED Platinum and will be one of the city's most green/energy-efficient buildings.
We now officially have a 22-story building under construction to join the Four Seasons, Spire, and our other high-rises in the works.
Congratulations, Westfield!
Site prep work has been taking place at the 18th and Larimer location on Block 066 for several months now, but until today Westfield had not made any official acknowledgement that construction had started. With today's announcement, it will be full-steam ahead for 1800 Larimer toward its 2010 completion.
Here's the full press release issued moments ago by Westfield: 1800 Larimer Press Release and in case you haven't seen the rendering lately, here's what the 22-story tower will look like:
1800 Larimer has been pre-certified as LEED Platinum and will be one of the city's most green/energy-efficient buildings.
We now officially have a 22-story building under construction to join the Four Seasons, Spire, and our other high-rises in the works.
Congratulations, Westfield!
Block 162 Update
Over the past several months, developer Evan Makovsky and his project team have been busy rehabbing the Building Formerly Known as Fontius on Downtown Denver's Block 162. Now called the Steel Building after the original occupant, Steel's Department Store in the early 1920s, the building is really starting to look good. If you've already forgotten how blighted the building had become under the previous owners, check out my Fontius Building Part 2: The Neglect blog from March 2007, and certainly visit my Inside the Fontius special feature.
Anyway, I was out taking a few photos last weekend and thought I'd share with you how the Steel Building's renovation is coming along. First of all, even though the Steel Building is just a shell at this point, with the old windows gone and all the interior walls removed, it already looks 1000% better.
You may recall the Great Window Controversy of a few months ago. Basically, the Landmark Preservation Commission wanted Makovsky to restore the building's original historic windows and Makovsky wanted to install new energy-efficient windows that looked the same as the original ones. Thankfully, in the end, a compromise was reached. New energy-efficient windows that are identical to the historic windows are being installed, and they'll even use some of the original window hardware. Here's an article about it by John Rebchook at the Rocky: Fontius To Get 76 Energy-Efficient Windows. The first few of those new windows are now going in:
The restoration of the exterior terra cotta tiles is mostly finished on the upper floors... and it looks awesome. The old gal is really cleaning up nicely. Take a look:
There's still much more work to do. The original exterior materials on the ground floor were removed decades ago to give the Fontius a more "modern" street-level facade. Artists are now handcrafting terra cotta tiles that match the rest of the building so that the ground floor will return to its original 1920s glory. Here's another Rebchook article about the restoration process: Ugly Duckling Fontius Revealing Its Handsome Self.
Finally, you may recall that Makovsky and the Downtown Denver Partnership asked the community for ideas for temporary uses for the vacant parcels behind the McClintock Building. A decision on that has just recently been made: We're getting a mega-tent!
Construction of a 20,000 SF white vinyl tent is starting this week where the old Republic Hotel and Bank of Denver buidings used to stand along California. The tent will be operated by Wright Group Event Services, will include flooring, lighting, air conditioning and restrooms, will seat 1,500 to 2,000 people, and will host all kinds of events this summer and fall (and possibly longer). It will particularly come in handy during the DNC. Here's where the tent will go, with a construction fence for it installed this past weekend:
Between the new tent and the restoration of the Steel Building, Block 162 is finally starting to show signs of life. Hopefully, in a few years from now, we'll see a tower crane or two erecting Makovsky's permanent legacy to the revitalization of Central Downtown.
Anyway, I was out taking a few photos last weekend and thought I'd share with you how the Steel Building's renovation is coming along. First of all, even though the Steel Building is just a shell at this point, with the old windows gone and all the interior walls removed, it already looks 1000% better.
You may recall the Great Window Controversy of a few months ago. Basically, the Landmark Preservation Commission wanted Makovsky to restore the building's original historic windows and Makovsky wanted to install new energy-efficient windows that looked the same as the original ones. Thankfully, in the end, a compromise was reached. New energy-efficient windows that are identical to the historic windows are being installed, and they'll even use some of the original window hardware. Here's an article about it by John Rebchook at the Rocky: Fontius To Get 76 Energy-Efficient Windows. The first few of those new windows are now going in:
The restoration of the exterior terra cotta tiles is mostly finished on the upper floors... and it looks awesome. The old gal is really cleaning up nicely. Take a look:
There's still much more work to do. The original exterior materials on the ground floor were removed decades ago to give the Fontius a more "modern" street-level facade. Artists are now handcrafting terra cotta tiles that match the rest of the building so that the ground floor will return to its original 1920s glory. Here's another Rebchook article about the restoration process: Ugly Duckling Fontius Revealing Its Handsome Self.
Finally, you may recall that Makovsky and the Downtown Denver Partnership asked the community for ideas for temporary uses for the vacant parcels behind the McClintock Building. A decision on that has just recently been made: We're getting a mega-tent!
Construction of a 20,000 SF white vinyl tent is starting this week where the old Republic Hotel and Bank of Denver buidings used to stand along California. The tent will be operated by Wright Group Event Services, will include flooring, lighting, air conditioning and restrooms, will seat 1,500 to 2,000 people, and will host all kinds of events this summer and fall (and possibly longer). It will particularly come in handy during the DNC. Here's where the tent will go, with a construction fence for it installed this past weekend:
Between the new tent and the restoration of the Steel Building, Block 162 is finally starting to show signs of life. Hopefully, in a few years from now, we'll see a tower crane or two erecting Makovsky's permanent legacy to the revitalization of Central Downtown.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Four Seasons, Spire Construction Updates
Here's a quick update on the status of the two tallest buildings currently under construction in Downtown Denver. Both photos are from yesterday.
First, the 45-story Four Seasons project at 14th and Arapahoe is now a couple of floors above ground level:
The 41-story Spire project at 14th and Champa is now up to Floor 9:
Won't it be fun watching these two towers race each other into the sky over the next year or so? Assuming one floor per week, the Spire should be up to about Floor 25 and the Four Seasons up to about Floor 18 by the Democratic National Convention in August.
The 41-story Spire project at 14th and Champa is now up to Floor 9:
Won't it be fun watching these two towers race each other into the sky over the next year or so? Assuming one floor per week, the Spire should be up to about Floor 25 and the Four Seasons up to about Floor 18 by the Democratic National Convention in August.
New Jefferson Park Project: HiVu 29
A new development in the popular Jefferson Park district has just been announced: HiVu 29. The project is located on the south side of W. 29th Avenue just west of Eliot Street overlooking Viking Park. HiVu 29 consists of 12 flats and 10 townhomes in a 4-story building. Units range from 775 SF to 1,500 SF and priced from the low $200s to the high $400ks. The project is being developed by Bill and John Seward of HiVu Partners, with BlueSky Studio as the architect. Here's a rendering of the project, courtesy of BlueSky:
A sales office is currently located at the site. To sign up for more information, please visit the project website: www.HiVu29.com.
A sales office is currently located at the site. To sign up for more information, please visit the project website: www.HiVu29.com.
