DenverInfill Blog

Reminder: Denver Union Station Meeting Today

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:41:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:08:00 +0000

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!

LoDo District Upgrade

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Wed, 14 May 2008 04:19:00 +0000

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.

Mixed-Use Tower Planned for 15th and Stout

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Mon, 12 May 2008 21:35:00 +0000

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.

Denver Union Station's Public Spaces: You're Invited!

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Mon, 12 May 2008 12:37:00 +0000

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.)

Block 162 Tent Under Construction

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Mon, 12 May 2008 12:27:00 +0000

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.

1800 Larimer Lands Xcel Energy, Officially Breaks Ground

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Wed, 07 May 2008 21:06:00 +0000

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!

Block 162 Update

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:47:00 +0000

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.

Four Seasons, Spire Construction Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Sun, 04 May 2008 14:19:00 +0000

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.

New Jefferson Park Project: HiVu 29

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Sun, 04 May 2008 13:09:00 +0000

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.

DenverInfill Gets Colorized!

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Sat, 03 May 2008 12:24:00 +0000

It was Spring 2004 when I started building DenverInfill. I didn't finish it until July 2005 with the launching of the blog, but some of the earliest block pages and street photos are now four years old. At that time, the 2000 black and white aerials were not only the only ones available to me, but I liked the fact that they were taken in the same year as my baseline year for tracking infill projects.

But by 2007, I had grown tired of the black and white aerials, so I knew it was time for an upgrade. In January of this year, I started replacing the Center City district aerials with color aerials from 2004 and mentioned my progress in doing so several times in the blog. I got about three-quarters of the district maps converted, then I stopped. Those 2004 aerials were taken in the winter where everything is a glorious shade of brown, but along came new 2007 aerials taken in the spring of that year, where everything is nice and green. Much better! So I started over, using the new 2007 aerials instead. Here's a comparison of the 2000, 2004, and 2007 aerials:

As part of the process of integrating the new aerials, I also made a few other changes. I added existing and future transit lines to the maps wherever applicable. I also tweaked some of the boundaries to my Downtown and Center City districts--most notably, I moved the blocks between Larimer and Blake, 20th and Park Avenue, from Northeast Downtown (now called Arapahoe Square) to the Ballpark district, and I created a new Union Station district from part of the Central Platte Valley. With the pending Union Station redevelopment and projects like 1900 16th Street, it's clear that the area behind Union Station is really not a Downtown-adjacent, primarily residential district like Highland or Curtis Park, but really an extention of Downtown proper. So Union Station is now its own Downtown district and the Central Platte Valley district is now just the area between the railroad tracks and I-25. You can see it all here on the new Center City District and Downtown main maps. For now, the Union Station page is still in the format that I use for the Center City districts, but eventually each block in the Union Station area will get its own page, just like the rest of Downtown.

Another change I made is in the page design itself. I've taken the vertical black text box on the left and have switched it to a horizontal black text box at the top. This allows me to use the entire page width for the aerial photo which, along with the switch to the new color aerials, dramatically improves the overall experience. I've even changed the Downtown block pages. With some rearranging of the page elements, the aerial photo is now nearly twice the size as before. Here's a comparison:

So anyway, over the past couple of days when you weren't paying attention, I uploaded all new Center City district pages, overview map, and Downtown main map, and all new block pages for Arapahoe Square. The block pages for Lower Downtown, Central Downtown, Upper Downtown, and Civic Center still have the old black and whites, but those will all get converted over the next month or two.

Just like Downtown Denver, DenverInfill is a work in progress.

Uptown Apartments Construction Update

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:22:00 +0000

Construction on the Uptown Apartments project at E. 19th Avenue, Washington, and Park Avenue in the Uptown district is coming along. Thanks again to Vicki from Uptown, here's a good overview photo of the construction site:

More construction update photos coming over the next couple of weeks.

One Lincoln Park Milestone

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:17:00 +0000

One Lincoln Park, the 32-story condominium building being developed by Osborn Development at 20th and Welton, is topped off and the tower crane is starting to come down. It was October 2006 when the tower crane for One Lincoln Park was installed:

To celebrate the tower's progress, here's an awesome photo, courtesy of Vicki from the Uptown district, of One Lincoln Park and our nicely densifying Downtown area:

1515 Wynkoop Update

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:27:00 +0000

Hines' 1515 Wynkoop office project on Block 013 in Lower Downtown Denver is going vertical! After about a year of digging a big hole and filling it up with four levels of underground parking, the project recently reached ground level. Then, in just a few days time, the project has already started to rise. That's the advantage of building the superstructure out of steel instead of reinforced concrete--construction goes a lot faster. Anyway, here's a photo from this morning of the 1515 Wynkoop site:

New Prospect Project in the Works?

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:59:00 +0000

A rezoning application was recently filed for the Mail Well Envelope property at 3500 Rockmont Drive in Downtown Denver's Prospect district. The property is located immediately north of City of Cuernavaca Park along I-25.

According to DenverGov.org, Alliance Realty Partners is seeking to rezone the industrial site to RMU-30, which allows for residential mixed-use development with maximum building heights of 140 feet. The Denver Planning Board approved the application on April 16 and, on April 23, City Council's Blueprint Denver Committee agreed to forward the rezoning to the full Council. A specific date for the public hearing and final consideration by Council has not yet been scheduled.

Denver-Cityscape reports that the proposed project will include 700 to 800 residential units, 90,000 SF of office space, 30,000 SF of retail, and 180,000 SF of hotel uses.

City of Cuernavaca Park is a great Downtown amenity, but its somewhat-isolated location makes it an underutilized asset. Residential development along the north edge of the park is a great idea and will bring added vitality to the area. The site's biggest challenge is access. Right now, Rockmont Drive (Platte Street past 19th Street) provides the only vehicular access to the site, and I-25, the Platte River, and a tangle of rail lines separates the Mail Well site from the rest of the Prospect district and adjacent districts. I think a new street connection east over to Park Avenue West and perhaps a pedestrian bridge or two will be in order. One other nice apsect about this site: it lies only 0.4 miles south of the 38th & Inca transit station on the proposed Gold Line and about 0.7 miles from Union Station.

Two Tabor Applies for Building Permit

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:27:00 +0000

On April 21, Callahan Capital Partners, the new owner of Downtown Denver's Tabor Center, submitted a building permit application to the city for Two Tabor!

The second office tower at the Tabor Center complex, planned for the corner of 17th and Larimer on Block 068, was originally scheduled to be built following the completion of the first Tabor tower. Construction did begin on the second tower in the mid-1980s but then the oil bust put the project on ice. The developers back then got the elevator core for Two Tabor installed before they stopped construction in 1986. The core was capped with the gold-colored metal panels that still remain at 17th and Larimer, just north of the Tabor Center's plaza along 17th Street. Not having to dig a big hole and spend a year putting in underground parking should be a big time and cost savings for Callahan--just peel off those metal panels and start going vertical! Here's an aerial shot that shows One Tabor in the lower left and the covered elevator core for Two Tabor in the upper right:

The design of Two Tabor has also changed since the 1980s. The original design for the second Tabor tower was to be a duplicate of the first, just a bit taller. Here's a rendering, courtesy of denverskyscrapers.com:

Callahan has a new design for Two Tabor. Designed by the internationally prominent architectural firm of Kohn Pedersen Fox, Two Tabor will rise 43 stories, contain approximately 840,000 SF of rentable space, and be LEED Gold certified. Here is what Two Tabor will look like now:

Based on those renderings, I'm guessing Two Tabor will be about 630 feet tall. The Four Seasons tower currently under construction on Block 074 will be 640 feet tall to the top of its spire, so it may be a battle between Two Tabor and the Four Seasons for the new fourth-tallest tower in Downtown.

Two Tabor should start construction this summer and is scheduled to be completed first quarter 2011.

More About 999 17th Street

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 09:17:00 +0000

Here's a follow-up blog with additional details about Shea Properties' big plans for Block 109. Please keep in mind that all of this information is preliminary and that the building's program and design are still being finalized.

The project's mixed-use development program is best explained by this massing diagram:

Underground, are two basement levels containing approximately 80 parking spaces plus various mechanical and other building functions. The ground floor includes a mix of retail and office/hotel/residential lobby uses. Levels 2 - 7 (gray) are above-grade parking totaling approximately 620 spaces. On the 17th Street side, the next two levels (yellow) represent a 2-floor fitness center and, above that, are 15 floors (green) of offices totalling over 300,000 SF of space.

On the 18th Street side, above the parking are 11 floors (gold) that feature approximately 220 hotel rooms. Above the hotel uses are 13 floors (red) of residential condominium units, topped off by a mechanical penthouse.

In total, the 17th Street tower will be 24 floors plus the crown, and the 18th Street tower will be 31 floors. Both towers top off at approximately 390 feet. Again, these numbers are preliminary and subject to change.

The project architect is Davis Partnership Architects.

That's about it for now. More information about 999 17th Street will be posted when available!

New Downtown Denver Project at 17th & Curtis

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:21:00 +0000

Yesterday at the Downtown Denver Partnership's annual Development Forum, it was made public that Shea Properties has plans for a major infill project on the entire undeveloped half of Downtown's Block 109. The project, known as 999 17th Street, would include a 350,000 SF office tower at the corner of 17th and Curtis and a tower of similar size at 18th and Curtis with possibly hotel and residential uses.

I've known about this project for many months but, since confidentiality was requested, I haven't blogged about it--which was tough to do since it's such an exciting development! I haven't yet obtained permission to post the project renderings.

An entire half block of surface parking in the core Downtown along 17th Street--our "Wall Street of the Rockies"--could go away and be replaced with a vibrant mixed-use high-rise complex. Sweet!

BLOG UPDATE!!

I was waiting to get permission to post the renderings, but I've just now gotten the go-ahead, so here they are:

View of 17th & Curtis:

View of 18th & Curtis:

Images are courtesy of Shea Properties. I have a lot more information to share about this project that I'll post later today. But for now, enjoy the renderings!

La Alma/Lincoln Park Project: Osage Apartments

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:15:00 +0000

Back in 2002, the site at the corner of Colfax and Osage in Downtown Denver's La Alma/Lincoln Park district was rezoned to allow for a multi-family residential project to be called the Wellington Apartments. Since then, however, nothing has happened...until now.

An active development case is currently under review with the city for the Osage Apartments project at the same site. The project, proposed to include 288 rental units in a four story building, is being developed by Carmel Partners. Construction may be underway by late summer.

Good to see this project finally moving forward. The site's proximity to the Colfax at Auraria light rail station makes it a particularly good development site. I'll try to round up a rendering.

The Shortest Path

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 13:20:00 +0000

Please put sidewalks where people want to walk!

New Ballpark Project: LIFT Rowhomes

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:40:00 +0000

A new infill project is coming to Blake Street: LIFT Rowhomes. LIFT is located on the south corner of 32nd and Blake in the popular Ballpark district, where a great mix of industrial-conversion lofts and new-construction flats and rowhomes are transforming the area into one of Downtown's best urban districts.

The project will feature 14 live/work units priced from $390k to $650k. Units range from 1,200 to 2,000 SF and will feature first-floor offices, private garages, rooftop decks and even private dumbwaiters. Here are a couple of renderings (sharp design!):

LIFT is being developed by Village Flats, in close partnership with DSB+ Architecture, Apex Structural, and R & R Engineers Surveyors. LIFT is launching VIP pre-sales (sign up at www.liftrowhomes.com) with early buyers enabling the project to break ground this summer and reaching completion Summer 2009.

Doors Open Denver - April 12 & 13!

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:27:00 +0000

Hey Denver, it's our 150th birthday this year and what better way to celebrate than to explore some of our city's most interesting buildings and sites? Yes, it's time again for Doors Open Denver!

If you haven't participated in Doors Open Denver before, you need to this year. About 80 buildings and sites concentrated mostly in the Downtown area, representing the full spectrum of Denver's architectural styles and eras, will be open to the public this weekend, April 12 and 13, for self-guided tours, expert tours, and other fun events and activities. For a map of building locations plus just about everything else you could possibly want to know about Doors Open Denver (including a list of all the participating buildings by decade of construction), please visit the Doors Open Denver website at: www.denvergov.org/doorsopendenver. You can also stop by Union Station, Doors Open Denver headquarters, anytime after 8:30 AM both days for maps and other program information.

Whether you've got kids or not, you'll also want to check out Box City. I had a blast last year as a Box City volunteer and highly recommend stopping by the atrium of the Wellington Webb office building on Saturday to see future architects, developers and city planners at work.

Not only is Doors Open Denver a great way to explore Downtown Denver and to visit dozens of our city's coolest buildings, but you'll also get to see all those infill construction sites too!

16th Street Mall Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:09:00 +0000

The Downtown Denver Partnership, the City & County of Denver, and RTD are kicking off a 2-year planning study of Downtown's 16th Street Mall. The Mall is 25 years old and the time has come to reevaluate the Mall's design, land uses, transit operations, etc.

To get things started, this coming Tuesday, April 8, the project team will be holding a public meeting to solicit your ideas about the Mall and its future. For all the details about this upcoming public meeting, please visit the 16th Street Mall Project Page on the Downtown Denver Partnership's website. I hope you will take time to come to this and future meetings on this critical issue to Downtown.

Since we're on this topic, I've received permission to share with you the following article about the 16th Street Mall that was published in the current Spring 2008 issue of Historic Denver News. This well-written piece by Erika Warzel, Preservation Coordinator for Historic Denver, Inc., offers an overview of the Mall's development and design. Enjoy.

==============

Denver Urban Living: the 16th Street Mall
By Erika Warzel, Preservation Coordinator for Historic Denver, Inc.
This article appears in the Spring 2008 issue of Historic Denver News

[Our featured article focuses on the history and design of the 16th Street Mall in Denver, which turned 25 in October 2007. Though a successful and vital component to Denver’s downtown, the Mall is now facing proposed changes that could alter its design, such as the replacement of its granite paving with concrete, and the removal of its pedestrian median. Historic Denver plans to work with RTD, the City of Denver, and the Downtown Denver Partnership to reach solutions that meet preservation and maintenance goals.]

For just over 25 years, the 16th Street Mall has served as the retail spine of downtown Denver. Yet the Mall is more than a series of shops and restaurants; it is a thoughtfully designed city landscape that has shaped Denver’s current definition of “urban.” Beyond its architectural qualities, the Mall’s genesis is truly a reflection of how Denver has developed into the city it is today. The issues that came to bear during its creation remain familiar to us Denverites nearly 30 years later.

The city’s first central business district was along Larimer Street near Cherry Creek (what we now know as Larimer Square, the city’s first historic district). When Denver’s first cross-town streetcar lines were installed along 16th Street in the 1870s, retailers followed to serve the city’s growing commuter class. Concurrently, 17th Street was developing due to its proximity to Union Station in Lower Downtown. The two parallel streets became the city’s central business axis, running from Union Station to the State Capitol and thereby influencing the development of the remainder of the downtown area.

By the 1960s, and into the 1970s, the familiar story of urban decline in American cities materialized in Denver. Airplanes and automobiles eclipsed railroad transportation, thereby weakening the pull of Union Station on downtown business. Population shifts to the suburbs undermined the downtown retail base as suburban developers began to add shopping centers in their communities. With the metropolitan area rapidly expanding, Denver’s several public and privately owned transit systems strained to serve the growing population. Air pollution escalated with the increased use of cars, and Downtown streets became severely congested.

The rumblings of a mall on 16th Street began as early as 1959, but the idea was not seriously considered until 1971 with a study jointly undertaken by the City and Downtown Denver, Inc. The Mall concept was seen as a means to enhance urban redevelopment, help Downtown retailers compete with the suburban centers and reduce pollution and congestion.

While early attempts to create a smaller version of the Mall were unsuccessful, the project found its start with a federal grant for design and engineering fees from the Urban Mass Transportation Administration or “UMTA” in February 1978. Funding for the construction of the Mall was granted in April 1979.

Federal funding hinged on the successful integration of pedestrian/transit interests in the Mall’s design, in combination with local interests to revitalize Downtown. An Architectural Task Force was assembled from RTD’s Board, who solicited and weighed proposals from architectural firms. Of the six finalists, I.M. Pei & Partners of New York was selected due to the firm’s commitment to “preserve that peculiar essence we call Denver, [to] enhance the historical and physical orientation toward the mountains as well as our capitol and government center, and [to] help us strive to fulfill the great potential of our urban core area.”

As with any project, the architectural design of the Mall evolved over time as Pei and his design team, headed by partner Henry N. Cobb, the designer of the famous John Hancock tower in Boston, consulted with the various groups and interests involved: RTD, the City, Downtown Denver, Inc., UMTA, and various citizen groups such as the business, environmental, and disabled communities. The end result sought to transform the street into an attractive pedestrian experience that allowed for the convenient passage and use of the free shuttle fleet, which connected with the majority of RTD’s bus lines at the transfer stations at either end of the Mall.

The main feature of the 16th Street Mall project was of course the pedestrian area between Broadway and Market Street. While 16th Street was to be closed to all vehicular traffic except the shuttles, the cross streets were to remain open. The Mall’s design called for a symmetrical central portion that ran from Arapahoe Street to Tremont Place, with a 22-foot pedestrian zone located in the middle of the street and 10-foot shuttle paths on either side. The sidewalks were also to be widened to 19 feet on both sides of the street. Double rows of alternating honey locust trees and specially designed post lanterns in the pedestrian median would provide shade and appropriate lighting while allowing for visibility of the buildings (and business tenants) running the length of the street. Asymmetrical sections at both ends of the Mall, with widened East sidewalks of 35 feet in width and a reduced pedestrian median of six feet in width, allowed for greater pedestrian flow near the RTD transfer facilities. Red oaks were to be planted in a staggered pattern within the wider 35-foot sidewalks at both ends of the Mall, while the post lanterns would remain in the pedestrian aisle between the shuttle paths. This asymmetrical arrangement helped to preserve the sight lines of the State Capitol building and the D&F Tower at Arapahoe Street.

Other important architectural features of the Mall included the granite paving and the post lanterns. Over 283,000 square feet of granite pavers were installed on the Mall in three different colors: red, quarried in Colorado; light grey, from Massachusetts; and dark grey, from Minnesota. These colors were arranged to create various medallion patterns that helped distinguish the shuttle paths, pedestrian median, and sidewalks from one another, and gave the overall effect of the patterned skin of a Western Diamondback rattlesnake. Granite was chosen based on the recommendations of I.M. Pei & Partners because of its durability, beauty, low maintenance costs, climate appropriateness, and non-slip qualities (unfortunately, a design flaw and faulty installation of the paving has led to performance problems that require continual and costly maintenance). The post lanterns, designed to provide security, beauty, and visibility, gradually turn on as the daylight fades, transitioning from day to night seamlessly and casting light on the buildings and businesses lining the Mall.

Two years after construction began, the Mall opened on October 4, 1982 with a celebration that attracted over 200,000 people. Subsequently, the Mall was extended into Lower Downtown in 1992 with design features that respect the historic character of that district. The 16th Street Mall has been honored with several awards recognizing its excellence in urban design, and in 2006 the American Institute of Architects Denver chapter presented the Mall with the AIA Denver 25-Year Award, which recognizes a project completed 25-35 years ago that has withstood the test of time and still functions in its original capacity. Today, the Mall is rated as the top visitor attraction in the metropolitan area and its free shuttles serve an average of 55,000 commuters and tourists per day. It is a true reflection of Denver’s definition of “urban” today: outdoor oriented, pedestrian friendly, and mass-transit minded.

City Park View Plane: Too Close to Downtown

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:41:00 +0000

With all the discussion about the City Park View Plane and its impact on development in Upper Downtown, I thought I would elaborate my position on this further.

I am not opposed to the City Park View Plane. I am not opposed to the height restrictions it imposes. What I am opposed to is the view plane's western boundary. Here is a map (courtesy of DenverGov.org) of the City Park View Plane:

The view plane extends all the way to the alley between Lincoln and Sherman, yet the view plane is intended to protect the view of the mountains and the skyline from City Park. If that is the case, then I argue that Sherman Street is way too close to the skyline to be the western edge of the view plane. In fact, Lincoln and Sherman streets are located within the skyline! With our most iconic tower, the Wells Fargo (Cash Register) building located between those two streets, how could anyone argue otherwise?

Here's a graphic I put together to show the view plane's western boundary from a different perspective:

A more reasonable western boundary to the view plane would be Pennsylvania Street, or perhaps Washington Street. That would allow high-rise development to occur along Lincoln, Sherman, Grant, and Logan, which is appropriate given the location and existing conditions, with the view plane then taking effect to allow the skyline to taper down as it heads east into the Uptown district.

The point of the City Park View Plane is to prevent a building from blocking the view of the Downtown skyline with the mountain backdrop, as viewed from the Museum of Nature and Science. Certainly, a tall building built along, say, York Street would block that view and should be prohibited for that reason. But how close to Downtown do you get before a building no longer blocks the view of the skyline, but becomes part of it? Sherman Street is definitely too close; plus, given all the nasty surface parking lots in that area, the last thing we need to do is to discourage development.

I urge the City planning office, Planning Board, and City Council to consider shifting the City Park View Plane's western boundary to the east by at least two or three blocks.

18th & Sherman Project Denied View Plane Variance

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:00:00 +0000

In the latest issue of Life on Capitol Hill, Vanessa Martin reports that the condo project planned for the corner of E. 18th Avenue and Sherman Street was denied a variance from the City Park View Plane by the Denver Planning Board. Back on March 10, I opined about this proposed project and the requested view plane variance.

According to the developers, as a consequence of the denial, the site will not be developed and will remain a surface parking lot. For all the details, here's the full article by Vanessa: 18th & Sherman Project Denied View Plane Variance.