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Denver Infill Blog
December 2005
Here's
where I will regularly share news, observations, rumors, ideas, or
anything else about urban redevelopment, infill projects or Downtown
Denver that doesn't fit into one of the other sections on this website.
Blog Archives
November
2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
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December
28, 2005. Here's something that should keep you in a
jolly holiday spirit... three recent property sales that are great signs
major Downtown projects are moving forward:
1. The entire
Block 074, home to the proposed 50-story
Four Seasons, closed on 12-05-2005. The buyer was Teatro Tower, LLC!
The sale price was $14 million. Seems to me you don't go spend $14
million buying land for a high-rise you're not going to build.
Probably the best sign yet that the Four Seasons is still alive and
kicking... just a year behind their original timetable, that's all.
2. The old Motor Hotel
Garage property on
Block 138, home to the proposed 27-story
Embassy Suites Hotel, changed hands on 10-27-2005. The purchaser was
WMB IX, LLC of Merrillville, IN. When we first learned about the
"extended stay hotel" project for this site, we were told it was to be
developed by Whiteco, a privately held Indiana-based company. Coincidence?
I think not!
3. The northwest half of
Block 049, the site of the proposed 13-story condo/apartment
building proposed by Corum Real Estate for the corner of 18th & Market,
was sold on 12-01-2005. The purchaser was 1800 Market Invest, LLC
which is registered at the same address as Corum's corporate headquarters
in the Denver Tech Center.
Yep, looks like 2006
could be full of ground-breakings in Downtown Denver!
December
26, 2005. I've come across a bunch of new project
renderings lately: Here's an updated rendering of the
Village Flats on Lawrence project in the
Curtis Park-Five Points neighborhood, an updated rendering for the
Emerson Uptown Lofts project in the
Uptown neighborhood, the first rendering of what the new
Colorado Urology Center will look like in
the Jefferson Park neighborhood, an additional rendering of the
Denver Newspaper Agency building on Block
244 & 267 in Upper Downtown, and a cool photo simulation of the
One Lincoln Park project on Block 177 in
Northeast Downtown. All of these new renderings may also be found on
their respective block or neighborhood page.
December
24, 2005. Today I've got news about two more new
infill projects: A new residential project is in the works for the
La Alma Lincoln Park neighborhood.
A rezoning proposal has been submitted to the city that would allow
construction of a 75-unit condominium project at the southeast corner of
W. 9th Avenue and Kalamath Street. The one-acre site, approximately
a quarter of the block, would hold three 4-story buildings of 25-units
each. The parcel is currently vacant, although there used to be two
small houses on it until recently. The Denver City Council Blueprint
Denver committee and the Denver Planning Board have both given preliminary
approval to the rezoning, but the Planning staff is recommending denial.
Here's a quote from the Blueprint Denver committee minutes about the
Planning staff's position on the project:
"This
Lincoln Park Neighborhood site is within an area identified in Blueprint
Denver as an area of stability, but the Blueprint Denver map indicates
this specific block face as a 'Commercial Corridor'. The designation
allows for commercial uses with residential nodes of up to 30 units per
acre, more indicative of an area of change. The applicant proposes a
48-foot tall, 75-unit building, a density of nearly 73 units per acre, and
a 108-car parking structure. Staff found the proposed development out of
scale with the single-family homes on the block. Staff does support
redevelopment of the Santa Fe Drive corridor within the guidelines of the
B-4 zoning, which abuts this site across the alley. The Westside
Neighborhood Plan recommends redevelopment at R-2 densities and does not
support the density proposed."
The project will have a
public hearing before the full city council later in January when the
council will makes its final decision on this project.
In the
Ballpark
neighborhood, 2229 Blake Street is currently a one-story non-historic
building that has been used for several years as a bar/dance club.
On January 9, city council will make its final decision on a rezoning
request to allow this site to be redeveloped with a 7-story building
holding 36 residential units, 5,500 SF of commercial space, and 53 parking
spaces. This project does have Planning staff support and will
probably be approved. Nice to see the area around Coors Field
continue to densify.
Finally, a little tidbit
about the proposed Clyfford Still museum that will house that artist's
extensive body of work that was recently bequeathed to the City of Denver.
If you're not familiar with this issue, here's a 2004
press release that will bring you up to
speed. The city's site selection committee is considering three
locations for the new museum structure: the Golden Triangle, Civic Center
Park, and the Central Platte Valley. The committee is expected to
announce their recommended site in early 2006. In his regular arts
and architecture column in Westword, Michael Paglia discusses this
topic and suggests that the Golden Triangle may be the lucky winner.
If that proves to be the case, not only will that represent another infill
project for a neighborhood suffering from a bad case of the parking lots,
but earlier this month we learned that the State may build a new Colorado
History Museum in the Golden Triangle and that the Mizel Museum is moving
to the neighborhood as well. Three new museums, along with the new Denver
Art Museum wing and all the rest of the cultural institutions in the area,
would really make the Golden Triangle into a major arts destination.
That's all for today.
In the spirit of the season, here's a little
gift to you from DenverInfill.com.
Happy holidays everyone!
December
22, 2005. Two new infill projects to announce
today! First, a 5-unit townhome project known as City View Townhomes
recently started construction on the southwest corner of 32nd Avenue and
Umatilla Street in the
Highland neighborhood. Here's a rendering
of that project (City
View Townhomes). The other project is a 16-unit, 5-story
condominium project planned for the vacant lot at 1740 Franklin in the
City
Park West neighborhood. Here's a rendering of that project too
(1740
Franklin). Look for both of these projects to be added to
their respective neighborhood pages in the near future.
As promised, there are
now additional photos of the Hyatt grand opening celebration on the
Hyatt Countdown page in the Special
Features section, including more firework shots, photos from the
dedication ceremony, and several views of the hotel's interior.
December
21, 2005. The Hyatt grand opening yesterday was a
smashing success! We've all seen the completed structure for many
months and are more-or-less used to seeing it as part of our Denver
skyline. But I unprepared for how unbelievably stunning the interior
is. The colors, materials and finishes of the interior design are
second to none in Denver, in my opinion. The cold darkness of the
Hyatt as a construction site has become a warm and glowing organism
pulsing with human activity. Its impact on Downtown is going to be
amazing.
With the Hyatt's opening,
the run-down buildings and surface parking lots on Blocks
131,
138,
162 appear even more disgraceful now.
The City has done its part in over $600 million for the hotel and the
expanded convention center. Now it's time for the private sector to
step up to the plate, sweep away these parking lots and embarrassing
little buildings, and surround these magnificent facilities with a new
generation of high-rise architecture and vibrant mixed-use places that
will help launch Denver into the next tier of world-class cities.
Fortunately, those blocks do contain lots of yellow "infill update" boxes
reflecting the fact that the private sector is paying attention, but we've
got to transform those from "proposals" to "construction sites" soon!
Our DenverInfill goal for 2006: Start construction on The Spire,
the Four Seasons, Charles Woolley's condo tower, the Embassy Suites, and
One Lincoln Park, and have a rock-solid deal in place to build a Target
somewhere in Downtown Denver! Yes, that's a lot to ask for, but we
deserve it.
Finally, make sure you
check out the fireworks photo of the new Hyatt on the
Hyatt Countdown page in the Special
Features section...and there just may be a few bonus photos with shots of
the interior coming to that page in the near future!
December
20, 2005. The website for One Riverfront Park is
now active. Here's a rendering of the project from that website (One
Riverfront Park). Better renderings are likely to come in
the near future. In addition to the Glass House and One Riverfront
Park being under construction in the CPV, I had also heard in the past
that the second pedestrian bridge to span the Consolidated Main Line
railroad tracks (the first being the Millennium Bridge) would be
constructed at 18th Street due to the development of the Glass House.
As we know, several surface streets are under construction in the eastern
half of the CPV... I wonder when the 18th Street Pedestrian Bridge might
start construction? Something to investigate.
Today's the big day!
The Hyatt opens with a dedication ceremony this morning (11:30 AM)
followed by an "illumination event" at 5:30 PM and fireworks immediately
thereafter. Here's a brief
press release with some of the details. Barring a sudden blizzard or dense fog, I plan to
capture the moment with my trusty digital camera and post the results as
the finale to the
Hyatt Hotel Grand Opening Countdown page
in the Special Features section.
Finally, I've added a few
construction update photos. Click on the links below or visit the
project's block or neighborhood page:
Blake 27 Brownstones •
Blake Street Apartments •
Village Flats on Navajo •
Grant Park •
Museum Residences
December
19, 2005. The One Riverfront Park project (formerly
known as St. Charles Place) is now under construction. The project
is located between the Park Place Lofts next to the Millennium Bridge and
the Glass House towers, currently under construction at 18th and Bassett
in the Central Platte Valley. The project features a 7-story
condominium building in the back near the railroad tracks, and a row of
townhomes along Little Raven Street. The project's website,
www.oneriverfront.com, should go live later this week.
Look for a new rendering or two of the project on the
CPV North
page in the near future too.
Earlier this month, I
mentioned that construction had started on the short stretch of 17th
Street on the west side of Union Station in the Central Platte Valley.
Upon closer inspection, it appears that all of Chestnut Street, from the
end of the 16th Street Mall at the base of the Millennium Bridge over to
20th Street, is also going in (see
Commons Master Plan). This is a
sure sign that things are finally going to start happening on the east
side of the railroad tracks. With the exception of the Gates HQ
building, not much has happened yet on the Union Station side of the CPV.
But with the Riverfront Park side nearing buildout, with FasTracks passed
and the Union Station Master Plan complete, and with the Downtown
commercial and residential markets still gaining strength, the time has
come for things to start happening on the Union Station side. Not
only have there been reports that a W Hotel is being planned for this part
of the Valley, but I've also heard rumors that an additional project or
two may be announced in the near future too. I think 2006 will be an
exciting year for the Central Platte Valley, with several significant
projects announced for the area behind Union Station.
December
16, 2005. The Denver Post ran an article
yesterday about the proposed North Broadway Tower mentioned in my
December 12 blog below. It seems the developer, Mr. Gino Rodrigues,
is not as far along in the planning for the tower as his website suggests.
According to the article by Kristi Arellano, the 2000 California Street
location indicated on the project's website is just one of several sites
the developer is exploring for the project, although the small rendering
of the tower does show it at that exact location. Other questionable facts
from the website include the name of the lender and contractor. The
design of the tower, however, does not appear to be in dispute, as Mr.
Rodrigues confirms the borrowed design from a never-built Honolulu project
is what he's planning for our city. Notwithstanding the apparent
details remaining to be worked out, the presence of this latest proposal
is another sign that Downtown Denver may be on the brink of a residential
high-rise boom unlike any it has every experienced. And
architecturally, the shiny blue-glass design by RIM Architects would be a
welcome addition to the earth-tone colors that dominate the Denver
skyline. Personally, I hope the developer sticks with the 2000
California Street location. The combination of the stunning 1999
Broadway tower, the proposed One Lincoln Park high-rise, and this North
Broadway project, all on adjacent blocks to each other, would create a
powerful architectural trio that, hopefully, would set the standard for
future towers in the asphalt-covered Northeast Downtown.
December
15, 2005. Today DenverInfill begins a
special 5-day photo countdown to the grand opening of the new Hyatt
Regency Denver Convention Center Hotel. Check out the new page in
the Special Features
section!
December
13, 2005. Cool news in today's Rocky about
the Mizel Museum relocating to a 6,000 SF space on the ground floor of the
Museum Residences, currently under construction across Acoma Street Plaza
from the new Hamilton wing of the Denver Art Museum. The Mizel
Museum, whose mission is to present "the continuum of the Jewish people
within a multicultural context through the arts" will add yet another
interesting cultural element to the growing Civic Center/Golden Triangle
part of Downtown Denver. The Mizel, along with the prospects of a
new and much-larger Colorado History Museum (see December 6 below), will
further enhance the culture and arts district blossoming in the area.
My only beef with this whole area though, and I've said this before, is
there are too many parking lots! Despite the fabulous architecture
and facilities in the northern Golden Triangle, the area lacks a
cohesiveness and soul that could make it into an incredibly vibrant and
nationally-renown cultural district. Imagine if every block in the
area was lined with development like the "mid-rise row" found along the
1100 block of Cherokee, plus art galleries, coffee shops, bars and
restaurants, neighborhood retail, and professional offices scattered
throughout within the ground floor uses. No matter how much money we
spend on public facilities in this area, until these surface parking lots
are removed through private sector housing developments, this area will
continue to have an empty, disorganized, vacant feeling to it. Think
I'm exaggerating? Here's a little
exhibit I've whipped up to make my point.
Everything in yellow is surface parking (public or private). I've
added the Denver Justice Center and Denver Art Museum/Parking
Garage/Museum Residences site plans to the image, so that the surface
parking lots they will replace are removed from the analysis.
Look at all that yellow! The equivalent of approximately 8 city
blocks. Until a significant amount of that goes away, the Golden
Triangle will not have the physical character to it that will allow it to
transcend into a great urban place. Until then, it will only be a
place with great potential. Don't misunderstand me, I love the
Golden Triangle and I admire the people who are striving to make it a
great neighborhood. But they too must pass those ugly, unlandscaped,
poorly-maintained, ubiquitous surface parking lots every day and know that
their presence is the only thing keeping the neighborhood from becoming
all that everyone knows it can be.
December
12, 2005. How does a new 34-story residential tower
in Downtown Denver sound? Details are vague at this point and all
we've got to go on is what's available on the project
website, but a developer is proposing a
residential high-rise at 2000 California called the North
Broadway Tower! Here's what we know: The project would be located on
the northwestern half of
Block 157 in
Northeast Downtown,
basically one block diagonally north of the proposed One Lincoln Park
project. The project website describes the building as being 34
stories, and the architect's website (RIM
Architects) indicates the building would hold about 170
condominium units. A multi-story base of retail and structured
parking is also planned. I've taken a small rendering of the building from
the project website and have
superimposed it upon a similar
axonometric view of the Denver skyline from Google Earth (looking
southwest from above Park Avenue West), with a few prominent buildings
annotated for reference. Here's the
best image of the proposed building from
the project website, still showing the Honolulu skyline in the background
(the building was originally designed as a conceptual project for the
Waikiki district).
This project is an indication of two things: the residential high-rise boom sweeping
the nation is definitely hitting Denver, and the Northeast Downtown area,
with its acres of asphalt but incredible proximity to the core CBD, is
starting to become the next Downtown Denver hotspot! I'll post more
information on this project as it becomes available, plus I'll add it as
an Infill Update as soon as I can.
December
8, 2005. There's a new high-rise coming to the
Capitol Hill neighborhood! In an article published a few days ago, a
new condominium tower near Cheesman Park, up to 16 stories in height, may
be built at the corner of Gaylord and E. 11th Avenue, immediately north of
the Botanic Gardens. Several small buildings would be razed, and the
developer (Trammell Crow) has the option of constructing either a 7-story
building that covers most of the site, or building townhomes along both E.
11th and Gaylord and then a 16-story tower set back into the rear of the
lot closer to the Gardens. The 16-story alternative seems to be
preferred by the neighborhood. Either way, it's great to see new
residential coming to the Cheesman Park area, one of Denver's few
residential high-rise clusters.
December
6, 2005. The Denver Post features an
interesting article today (Judicial
Site Sought Downtown) about the Colorado state government
looking to build a new office and courts complex in Downtown Denver.
The concept, still very much in the early planning stages, would
consolidate the Attorney General's office, the State Public Defender's
office, and the Colorado Supreme Court into a new building that would be
located on
Block 025-B. This block is where
the Colorado State Judicial Building and the Colorado History Museum are
currently located. The proposed complex would likely be over 600,000
square feet in size and cost almost $200 million. Although the new
complex would be built on a block already fully developed, the impact of
this plan is that it would create an excellent infill opportunity through
the need to relocate the Colorado History Museum. The article notes
that the two leading sites for the new history museum would be immediately
south of the Denver City & County Building on
Block 022-E or immediately south of the new Hamilton wing of
the Denver Art Museum on the block where the historic Evans School is
located. A quick look at Block 022-E shows that it's in desperate
need of some new development, and the Evans School block, bounded by Acoma
Street, Bannock Street, and W.12th and W. 11th avenues (see the
Golden Triangle neighborhood page) is also mostly parking lots.
A complex of this size
would provide additional massing to Block 025-B and would be an
opportunity to add yet another architectural icon to the city's Civic
Center ring of landmark structures; although personally, I've always
enjoyed the very modern inverted-U-shaped judicial building and the
wedge-shaped history museum currently at the site. Regarding a new
history museum location, while both sites are winners to me, I think my
first choice is Block 022-E. That site seems more in need of a new
project to bring some urban form and mass to a block that is disrupted by
surface parking lots, plus it would be adjacent to the Byers-Evans House,
home of the Denver History Museum.
With a new state courts
and justice complex, a new state history museum, and the new Denver
Justice Center project joining an already remarkable collection of
architecturally-prominent buildings, Denver's Civic Center would become
one of the most unique and impressive urban spaces in the country.
December
5, 2005. Today I've added another technical upgrade
to DenverInfill.com. You will now find at the bottom of the
Home page a new search function that allows you to search either just
within the DenverInfill website or a full World Wide Web search
using Google. I've added this feature so if you want to find
within my site all references to a particular project, say, the new Hyatt
hotel, you can now do so in one easy step. You might
find this to be particularly helpful when you remember reading something
about a specific topic in my blog, but you don't remember the date of when
it was posted.
Keep in mind, however, that search engines like Google index my site (or
anyone else's) only once a month or so; consequently, new content added to
this site may not appear within the search results right away.
Anyway, I hope this makes your visits to DenverInfill a bit more
enjoyable.
December
4, 2005. The "new Sugar Building" infill project at
16th and Blake in Lower Downtown went before the Lower Downtown Design
Review board in November and received its second round of design
approvals. The project received "building envelope" approval from
the LoDo board in September, and recently the board approved the project's
massing, access, and fenestration. A few more rounds of approvals
are still to come as the building's design evolves, but it's good to see
this exciting project moving forward relatively quickly.
Yesterday I reached
another milestone with the development of this site. While I've had
all 178 Downtown block pages complete since February in terms of aerial
and street elevation photos and infill project data, it's taken a while to
research and compose for the "Observations and Ideas" box a description of the existing development
for all the blocks in Downtown without an infill project. I'm happy
to announce that effort is now complete! Also, I'm in the process of
making a relative minor, but hopefully helpful technical adjustment to the
site. On the Center City Neighborhood pages, when you hover your
mouse pointer over one of the yellow project numbers on the aerial photo,
you will now see a screen tip that shows the name of the infill project.
That way, you can see each project's name and location without having to
jump back and forth between the map and the project description rows.
I don't have all 13 neighborhoods finished yet, but they'll all be done
quite soon.
December
2, 2005. A few miscellaneous items for the first Friday in
December: Work is progressing nicely on the
EPA Building on
Block 013 in Lower Downtown. After
several months of excavation and foundation work, the building is now
rising above the ground. The first vertical columns have now reached
the second floor. Also, the only rendering I've been able to obtain
to date has been this view
here; the same as shown on the project
banners at the site. But, I've recently been able to obtain a rendering of the
project from a different view. Check it out (new
EPA rendering).
Something else has also
just started construction very near the EPA building. In the Central
Platte Valley, in the Commons area between Wewatta and the railroad
tracks, the planned extension of 17th Street is now being built. In
this short segment of the street immediately west of Union Station, 17th
Street will be a "parkway" with a wide landscaped median. The width
of the 17th Street right-of-way is approximately the width of the Union
Station view corridor, which will maintain an unobstructed view of the
main central section of the historic Union Station from Commons Park and
beyond. I discuss the Union Station view corridor in a bit more
detail in my blog from August 23. You can see the design for 17th
Street on the
Commons Master Plan. More
details about the Commons Master Plan (Project #24) are available on the
CPV
(North) neighborhood page. Anyway, this is a great sign
that new development (the proposed W Hotel, for example) may be soon on
its way in the Commons part of the Valley, particularly since the
Riverfront Park side is quickly nearing its buildout.
Last but not least, you
can now link directly to DenverInfill.com from the
Development section of the Downtown
Denver Partnership's website. To get there from their homepage at
www.DowntownDenver.com, select "Business" from the main menu at
the top, select "Development" from the drop down menu, and then look for
the link to DenverInfill from the list of PDFs and other resources. Keo
Frazier, the Research Coordinator at the Partnership, has been doing
a great job of expanding the available resources and other content
throughout the DDP's website. |
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