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Denver Infill Blog
March 2006
Here's
where I will regularly share news, observations, rumors, ideas, or
anything else about urban redevelopment, infill projects or Downtown
Denver.
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March
31, 2006. Today I've got a few details on the newest
project in the Ballpark Neighborhood, thanks to the good people over at
Urban Ventures
who are getting ready to launch the final phase of their Fire Clay
Lofts project. The final phase, which will be located at 31st and
Blake (see Project #2 on the
Ballpark page) will consist of 51 units
in a mix of flats, townhomes, lofts, and row homes. The project is
planned to be completed Spring 2007. Ten one-bedroom flats starting
in the mid-$100k range will be released starting the first week of April
as part of a pre-construction promotion. Details of the final phase
should be available soon on the project website at
www.fireclayloft.com. As soon as renderings are
available, I'll share them with you.
What's happening along
upper Blake Street is really just amazing. Way back in the mid
1980s, a co-worker of mine at the time moved into a unit at the Silver
Square Lofts at 33rd and Blake, which had just been completed. This was
well before Coors Field or the whole LoDo loft boom. In fact, back
in those days, Downtown sort of came to an end at about Market Street.
The mall shuttle terminated at Market Street Station, and all the old
viaducts, like the Speer, 15th, 16th, 19th and 20th Street Viaducts, all
rose up from ground level at about Market Street to begin their elevated
crossing of the railroad tracks, the Platte River, and the urban
wasteland that was the Central Platte Valley. Just getting to streets like
Blake, Wazee, and Wynkoop in your car was somewhat of a challenge.
Blake Street, even in the close-to-Downtown parts between 14th and 20th,
was "gritty" to put it kindly. Weeds, litter, boarded-up windows,
graffiti, crumbling infrastructure, and vagrants was the prevailing
character, and as one headed farther northeast along Blake into the 20s
and 30s-numbered streets, things got even scarier. So when I went to
visit my friend at her new place at 33rd & Blake, I remember it felt like
I had reached the end of the world, or at least Commerce City.
Today, much of upper
Blake Street still reflects its rough industrial roots, but there are also
now many urban infill projects dotted along the way that is giving upper
Blake a schizophrenic feel to it. One block, it's a messy industrial
strip; the next block, a pleasant residential street. A lot of it
has to do with the street infrastructure itself. Most of Blake
Street past Broadway doesn't have curb and gutter, not to mention niceties
such as sidewalks, buried utilities, or pedestrian lighting. But
when a new project goes in, the city requires new curb and gutter,
sidewalks, pedestrian lamps, etc. be installed in front of the
development. So, today a journey down Blake Street has this
new-old-new-old rhythm going on that makes it an intriguing place to
experience. Ten years from now (if that long) a journey down Blake
Street from 33rd to 20th could feel more like a trip down Little Raven.
But unlike along Little Raven in Riverfront Park where everything
is new, enough of Blake's historic industrial buildings are being saved
and renovated to allow upper Blake to always be able to reflect some of
its industrial past, no matter how redeveloped it becomes. In the
end though, the transformation of upper Blake into a thriving, mixed-use
neighborhood gives Denver yet another great urban street that embraces old
and new and solidifies Denver's city center as an authentic, unique place
in a world of so many fake and placeless places.
March
29, 2006. I've just updated the Big Picture skyline photo
(bottom of the Big Picture
page) to include the proposed Trump Tower Denver. It's hard to say
what the real color of the glass will be, since the only image provided so
far has the whole skyline, including the Trump Tower, colored sort of an
orange/gold since it's supposed to be taken at sunrise. So that's
the color I went with for now, pending future renderings of the tower.
Enjoy!
March
27, 2006. It looks like another Downtown project is about
to break ground! Thanks to a DenverInfill regular for the tip on
this one: the 11th & Grant project has a construction fence up at the site
and has a new name... the Strada Flats. They even have a website
going (www.stradaflats.com)
although there's really no content on the website yet. This is a
project that first was announced back in 2000 or so. At the time, it
was supposed to be a 6-story, 54-unit condo project. Then it sort of
disappeared for several years, until just late last year when it suddenly
appeared as a development review case with the city planning office.
Then, not too long ago, a building permit application was filed with the
city, and now it looks like it really is going to happen. The
project now includes 30 units, not 54, but I don't know much else about
it. It may no longer be 6 floors given the decrease in the number of
units, but that's not necessarily the case. Anyway, one of the
largest blocks of surface parking in Capitol Hill is located at 11th &
Grant, with almost a half city block of some of the ugliest parking
lots in the city found at that corner. At least one of them will be
going away very soon it appears!
In other construction
news... I've been told that the Inca 29 project in the
Prospect neighborhood has broken ground, but I haven't been
over there yet to see for myself. Also, the new Hilton Garden Inn at the
corner of 14th & Welton is coming along quickly. Seems like they
just broke ground a few weeks ago, and already the first vertical columns
are starting to rise above ground level!
March
24, 2006. Short but sweet today: two more major infill
projects have formally submitted development cases with the City planning
office: the New Sugar Building, and 1400 Wewatta! Both are also
still under review with the Lower Downtown Design Review Board, so they
both continue to work through the process. A summer or fall
groundbreaking for both looks promising.
March
23, 2006. We now have official evidence of the
long-rumored W Hotel in the Central Platte Valley...more or less.
A new development case recently filed with the City planning
office is called "Union Center Hotel and Residences." Union Center is
the name now being used for the portion of the Central Platte Valley
between Union Station and the railroad tracks. While the name "W
Hotel" is not officially identified as part of this development
application, rumors have been circling about town for months that a
combination W Hotel/condo project was in the works for behind Union
Station. What's the location and size of the site for this new project,
according to the development application? 17th and Chestnut, and 2
acres. Only one of the four blocks that meet at the corner of 17th
and Chestnut measures 2 acres in size (1.96 acres to be precise, but close
enough). That would be the block bounded by Wewatta, 17th, Chestnut,
and 18th or, on this map of the
Union Center area, the two parcels
labeled as "Filing 4 Block 3" and "Filing 5 Block 4." According to
the application, the project will include 93 residential units. It
doesn't say how many hotel rooms. The PUD for this portion of the
Central Platte Valley limits the building height on this block to 140
feet, so I suspect this will end up as a 12-story building or so.
What better way for
East-West Partners to make their debut on the other side of the tracks
from their wildly-successful Riverfront Park development but by bringing
the trendy W Hotel name to the 100% corner behind the future transit hub
for the entire region! Now, we just wait for 1).
The official press release by East-West Partners and Starwood Hotels &
Resorts announcing the W Hotel brand for this site; 2). A groundbreaking
date; and, 3). A rendering of the design for this project by the
internationally-known architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
Can't wait for that!
On a separate note, the RiverClay
project in Jefferson Park has its website up and running
at
www.riverclay.com.
March
22, 2006. I've just finished uploading the new Maravilla
condominium project to the
La Alma/Lincoln Park neighborhood,
including a rendering of the project which you can view here (Maravilla)
or by visiting the La Alma/Lincoln Park page.
What's interesting about
the Santa Fe corridor in La Alma/Lincoln Park is the way in which it
mirrors in many ways what occurred in Lower Downtown in the early 1990s.
Many artists and design firms look for commercial spaces where they can
display their works in affordable, eclectic, transitioning urban areas,
particularly if those areas feature buildings formerly used for other
purposes that are adaptable for different uses. Lower Downtown went
through its whole "edgy arts" scene, with LoDo's 19th Century commercial
buildings well suited for those purposes. Eventually, LoDo
transitioned into a more upscale (i.e. expensive) market, and many of the
art galleries were replaced with trendy restaurants and other commercial
uses. Today, River North and, in particular, La Alma/Lincoln Park is
filling the role of hosting Denver's vibrant arts scene. The Santa
Fe Art District's First Friday art walks have gained such widespread
popularity that the crowds perusing the galleries along Santa Fe Drive
make it look almost like LoDo after a Rockies' game (back when the Rockies
were good). So, one has to wonder how long before the Santa Fe corridor
goes "uptown" and the galleries are forced to retreat to less-regentrified
places? I would say there are still a few years to go before that
happens, but if the trend continues, the Santa Fe corridor eventually will
be lined with swanky martini bars and upscale lofts. When that
happens, we'll be talking about all the expensive infill projects in the
La Alma/Lincoln Park neighborhood, and about how [insert neighborhood name
here] has become the next hip arts district.
March
21, 2006. One Lincoln Park officially broke ground today,
adding the tallest project yet (32-stories) to our Downtown
under-construction list! By this summer, we should see a tower crane
rising above the One Lincoln Park site at 20th & Lincoln. So, which
will be the next high-rise to break ground in Downtown? My bet is on
The Spire, the 41-story condo project planned by Randy Nichols of the
Nichols Partnership. Hopefully, that will be followed soon
thereafter by three more projects with planned mid-summer groundbreakings:
the Four Seasons tower, the 18th & Market Residences, and 816 Acoma.
The State of Colorado has
reissued its RFP for Program Management Services for a new state Justice
Center ("Center of Justice") and Colorado History Museum. Here's the
link:
http://www.courts.state.co.us/scao/rfp/JUD-RFP-06-SCAO-109.pdf.
Of course, the whole thing is dependent upon the state legislature
approving the several hundred million dollar appropriation to build the
two projects, which total over 900,000 square feet of space. But
considering the state hasn't spent hardly any money in capital
construction in the Downtown area for decades, the appropriation deserves
to go through. The recently-completed Capitol Complex Parking Garage
was supposedly financed from a different pot of money than the state's
regular capital construction funds, so hopefully the Justice
Center/History Museum project will get the green light. The project has a
long-term timeframe, however. According to the RFP, it's a 79-month
project, from the awarding of design work to completion of construction on
both the Justice Center and Museum buildings. That puts us into 2012
or so for completion.
March
17, 2006. Here's more information about the proposed
Spanos project in the Jefferson Park neighborhood, on the site of the Baby
Doe's and Chile Pepper restaurants. First, here's a collection of
renderings of the apartment buildings
proposed by Spanos. I believe some of the design has evolved and I'm not
sure if some of these are older or newer than the others, but it'll give
you a general idea of the design concept. Next, here's the Spanos
site plan. Keep in mind that the
neighborhood's primary opposition is the lack of retail, the lack of
for-sale units, the lack of affordable units, and how the buildings don't
relate to the neighboring single- family residences. Finally, here's
an
alternative site plan that a few
architects who live in the area created for the neighborhood association.
The differences? The neighborhood's alternative incorporates
ground-floor retail and a mix of for-sale, rental, and affordable units,
breaks up the massing of the project by creating more buildings but of
varied heights and densities, creates more defined spaces that serve as a
focal or view point, and puts the lower-scale portions of the development
closer to the existing single family neighborhoods....all while
maintaining the same total unit count as the Spanos plan. We'll see
what happens next.
In other news, the site
of the proposed 19-story 1000 Speer project in the
Golden Triangle recently sold for $1.67 million. The property
closed on 3/1/2006. The purchaser? 1000 Speer, LLC. That's a good
sign the project is moving forward!
March
16, 2006. It seems like the infill projects in the
Downtown area just keep rolling in faster than I can keep track of them.
Here are a few I've come across within the past couple of days... don't
know much about them yet, but here goes:
2831 Firth Court
(Highland neighborhood) 20 unit condo project
3040 Zuni Street
(Highland neighborhood) 7 unit condo project
1505 E. 8th Avenue
(Capitol Hill neighborhood) 6 unit condo project
3198 Blake Street
(Ballpark neighborhood) 40 unit condo project
I'll be working to track
down information on these, but if you know anything about these
developments, please give me a hand and I'll get them included on their
respective neighborhood pages as new projects.
March
15, 2006. A couple of exciting things in today's
newspapers: One Lincoln Park officially breaks ground on Monday (as
predicted in my March 6 entry) and the Embassy Suites hotel on
Block 095 will be converted into a Ritz
Carlton Hotel. That's good news for several reasons, including the
fact that it increases the likelihood that the proposed 27-story Embassy
Suites hotel on
Block 138 will get built.
More good news, this time
from
Jefferson Park. Unlike the Spanos
project discussed yesterday (and I'll have more to say about that project
here soon), one of those Denver developers who does work closely with the
neighborhood is making good progress on designing his next project.
That would be David Zucker and the RiverClay project at Clay and River
Drive. Mr. Zucker was kind enough to forward to DenverInfill
a preliminary design for that project. Here is the west elevation (RiverClay).
The project includes 60 condominium units (including some of the
affordable kind) and neighborhood-serving ground floor retail. This
development was also sited so that it would maintain a view of the
Downtown skyline from Jefferson Park itself.
March
14, 2006. Thanks to the folks at Jefferson Park United
Neighbors, with their permission I'm attaching a copy of their
neighborhood's
position letter to City Councilman Rick
Garcia, expressing their opposition to the proposed Spanos project as it's
currently planned. I've talked about this project several times in
the past... it's the project proposed for where the Baby Doe's restaurant
is along I-25, just west of the Downtown Aquarium and Elitch Gardens.
Basically, this California developer wants to build a monolithic apartment
block on a site that offers incredibly stunning views of the Downtown
skyline. What are the neighborhood's demands? That about 20%
of the units be for-sale condominiums, that 10% of the apartments be
"affordable" units, and that the project include some neighborhood
retail... in other words, simply what is typical, appropriate, and
expected of new developments in a Downtown Denver neighborhood.
Apparently some
developers just don't get it. If this project were being developed
by, say, Susan Powers or Randy Nichols or Charles Woolley or David Zucker,
this would be a project that would incorporate not only a mix of condos
and rentals, but a mix of income-eligible units and ground-floor retail
too, as well as probably some kind of community plaza to allow the
neighbors to enjoy the skyline view -- all with architecture that is
sensitive to the scale and history of the neighborhood. More
importantly, perhaps, these and other experienced Denver developers would
bend over backwards to work with the neighborhood from day one, not only
because you end up getting a better development that way, but because it's
simply the right thing to do.
The Baby Doe's site is
special. It offers a sweeping panorama of not only Downtown but of
southeast Denver all the way to the Tech Center. You can just about
see Kansas from there. The Jefferson Park neighborhood deserves to
have this site be developed with as much quality, sensitivity, creativity,
and diversity as if it were in Cherry Creek North or next to the
Millennium Bridge. What we don't need is for some out-of-state
developer to come in and slap up some big boxy apartment slab that
overwhelms the neighborhood, blocks everyone's views, and gives us all
something to loathe every time we drive by on I-25.
March
10, 2006. I heard that a building permit has been issued
for 816 Acoma, the 16-story, 224-unit apartment tower planned by Hanover
for a site across Acoma Street from their just-completed Boulevard Lofts
project. I believe a number of months back I reported that the developers
were planning on breaking ground in July of this year, so it looks like
they're right on track. There's at least one, possibly two buildings
that they will have to raze before construction on the tower can proceed.
We'll have to watch for a construction fence to go up around this site at
8th & Acoma in the
Golden Triangle neighborhood.
This project is only a
half block or so from Speer, and with the proposed 1000 Speer (Speer &
10th Avenue) and the 12th & Elati Residences (Speer & 12th) projects, the
"high-rise row" effect along Speer from Downtown to Cherry Creek
continues. I know that farther south along Speer around Downing, the
residents are opposed to more towers in their neighborhood. But just
in the stretch between Colfax and 6th Avenue, there are dozens of sites
along Speer where parking lots or one-story buildings could accommodate
future towers. Which leads to the obvious conclusion that there
should be some type of transit between Downtown and Cherry Creek.
Not that you necessarily need all this density along Speer to justify a
street car or light rail line along Speer. The "no brainer" part of
it is to connect our vibrant but retail-light Downtown with our retail
heavyweight Cherry Creek. Over 100,000 people work in Downtown every
day. Wouldn't it be nice to hop on a train and zip down to Cherry
Creek on your lunch hour to do a little shopping? What about those
hundreds of thousands of conventioneers and other visitors to our fair
city who have to take a taxi or drive a rental car the short three miles
between the two most important commercial nodes in the city center?
Yes, this has been a rant of mine ever since they built the Cherry Creek
Mall in 1990. Funny though, this is the first time I've mentioned it
in my blog, but Denver needs rail transit between Downtown and Cherry
Creek!!
March
9, 2006. How about a few construction photos today?
In case you haven't had the opportunity to check out the progress at the
new Museum Residences, here are a couple of pictures. First, if
you're not familiar with the project, go to
Block 043-E in the
Civic Center area. What's currently
under construction is Phase 1 of the project, a seven-story "wrap-around"
building over the west and south sides of the new Cultural Complex Parking
Garage, featuring ground-floor retail and the Mizel Museum, and
residential condos above.
Here are two general
photos showing construction progress: this one is looking at the
southwestern corner of the project, where the extended Acoma Plaza and W.
12th Avenue will meet (Museum
Residences 1). This next one shows a close up of the
south side along 12th, and the angular projections that will make this
Libeskind-designed residential building unique to the area (Museum
Residences 2). This third one I find interesting because
it captures in the same frame the 1135 Broadway project on the right (see
Project #6 on the
Golden Triangle page), a project that
includes a majority of its condos as income-restricted "affordable" units,
and the Museum Residences on the left, which features some of the city's
most expensive condo units (Museum
Residences 3). To me, a sign of a great city is having a
mix of housing products for different income levels all in the same area.
Finally, who said Denver has boring architecture? In this
interesting composition, we have, from left to right, a prow from the
under-construction Denver Art Museum Hamilton Building, the Michael
Graves-design Denver Central Library, the top of the city's iconic "Cash
Register" building in the background, and another protruding element from
the Museum Residences (Museum
Residences 4). I can't wait until the whole Art Museum
area is finally finished!
March
8, 2006. The 1400 Wewatta project may be in jeopardy.
According to the February 2 minutes of the Lower Downtown Design Review
Board, the developer (Opus) asked again for the board's approval for the
mechanical penthouse to exceed the 130' height limit. The board has
not been receptive to this in the past and has stuck to enforcing the
Lower Downtown design guidelines which state, "Residential or mechanical
penthouses shall not penetrate the plane above 130 feet."
In his introduction to
this topic, the representative for Opus, H. McNeish said: "The
second issue is the mechanical penthouse. Mr. Shears will give you the
details. The penthouse is critical to this project. We can talk about the
guidelines and precedents, but we should be talking about compatibility
with the district and the gateway. We should take ideas and make it
better. This element of the project keeps us from moving forward. We
encourage dialog. We’re talking about not letting 8,000 out of a total of
400,000 square feet keep this a parking lot."
After public comment and
much discussion by the board, they voted to deny the request for the
mechanical penthouse to exceed the 130' limit. Does this mean the
developer won't move forward with the project as they warned? Or
were they calling the LDDRB's bluff? Will the developer be back with
another solution to the mechanical penthouse issue?
If you want to read the
entire discussion about this project from the LDDRB meeting, here are the
relevant pages from the February 2 minutes:
LDDRB Minutes 02-02-2006 Pg. 7-10.
March
7, 2006. Here's an interesting development: The Alliance
Properties' 21st & Market project on
Block 036, a 240-unit,
8-story new building plus renovation/conversion of the historic Piggly
Wiggly building, recently received its rezoning and its final design
approval from the city. It's a project that's ready to move forward to the
building permit and construction phase. But, instead, the site is up
for sale! Here's a
flyer from CB Richard Ellis about the
property.
This shouldn't be viewed
as a bad thing. Basically, the current developer did all the hard work...
got the site rezoned, went through the whole development review process
with the city, including the Landmark Preservation Commission's approval
since the site is in the Ballpark Historic District, etc. Now, all
another developer has to do is buy the whole package and move right into
the construction phase. Of course, they'll pay for all that
entitlement, but it sure does save them time and a lot of headache.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see how much time elapses between the
Offer Date announced on the flyer, and when a new developer begins
construction.
The other interesting
thing we also gained from this is a glimpse of the project design.
Here's a
larger version of the rendering from the
flyer, which I'll add to the Block 036 page.
March
6, 2006. People used to say back in the early 1980s that
the Colorado state bird was the "crane" because of all the construction
cranes in Downtown Denver. Well, it appears that bird is coming back
from extinction! There are now seven tower cranes in Downtown with
the inclusion of this new one for the
Hilton Garden Inn at 14th & Welton on
Block 172. The other six? Two at the Glass House,
two at the EPA Building, one at One Riverfront Park, and one still at the
DNA Building, although I suspect that one will probably be coming down
soon. That building is getting pretty close to being done as seen in
this photo:
DNA Building.
Speaking of tower cranes,
probably the next construction site to have a tower crane or two will be
the One Lincoln Park project. Here's the latest from the
groundbreaking date rumor mill: March 20.
March
5, 2006. Two new additions to DenverInfill today:
First, the Cityscape Townhomes project mentioned in my blog of February 20
is now officially on the
Jefferson Park neighborhood page.
The other addition is the
new
River North neighborhood page. As I've mentioned a few
times in the past, I decided to split the River North area off from the
Ballpark neighborhood, as River North is not only evolving as its own
area (due in great part to Mickey Zeppelin's
TAXI project), but the major railroad lines that run between Brighton Boulevard and
Blake Street tend to physically and psychologically separate the "Upper
Larimer" area of Ballpark from the areas along the Platte anyway. So,
as you can see from the new City Center Neighborhoods
overview map, Ballpark is now the area between those railroad tracks and Larimer, and
River North is everything west of Ballpark over to almost I-25. I
have not yet split River North
off as its own section in the Infill Scoreboard or on the Big Picture
maps, but at least the main River North page is up and running.
The whole idea of
dividing up the area northeast of Downtown into neighborhoods is a
difficult one. According to the City of Denver's
Statistical Neighborhoods map, the whole
area from the Platte River over to Downing and down to 20th Avenue is
known as just "Five Points." This area includes Curtis Park which,
as a named neighborhood, goes back almost to the city's founding, while
Five Points is typically associated more with the area around the Welton
Street corridor. Then along comes Coors Field in the 1990s, which
stimulates a lot of new development in the part of Curtis Park/Five Points
known as Upper Larimer, which caused the Ballpark neighborhood to be
recognized
as yet another distinct area. Now in the 2000s, the River North
area has done likewise. Of course, the various neighborhood
and community associations tend to claim larger areas and overlap with each other, and
there's really no set boundaries that everyone agrees to in distinguishing
Five Points from Curtis Park from Ballpark from River North. But one
thing that everyone can probably agree with, is that the area northeast of
Downtown is witnessing remarkable renewal and infill growth, and that's a
good thing for a part of town that can claim its heritage back to the
city's earliest days.
March
4, 2006. Could the very last undeveloped parcel fronting
Civic Center Park be getting developed? A friend of mine found on a
construction bid website a new project described as:
"Project Name: Capitol
Complex. Location: East Colfax Avenue and Lincoln Street, Denver.
Value: $46,500,000. Description: Site work and new construction of a
mixed-use building in Denver. Preliminary plans call for a
ten-story, 313,000-square-foot building with retail space on the ground
floor. The building will include 264 parking stalls and will house 750-940
employees. Construction is expected to commence in spring 2007. The owner
is securing funding and an architect."
Whoa! The owner has
to be the State of Colorado, and the only vacant parcel at Lincoln and
Colfax owned by the State is the parking lot right at the northeast corner
of Lincoln and Colfax next to the State Services Building on
Block 028-B. If this project moves forward, this would
leave no more vacant parcels adjacent to Civic Center/Lincoln Park. With the
recent addition of the DNA Building and the State Capitol Parking Garage,
only the parking lot at Lincoln and Colfax remains (although technically,
RTD's Civic Center Station was supposedly built to accommodate a tower
above it in place of the raised plaza).
This makes the design of
this building all that more important. Let's hope the State pays
more attention to the importance of design of this building than it did on
the new State Capitol Parking Garage. Of course, I would argue the
State shouldn't have wasted such a high-profile site fronting the park and next
to the Capitol itself on a parking garage, but it's too late now for that.
Hopefully, the State will show us through the design of this new office
building and the proposed Colorado Center of Justice and Colorado History
Museum projects that they understand the importance of leaving a legacy of
excellence in civic architecture.
March
3, 2006. Yesterday at the Lower Downtown Design Review
Board (LDDRB) meeting, three LoDo projects took steps forward.
First, while not really an infill project, a significant
renovation/conversion project won approval by the Board: the historic
Colorado Saddlery Building at the corner
of 15th and Wynkoop on
Block 016 will be thoroughly renovated
into offices, three rooftop penthouses in a new addition, and ground-floor
retail. The conversion of this building, along with the new EPA
building and the proposed Hines mixed-use project will really transform
the 1500 block of Wynkoop.
Speaking of the Hines
project, it too was discussed at yesterday's LoDo board meeting. The
project (Block
013) had received approval for the building envelope back in
2002 before it was put on hold. Now it's back and moving forward.
The developers asked the Board for a minor variance in the
previously-approved building envelope. The board granted its
approval, so the next step will be a return to the board in the near
future looking for approval on the building's mass and scale. The
new Hines building will have sort of an "H" shape, with a recessed notch
in line with the alley along 15th Street as the main vehicle access point
for the underground parking. The mid-block recess also will allow
the Hines project to appear as if it's two separate buildings along 15th
Street. On the Wynkoop side, the building will rise 85 feet, and
along the Wewatta Street side, the building will go up to 115 feet tall.
The project will include a mix of offices and residential, with
ground-floor retail.
Finally, the new Sugar
Building went before the LoDo board yesterday. This building is
quite far along in its design. The board approved the facade for the
skinny "Wazee Infill" building as it's called by the developer, as well as
the bridge across the alley and the building's color and materials.
The main hang-up involved the balconies on the residential portion of the
building. The Board was not too impressed and asked the developers
to revisit the balcony design. Nevertheless, this project is now
very close to final approval...getting down to just a few minor issues.
I had an opportunity to see a rendering of the new Sugar Building at the LDDRB meeting yesterday, and it was very cool! This building will
completely transform that stretch of the 16th Street Mall. I can't
wait to see this one get under construction!
March
2, 2006. Both Denver papers today have articles about the
New Sugar Building proposal on
Block 019 at Blake and the 16th St. Mall (Office,
Retail, Apartment Project Planned for 16th Street Mall) (Modern
Structure Planned for LoDo). What we learn that's new is
that it will be 10 stories (that was my earlier estimate based on its
height), that it will have three levels of underground parking,
ground-floor retail, three floors of office, and six floors of apartments.
Yep, that's apartments, not condos. Even though 1600 Glenarm is
coming online with over 300 high-end rental units, this site is in Lower
Downtown, which doesn't really have much of a rental market, so I guess
that's the rationale. A few other things to note about this new
building: it will be "modern" in its design, with a lot of glass on the
upper floors. I'm glad to see the Lower Downtown Design Review Board
embracing contemporary architecture as an allowable form in Lower
Downtown. Not that I don't like 16 Market Square and other buildings
that are generally meant to blend in with LoDo's 19th century commercial
architecture, but sometimes things can be too "harmonious." It's
fun to shake things up a bit. We also learn this building will
be very energy efficient, which I assume means they will be aiming for
LEED certification.
The Lower Downtown Design
Review Board will also be starting to review today the proposed Hines
mixed-use project at 15th and Wynkoop... basically, the other half of the
old Postal Annex site next to the EPA Building that's under construction
(see
Block 013). That project was
announced way back in 2004 before they had even torn down the old Annex.
It's been quietly out of the news ever since, but it appears it may now be
gearing up. They were probably waiting until the EPA Building got
well underway before starting the approval process, since the Hines site
is being used for construction staging for the EPA. Anyway, could we
have the New Sugar Building, 1400 Wewatta, 1800 Market, and the Hines
project all under construction in LoDo at the same time? That would
be sweet! Of course, I am somewhat of a construction junkie.
March
1, 2006. What a nice way to start the new month, but with
an announcement that Downtown Denver's Civic Center area will get another
museum! Yes, as expected, the announcement was finally made about the
chosen location for the new Clyfford Still Museum. In case you're
not up to speed on who this Clyfford Still guy is and why Denver's going
to have a museum about him, please read this
press release. Also, here are the
articles about the museum site selection from our two daily papers: (Clyfford
Still Museum Site Selected) (Site
Selected for Clyfford Still Museum). OK, so the chosen
location is on the same block (Block
044-E) as the Libeskind-designed new Denver Art Museum wing.
The location was generally expected to be in the vicinity of the DAM
anyway, but right next door is just good as far as I'm concerned.
Frankly, there are
so many blocks in the northern tier of
the Golden Triangle that are riddled with surface parking lots, that you
could take your pick and really not go wrong. The presence of the
museum on any of them would be an improvement. But this location
builds directly on the energy and momentum gained through the new DAM
building, and it more-or-less finishes off the adjacent half block to the
west of the Libeskind wing. Here's a base
aerial photo (from the city's website) of
the Art Museum block and the parcels on the Bannock side of that block,
where I've indicated on it the location of the chosen site.
The articles indicate
that the Clyfford Still Museum will occupy three parcels: one owned by the
DAM, one by a private entity named Clifton, and then another one by the
DAM. Those are the three parcels I've highlighted in yellow.
That's where the museum will go. The other two to the north are
owned by the City and County of Denver, and are currently being used as
the staging area for the construction of the new DAM building. I
believe (although am not certain) that upon completion of the new DAM
building, those parcels will become some type of landscaped park or plaza.
Let's hope so anyway. So, once the Still Museum is complete, you'll
essentially have the northern two-thirds of the Bannock side of that block
as plaza/museum, with the remainder consisting of private development.
The building at the corner of 12th and Bannock is a nice historic building
that's been renovated into offices. It should definitely stick
around.
So, this part of Civic
Center will boast the Ponti and Libeskind Denver Art Museum buildings, the
Denver Public Library Central Branch, the
Mizel Museum, the Denver History
Museum/Byers-Evans House, the Clyfford Still Museum, and (eventually) a
brand new 240,000 sf Colorado History Museum. Not a bad line-up.
Now if we could just do something about the rest of those parking lots....
Finally, the
Block 035-B page in Upper Downtown has been modified to include
the new Trump project. There you will find the renderings I posted a
few days ago in the February blog. |
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