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Denver Infill Blog
October 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
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
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October
30, 2005. Here are a few random infill items for a
Sunday:
I've learned a bit more
about Hanover's proposed new high-rise for the Golden Triangle (see
October 14 blog below). It apparently will go at the northeast
corner of 8th and Acoma, immediately east of their just-completed
Boulevard project, although this has not been completely confirmed. I've
also learned that the building will look very similar to
this one that Hanover has developed in
Dallas.
Another new project has
popped up in the
Prospect neighborhood. The Inca 29
Urban Brownstones will be located right at the corner of Inca and W. 29th
Avenue, immediately south of the Water Tower lofts and just east of Urban
Neighborhood's
7-building Prospect Place development. Project rendering and site
photos coming to the Prospect page soon!
On Saturday (October 29)
was the ceremonial ground-breaking for the Highland Bridge, the third and
final pedestrian bridge linking the Highland neighborhood with the Central
Platte Valley and Downtown (check out Project #1 on the
CPV North
page). Here are a few photos from that event:
Getting Things Set Up
•
Councilwoman Montero & Mayor Hickenlooper
The Groundbreaking
•
Preliminary Central Street Landscaping Plan
More Highland news:
Two small houses at the corner of 29th & Wyandot have just been torn down,
allowing construction on the Wyandot Overlook project (see Project #14 on
the
Highland page) to move forward. Also, a new Highland
project was just announced... the Flats 15 project will include 15
townhomes at the corner of 33rd and Shoshone. No project renderings
have been obtained yet, but I'll get this project added to the Highland
page soon.
Construction is also
underway on the Golden Row (Project #3) project in the
Golden Triangle neighborhood, the first phase of the new East
Village project in the
Curtis Park neighborhood, and the Blake
Street Apartments (Project #8) in the
Ballpark
neighborhood.
October
19, 2005. For those of you unable to get into
Downtown Denver on a regular basis (or at all) to check on the progress of
some of the infill projects underway, here are a few photos taken this
past weekend of some of the projects. There are more still to come
next week too.
Glass House •
DNA Building •
Residence Inn •
EPA Building
•
Zocalo Condos •
ArtHouse
Also, here is a model of
what the
St. Charles Place project will look like next to the Glass House
in the Central Platte Valley. According to folks at the Riverfront
Park sales office, this project is expected to break ground in November
2005. Finally, here's a photo of the completed
Monarch Mills project
on 15th Street near Commons Park in the CPV. All of these photos may
also be found in the individual sections for each project on the
appropriate Downtown block or neighborhood page.
October
14, 2005. Several buildings in the Downtown area
currently under construction are progressing nicely. This weekend
I'll be taking some photos of some of these projects for those of you who
may not have the opportunity to get through Downtown Denver on a regular
basis. To get you started, here's a current photo of the
450 E. 17th Avenue project, courtesy of a
good friend of mine who works near the project site. For info on
this project, check out Project # 16 on the
Uptown
neighborhood page.
October
13, 2005. Could there be another high-rise in the
Golden Triangle's future? DenverInfill.com has learned that
Hanover, the developer of The Boulevard, the new apartment project at
8th/Bannock/Speer, has purchased land on an adjacent block for the
development of a 22-story condominium tower! This tower would be
located just two blocks south along Speer from the proposed 19-story 1000
Speer project, furthering the "high-rise" row affect along Speer
Boulevard. If anyone has more information on this, send me an email.
October
12, 2005. Big Downtown Infill news! The
largest remaining surface parking lot adjacent to the 16th Street Mall now
has a development proposal on it! The lot is at the corner of 16th &
Blake on
Block 019 in Lower Downtown, next to the
historic Sugar Building on 16th, next to the building where the Rio Grande
Restaurant is on Blake, and across Blake from the Starbucks at 16 Market
Square. The project is generally similar in scope to 16 Market
Square (see
Block 042): ground floor retail, three
floors of office above that, an additional half-dozen or so floors of
residential above that, with three levels of underground parking.
What's interesting is that this project would have an impact on more than
just the 16th Street Mall and Blake Street. An additional component
of the project includes a narrow infill building on the single undeveloped
lot along the 1500 block of Wazee that would connect to the proposed main
building at 16th & Blake. In addition to being visible on the aerial
photo on the Block 019 page, this very narrow lot can also be seen at the
far left side of the Wazee Street elevation photo on the same page.
This project, along with the EPA Regional HQ building currently under
construction at the site of the old Postal Annex, will really enhance the
intensity of pedestrian activity along the Mall in Lower Downtown and
further connect the Central Platte Valley to the rest of Downtown.
October
11, 2005. Still more catching up to do.
Additional infill news during our long blog drought:
A developer is proposing
a 250-300 unit apartment complex in the Jefferson Park neighborhood where
the Chili Pepper and Baby Doe's restaurants are currently located.
The site offers perhaps the best panorama of the Downtown skyline and
makes an attractive redevelopment site. The neighborhood group,
which has expressed their opposition to the project, is not against a
redevelopment of the site per se, but against the 100% rental nature of
the project, and the lack of public access to the spectacular view.
Sounds like if the project is restructured to be mostly for-sale condos
with perhaps some kind of a central courtyard with a ground-floor
restaurant with patio seating (providing the general public access to the
skyline views) then maybe the project will receive the local community's
support. Here's a recent article about the project from the Rocky
Mountain News:
Baby Doe's Neighbors Oppose Apartments (10-8-2005).
Here's some Ballpark
Neighborhood news: A
rendering of the Walnut Street Townhomes
is now available. This is Project # 14 for the
Ballpark
Neighborhood. The Walnut Street Townhomes has also been working its
way through the city's development review process and is now under Final
Review.
A
rendering of the Nichols Partnership's
proposed 41-story "The Spire" project has also been obtained. Not
the highest quality image, but at least a glimpse of what's to come.
Check out the details about The Spire on
Block 131 in Central Downtown.
October
10, 2005. Yes, I know. It's been three weeks
since a blog entry. I know all you infill junkies out there have
been wondering what the heck has been up with DenverInfill.com
lately. Hasn't been for a lack of things to talk about, but your
Infill webmaster has just been extremely busy lately. But, I see
light at the end of the tunnel, so let's try to make up for it a bit
today, shall we?
So what's been going on
the past few weeks on the Downtown development front? Here's a quick
rundown:
The Denver Landmark
Preservation Commission (LPC) voted AGAINST de-designating the "Bell Park"
site (once the location of Denver's City Hall) at 14th & Larimer from the
Lower Downtown Historic District. As a consequence, Mr. Geller's
proposed 30-story condo tower at that location is temporarily in limbo.
There are apparently several paths this project could follow, from no
project at all, to a low-rise (55' height limit) project that would
conform to the LoDo Historic District restrictions, to a realignment of
the District's boundaries to keep the Bell Park half of the site is in the
District, but de-designating the Speer half to allow for the tower, to who
knows what else. The City (including several City Council members,
the Partnership, and others) are in favor of the tower's development, so
the LPC is feeling the heat. My opinion? Need you ask?
Actually, if there were a viable historic building on the site that was
being slated for demolition to allow for the condo tower, I would have to
support the LPC's decision. However, this is a site that for decades
has been home to a surface parking lot. I can't think of
anything that is more antithetical to honoring a former historic building
than preserving a surface parking lot in its name. A parking lot is
exactly not what Downtown Denver of the late 1800s was all about. Of course, I haven't yet mentioned that,
in addition to the surface parking lot, this site is perhaps more well
known for being a homeless camp, complete with trampled grass,
possession-laden shopping carts, and the stench of urine in the air.
Does this sound like something worth preserving? The old City Hall
is gone. We can't bring it back. So if we're to honor a
building that is no longer there, we might as well do so while standing
before a modern high-rise that affirms through its presence Denver's
urbanity, than a surface parking lot that represents the anti-urban
deconstruction that took place in Downtown Denver during the second half
of the 20th Century.
This issue has been
getting a bit of press. Here are the latest articles about this
matter:
City, Developers Revisit Landmark Issues
(9-19-2005);
City Land Swap Hits Snag for Developer
(9-27-2005);
Preservation in Cross Hairs of Politics
(9-28-2005);
Developers Could Profit in Land Swap
(9-29-2005),
A Sculpture Garden Enriches Golden, but Bell Park
May Take Its Toll on Denver (10-6-2005),
Landmark Commission Halts LoDo Tower
(10-7-2005).
Nothing new about Trump
and his maybe-a-new-tallest for Denver. We're still waiting for a
big announcement. Could be any day now.
With a new Embassy Suites
hotel proposed for the corner of 14th & Stout (see
Block 138), the current Embassy Suites
hotel at 19th & Curtis (see
Block 095) may be converted into Denver's
first Ritz-Carlton Hotel, with the apartments above converted into pricy
for-sale condos. Not really an infill project, but certainly another
positive sign of Downtown's continuing growth and revitalization.
Here's an article about the Ritz proposal:
Time Seems Ripe for a Denver Ritz
(9-30-2005).
Speaking of high-end
hotels with residences above, the Four Seasons project (see
Block 074) appears to be moving forward,
albeit at glacial speeds. Announced one year ago next month, instead
of being a few months into construction already as originally planned, the
project is just now getting around to setting up a sales office.
Behind-the-scenes marketing of the project to the rich and famous from
Aspen has been going on since this Spring, but apparently the developers
are finally ready to make their sales pitch to the
not-quite-so-rich-and-famous from Denver. The new sales office will
be in the retail space in the Performing Arts Complex on 14th Street.
Four Seasons Developers Lease Space for Sales Center
(10-3-2005).
Finally, I'll leave you
with some exciting Downtown retail news: a Whole Foods grocery store is
planned as the retail anchor for the proposed One Lincoln Park project on
Block 177.
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