You may recall that back in September, the Downtown Denver Partnership was asking people to submit creative ideas for interim uses for the vacant lots where the two buildings used to be. Hopefully, we’ll hear something about that in the near future. I did notice that two original storefront columns from the former Republic Hotel building were conspicuously left standing along the California Street sidewalk. I wonder what that could be all about?
Regarding the future permanent use of the rest of Block 162, last week the Urban Land Institute expert panel hired by owner/developer Evan Makovsky was in town to check out the site and gather information. Mr. Makovsky will use the ULI panel’s recommendations in the shaping of the ultimate redevelopment plan for the site.
Meanwhile, renovation work on the historic Fontius building at 16th and Welton has begun! The most noticeable changes so far have been the removal of the distinctive blue Fontius signs from the building’s Welton and 16th Street façades, and the removal of the nasty awning that used to overhang the sidewalk at the corner:
So what will happen to the old Fontius signs? For now, they will be sent to a sign company for a complete restoration. Then, after that… Evan’s not saying! I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. I spotted the signs laying inside one of the empty storefronts, awaiting their trip to the restoration shop, so I took this shot through the window:
Speaking of signs, with the “Denver Wigs” sign now also gone, it is easy to see the ghost of the old Dave Cook’s sign that occupied the spot before. In my Inside the Fontius special feature, I’ve got a couple of photos of the old Dave Cook’s Sporting Goods space in the basement of the building.
Finally, work on the building isn’t limited to the exterior. Workers are busy on the interior too, clearing out junk that’s been sitting around for decades and starting some interior demolition as well. Here’s one of the former Fontius Shoes front retail area:
It will be fascinating to watch this building be transformed–finally!–into a beautiful, active member of the Downtown streetscape.
The retail portion of this building desperately wants to become an Apple Store. Make it happen Evan!
I am sooooooo excited to finally see this building being restored!!!! Thank you, Evan Makovsky! People have recently blogged that they hate when demolition takes place long before redevelopment begins. Patience, people! It seems to me that when you buy a decrepit building in order to redevelop the site that once you have vacated the last of the tenants the liability of owning a vacant building is enormous. Through the '80's Denver lost a lot of outstanding old buildings that should not have been demolished, but the two buildings on block 162 will not be missed by me. Look on the bright side, the Steele (Fontius) building will be beautiful once it is restored and renovated.
One demolition project that has to be stopped is that of the old Duffy's building. Why is this building not on the Denver register of historical buildings? I am not saying its the most beautiful old building in town, but it has character, and seems to be in good condition. The idea that this building is to be torn down for a parking lot for the Republic Tower is appaling. I would rather see the ugly Republic Tower building demolished. Did an architect actually get paid to design that big, plain rectangle?
If they have to create another parking lot why didn't they buy the dry cleaners, breakfast restaurant next door. Although it is an old building, the historic facade and interior have been completely destroyed. This building is on the alley and makes much more sense for parking than the Duffy's building. The dry cleaners and the breakfast place can even move into the Duffy's building. Duffy's and the old building with the pizza place at the corner of 17th, along with the Brown Palace across the street, give this area of downtown historic character. The rest of this area is completely dominated by stark skyscrapers with no street level appeal.
Ken, is there a organized campaign I can join to save the Duffy's building?
I was a bit leery of tearing down buildings before a plan was in place, but so far Mr. Makovsky has shown how quickly he is moving on this site. The two non-historic buildings were torn down almost immediately and now renovation has already begun on the Fontius. This will be one of the best blocks in downtown in a few years.
Yay, Ken's going ape-shit on the updates!!!! I'm looking forward to hearing your voice tomorrow morning.
NO IT DOESN'T! IT WANTS TO BECOME A DIESEL STORE!
Ken – I caught your interview on NPR this morning. Fantastic! It was nice to have a little Denverinfill.com over the airwaves. Great job. I hope this becomes a reoccurring segment.
I think one of the more important things at hand is the dealing with these new buildings usage. I think most of the shops and services on the 16th mall right now, are completely uninteresting to almost anyone who goes down there. I guess if your not eating or getting coffee your pretty much out of luck. I would be nice to see businesses go in down there that could cater to a more accurate demographic. I think Apple, Grocery Stores, Urban Outfitters and places more in alignment with the people spending time and money there could impact the structure and economy of the central area most beneficially and help orchestrate the much needed change downtown district.
Lifter Baron… or anyone for the matter. Yes! I agree. But how do WE make that happen?
I still think a viable multi-purpose or department store is a good idea, like the proposed Target from awhile back. And yes, an Apple store or some equivalent! Also, it's perfectly acceptable to put in a multi-story grocery store with underground parking–I've been to one just off the main Queen St. Mall in Brisbane, Australia, and it's fantastic–supermarket right there that's not garish, and little shopping cart escalator ramps separate the produce from the other stuff. It works great!
responding to corey…
you want to save an ugly, architecturally insignificant building because of the dubious nostalgia that you associate with it. this is what passes for historic preservation in many places, sadly. and it is this confusion of fleeting nostalgia for historic or architectural value that (1) hampers otherwise necessary development, (2) burdens the limited resources of historic preservation officials and organizations so as to render them ineffective when needed, and (3) otherwise dilutes the message and erodes public support for preserving valuable sites.
i liked duffy's as much as the next downtown resident and worker bee (which is to say that i liked it a lot!), but that space is a dump and it needs to be improved. my understanding is that the plan is for parking and street-level retail. faster please.
A Target or a grocery store would be fab.
Responding to Georgia:
I do not want to save the Duffy's building because of the restaurant that used to be there for 50 years or whatever. Actually, I have never been in the building in my life, and I have lived here 20 years. I want it saved, along with the building to its right, because they are two adjacent historic buildings that create a nice streetscape, along with the Brown Palace across the street. One thing I do not like is a single solitary historic building surrounded by non-descript modern buildings. The block would be improved by tearing down the one-story building to the left of the Duffy's building. This site is much better for a parking garage anyway. I have not heard that the Republic Plaza plans to build a parking garage, only a parking lot.
I too do not want to see the Duffy building torn down. However, it may be inevitable. Brookfield is a behemoth and it may be very difficult to convince them otherwise. One of their plans is to build a parking garage, not a parking lot, with ground floor retail. If they were able to save the facades of the buildings thereby keeping the pedestrian scale and experience, I would be ok with that. One thing I will NOT be ok with is the destruction of the small park that fronts 17th!! I will chain myself to a tree if I have to!
As for Duffy's, i think its important to keep the history of denver intact..what we have left. The building could be improved greatly..it would be a sweet little area if it were completely renovated. As for fontius, the idea of an urban outfitters/apple store/ and a grocer would be awesome!! All three if they fit. (not that me posting this is going to change anything)
In NYC in Union Square, they converted an old department store to a Whole Foods on the first floor, a DSW on the second, and a Forever 21 on the third.
It can be done.
So what makes them historic now? They had thier chance with the Historic Commision and were deamed not to be included with the other buildings. They had a shot.
How would keep the store front and cut a giant hole in them to allow cars to drive through? That kind of defeats the purpose of keeping them.
How can one make a whole foods or a department store financially feasible in the Fontius Building. Makovsky is spending a fortune to fix this building and will need to command top of the market rents for the space. Can you see Whole Foods paying $45/SF for ground floor retail or $30/SF for 2nd floor. Yes it would be great for the city to have these amazing stores but without help from the city it's not going to happen.
God…i would expect whole foods to pay that much…i guess i don't know much about what they pay for all their other stores, but i do know they charge a hand and a leg for a box of crackers and pride themselves on quality. You would think they would want a damn nice downtown location…
How is a whole foods going to fit into that small of a space with storage and the like?
This store frontage would be absolutely awesome for an Apple Store. Can you imagine the foot traffic that store would get!?!?!?
agree!! Apple store will make a difference for an aging 16th street mall!! so I can just walk to an Apple store instead of driving to one!! 🙂
The 16th street mall is a dump, 90% of the stores on that strip are garbage. Trust me, I live down there, I see them every day. Unless you are setting out to get a sandwich, some other cheap food, or yes, a cup of coffee, you are pretty much out of luck. The shopping in downtown Denver is pathetic and everyone knows it. When people come from out of town to visit Denver and stay in a downtown hotel, they want to be able to WALK to shopping, not take a cab to cherry creek….
I am in Seattle right now for work and am staying downtown, it is amazing the difference in the quality of shopping (and even restaurants) comparing downtown Seattle to Denver. The nicest store on the 16th street mall is "Ann Taylor Loft", and that is just sad….
Cotrells?? i mean COME ON
anon 10:00
it's hard to swallow your comment..but…..I DO HAVE to agree with you on this one!! I used to live in 1600 Glenarm, and pretty much watched 16 street mall everyday!! the shopping selection aren't that much, and most of them are pretty much struggle BIG TIME!! I mean, the outdoor shopping is a good idea, but… in Denver, stores do have to overcome the winter season…i doubt it if 16 street mall will ever attracted some big names to come open thier store!! I really don't know what's anwser to that?? Tabor center was a nice touch but failed…hopefully a four seasons will bring some difference…
It'd be great if our government read this blog. Local goverment that is… Mayor… City Council… We need THEIR help to get all these stores down there……….!
^Actually, I'd say that the nicest retail store on the 16th Street Mall is Banana Republic. But, whatever…
Reality has to be faced, with Cherry Creek so close to downtown, downtown is never going to have the destination, high-end retail pull. Instead, we are going to have to accept the downtown will house the "everyday" stores that the population needs. Macy's is not going to come downtown, Target will. But, until the population grows by another few thousand, downtown shopping will remain mediocre. The mantra remains the same, "Get people living there, and the retail will come."
As for the Fontius building, the floorplates are too small for large-format retail, i.e. departments and grocery stores. An Apple Store would be nice, but just to make it interesting let's put a Dell Store right beside it. Just imagine the Mac-o-philes and Dellites squaring off!
hahaha…anon 11:10…thats true. We do need some help down here. Maybe that will change with all the luxury units coming to downtown. FS & 1400 will help once completed…and the development of CPV will help a ton. I'm looking forward to Denver in about 10 years.
New York gets rather cold as well….funny how 5th and Madison Avenues seem to do alright….
It’s disgusting trying to shop downtown. Denver is plenty affluent enough to afford high-end clothing. If we are worried about over saturation, why does New York have three Seale locations located along 5th and Madison? Once a label makes a move more will fallow, but it has to start with someone.
Does anyone understand the concept of time here? 1600 Glenarm has a new small grocery in it and Pavillions has stores that are making it now. 16th Street needs to come together to Market its self as a shopping destination and lure some stores down there. I think a lot of nice stores either can't or aren't going to move into a lot of the aging buildings. I bet it will take about 5 years and a city initiative to market 16th Street mall as a shopping destination and you would start to get some great stores in there. Then a lot of the bloggers on here could complain about which stores decided to come and why they hate them.
New York has over 8 million people. No wonder why they can support that many locations in a small area. Denver County has 566K. I'm really curious how many of you actually live in downtown?
it wants to be apple store and urban outfitters..
but seriously, once 1lp, spire and 4s are done (not even counting 1400 lawrence), retail will follow rooftops (or in this case, # condos). An urban target directly behind fontius in their old proposed space would seem to make a heck of a lot of sense considering they already had a proposal to make that work.. but it will likely be 2-3 years before we see that.
We all agree. It has to start with one… and the rest will follow. But how do we make this happen?
Sure new york has 8 million but I'm sure not all of them live in the upper east-side…
^^^ There is a lot more demand in NYC then Denver. Not sure it's even worth arguing that point. …And probably there are many more thousand living in the upper east side than all of downtown Denver.
do you know what the upper east side is?
1600 Glenarm is a great project, but the developer, Red Peak, put the retail tenants in as amenities for the apartment renters. None of these retail tenants including Earl's could survive if they were paying full market rents. They all pay between $5 to $10/SF (Market Rent = $40 to $50/SF, Earl’s @ Market = Approx. $500,000/Year). So they cannot be compared to other developments. Currently, Downtown Denver does not have the demand to support high end retailers and because of the proximate location of Cherry Creek, retailers may never see the demand. All we can hope for is that demand increases for downtown residential units as retail follows rooftops.
Anon 10:04, an Urban Outfitters would be nice. And so would a Ted Baker! That would be really nice. Anyway, I always wondered by Urban chose to go into the Cherry Creek Mall. You'd think their target market wouldn't really shop at the mall. They must be trying to branch out and attrack more than the young, less-than-affluent hipster.
The city could help 16th street via an incentive program, right? it is such a shame to see such potential fall short. I'm living in Philly, which is no shopping mecca, but it does have Walnut St and really its the center of the city… similar to Newbury in Boston, or dozens of other examples. After all of this residential development is complete, these people are going to need somewhere to get stuff. I hope.
Ken,
From April 1 to August 1, 2008, the City and County of Denver will be replacing sidewalks on California Street between 15th and 20th streets. The "California Streetscape" will included granite planters, lighting, benches, historical markers, relocated bus stops, and passenger drop-off areas. The work is being done by Parsons.