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Denver Union Station Update #67

Posted by  on May 25, 2011

I have another surprise for you at the end of this post.  But first, let take a look at something that arrived in front of Union Station on Saturday. RTD set up a temporary display of a model of a commuter rail car to get feedback from the public. The model is inside the structure you see in the photo below. I encourage you to drop in to see the car, wander around inside of it, check out the seats and luggage areas, and provide your feedback to RTD.

Here’s shot of the inside of the model which is about one-third the size of a real car.

Please see our Denver Union Station page at JobSiteVistor.com for more photos of the inside of the structure where there are, among others things, graphic explanations of the the car and how it differs from a light rail car.

Now for the surprise I promised. During recent excavations, crews uncovered the home of a million year old man and awaken him for a first time in several hundred thousand years. I bumped into him today as he was wandering around the construction site looking a bit dazed and confused. He turned down my offer to buy him a beer, but he did agree to some new clothes. I think he looks pretty sharp considering his age. Be on the lookout for him if you get to the site soon.

Okay, so there might be some exaggeration in my claim.  In reality, I happened across a photo shoot for a music video, and this good looking guy agreed to pose for me. If I had offered a beer, he and the others probably would have accepted.

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Filed under Government & Civic, Infill, Transit, Uncategorized, Union Station.
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DaVita Update #2

Posted by  on May 24, 2011

Thanks to our fellow contributor Rick, I have some great photos of DaVita’s progress to share with you.

The elevator core is beginning to rise above everything else in the area. This was taken from the Central Platte Valley side of the Millennium Bridge.

Davita-5.24

Taken from the Millennium Bridge, you can see the parking structure is beginning to take shape, and the siding is very similar to its neighbor’s, 1900 16th Street.

Davita-5.24-2

This photo shows how precise you have to be when building a project in close quarters. On the left you have the 17-story 1900 16th St and just feet to the right you have light rail tracks with DaVita in the middle.

Davita-5.24-3

From the ground DaVita is making good progress and the structure is beginning to rise around the core.

Davita-5.24-4

Hopefully with some good weather in store for later this week, we will see what progress has been made with the projects going on at Auraria.

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Filed under Infill, Office, Union Station.
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Union Station Walking Tour this Saturday, May 21

Posted by  on May 19, 2011

This week’s rainy weather is due to break just in time for a tour of the Union Station project on Saturday morning.

We will meet in front of the historic station at 17th & Wynkoop at about 9:50 AM. The tour will begin promptly at 10:00 AM and will conclude around 11:00 AM on the Millennium Bridge. Suggested donation is $10/person, and all proceeds go to the non-profit Union Station Advocates.

I will be conducting the tour again while Ken is still out of town. We will get a good look at the entire project especially demolition behind the station and construction of new streets.

I hope to see you Saturday morning.

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Denver Union Station Update #66

Posted by  on May 17, 2011

Today’s posting is about building streets and ripping out the passenger tunnel.  And there is a special treat at the end for history buffs.

First, the streets. The following photo shows progress over the past week and a half of the new section of 16th Street from the base of the Millennium Bridge to Wewatta Street and the mall shuttle turnaround at the new shuttle station. You can see gutters and curbs for the turnaround on the left and paving for 16th Street in the upper right quadrant of the photo. Chestnut Place will enter in the blank space between the two streets.

Now for the demolition. Looking closely at this photo, you can see the top of an excavator in the hole where much of the passenger tunnel existed a few days ago. Part of the tunnel itself is visible to the right of the excavator’s boom. The top of the ramp that led into the tunnel is clearly recognizable as a hole in the back of the station.

So far this week, I have uploaded eight photos to our Denver Union Station page at JobSiteVistor.com. There are several close-ups of the streets and the tunnel.

I try to find a historic train station whenever we travel. Last week’s trip yielded this one from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. President Abraham Lincoln arrived at this station the day before he delivered one of the greatest speeches in American history.

The battlefield is worth a visit as we commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. Over 170,000 Americans engaged in a bitter three-day battle that resulted in 51,000 casualties.

We traveled with friends, Frank and Eileen, from Portland, Maine.  Frank learned a few weeks before our trip that his great grandfather fought for the Confederates in the battle … he survived.

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Filed under Government & Civic, Infill, Transit, Union Station.
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