Today our Delgany Apartments Update is not a construction photo update from Ryan. That’s not a problem though, as he’s recently posted construction photos in updates #1 and #2 and he’ll continue to keep you updated in the coming months as the project moves forward. Instead, we just have a nice high-resolution rendering of the project’s final design, courtesy of Shears Adkins Rockmore architects, for your enjoyment (don’t forget to click/zoom to embiggen):
The importance of a project like this is, of course, the long-term city-building and densification qualities that it brings to our urban core. I think this is a pretty sharp-looking building. But regardless if you agree or not, it is important to keep the bigger picture in mind: we are repairing—project by project, parcel by parcel—our city’s urban fabric that was at one time complete, but was subsequently (partially) destroyed due to decades of land speculation and prioritizing automobile parking over our city’s urban legacy.
The comments section of this blog is often a running commentary about the “look” of a particular building. I’m happy to provide a venue for that discussion. In fact, Denver needs more of that type of debate! However, I’d also like DenverInfill readers to remember that great cities are evolving organisms; that they are transformed over decades and centuries; and that a building is just one pixel in the panoramic image of the city. At this stage in the timeline of Denver’s urban core, we’re striving to achieve critical mass: enough people in public spaces to make them vibrant and activated; enough people on sidewalks to make them safer and more engaging; enough people in housing units to demand more and better retail; and enough people using public transportation to maximize the usage of our public rights-of-way. That critical mass is achieved through infill development and densification. That’s my focus, my passion, my objective in running the DenverInfill Blog: to promote the continuation of Denver’s 154-year journey as an exceptional city. Forward!
I could not agree more!
Second that.
A fresh, delightful design that works well with the museum.
I dont understand why people do not like the design in the first place. I personally think it looks great. Is the Museum of Contemporary Art still going to be expanding into the building?
Yeah, this is a pretty sharp looking building. I haven’t really noticed many complaints about it’s design though. It seems most people like it. I hope it looks as cool as the rendering once it’s complete.
It’s a nice sized building that is going to do a lot for that area. And I think that the Princess Leia look fits in well with the museum of contemporary art.
In general it is true that filling in the parking lots downtown is a priority. But, I don’t think that filling in the blanks at the cost of the quality of design is valid. If after a few years, people feel that the buildings are already looking less appealing, that will start to drive down the prices and have the potential of making the neighborhoods become slums. Things take time and if it takes much longer to build a quality city, than so be it. We are living in a TV age, when every problem can be solved in an hour. But the reality is that it is not.
Having said that. I think that this building appears to be quite nice and with quality materials. I think it will be a nice addition to a part of town that is filling with relatively nice quality architecture. However, I doubt that the street will ever have as many people as they show in the rendering 🙂
I too thought they went just a bit overboard on the people on the sidewalks. Nevertheless, it sure would be nice if it did get to that point.
Clearly those are translucent ghost people who can walk through walls, push baby strollers through pillars, etc. You never know how many ghost people are walking around. Perhaps this rendering accurately represents the pedestrian ghost traffic of that area.
Haha! This made my day.
I recently took Ken’s Saturday morning tour of Union Station – which all of our readers should do! You will appreciate Ken’s vision of our evolving core city, the central Infill concept — and his focus on Critical Mass. Think about it — every one of these big apartment projects means several-hundred more people, living and working in Downtown Denver. Thousands have already moved in, and I’m baffled that no new supermarket project has started out of the ground, to serve these thousands of new residences with a walking-distance grocery store. Critical mass depends directly on the convenience of local shopping — not just groceries, but laundries, dry cleaners — and yes, gas stations. The big retail, like the department stores that all abandoned Downtown decades ago for the subburbs, won’t come back until that Critical Mass forms around apartment and condo dwellers’ basic needs, first. While King Soopers drags its feet on a Platte Valley store, let’s hope Trader Joe’s is looking for downtown sites. I currently live in LA, where TJ’s has loyal, satisfied customers — especially singles, who usually live in apartments and condos. Boulder got the first TJ’s, next is Southeast somewhere. Ken’s helping us to see how much Infill progress there is in transportation and housing. Put a grocery store near Union Station, and then you’ll see a true Critical Mass forming around it.
Jim:
There have been rumblings about a project with a grocery store at 20th and Chestnut; here’s the Infill blog regarding it: https://denverinfill.com/2012/04/union-station-district-project-update-20th-chestnut.html#comments
However, the timeline appears to have changed from those mentioned in the blog post. Does anybody know if this is this still happening?
I completely agree on the grocery store and how important it is in attracting even more appropriate and high quality development.
Tom
I think this building looks great. I can’t wait for it to be finished!
I guess I fail to appreciate the design elements as contributing something fresh to the intersection or how it plays off the Museum. While the overall aesthetic is contemporary, the use of brick and inset patios plus the exterior vents give the facade a more mid-century vibe than anything truly fresh. And, am I looking at the north face wrong or is the Sun in the wrong aspect to provide the shadows presented?
I don’t LOVE the design but at least someone at Shears Adkins Rockmore has a sense of creativity and didn’t copy and paste the same design that is popping up all over downtown and everywhere else in the universe. I like how they are incorporating part of the museum into it and there are townhomes lining the street. Has there been any word on the bikelane that I thought was going to go down 15th?
Kyle, the buffered bike lane on 15th is still “in the works” at Public Works, but they have committed to it. But that lane is for the part of 15th between Colfax and roughly Market/Blake. I think from that point it’d become a sharrow heading into Highlands due to lack of roadway width.
Good to know, thanks Ken!
Do Denver sharrows have legal ramifications? Pedaling minds want to know. On extra-wide streets like west 23rd past Federal or MLK east of downtown, sharrows work. But where 23rd narrows on the bridge approach to I-25, it’s just a joke. See, there’s the rub. So a cyclist goes along fine with space and then without warning, a constriction. We can’t go on to a sidewalk but are left to fend for ourselves with opening car doors and cars who are also wondering why is there a bike lane?
I would love to move in to this place one day!
Does anyone know how many parking spaces there will be in this building? I see there are 284 units so I’m wondering what the parking-to-unit ratio is. Also curious about the mix of one bedroom, two bedroom, etc.
I already miss the Komorebi project that was to have been built on this site.