Denver-based Urban Villages, developer of SugarCube, is moving forward with a companion building, SugarSquare, on a small site on Wazee Street adjacent to the historic Sugar Building in Lower Downtown Denver.

To long-time DenverInfill readers, this project may sound familiar as something similar was proposed by Urban Villages back in 2006 when SugarCube was getting ready to break ground. But because that was almost 10 years ago and since the design has changed as well, we’re presenting this as a “new” LoDo project.

The site in question is the narrow undeveloped lot (currently functioning as a valet parking area) on Wazee next to the historic Sugar Building. Here’s a Google Earth aerial showing the project site:

2016-04-01_sugar-square-aerial

Before we get to SugarSquare, let’s review very briefly the history of the handsome historic Sugar Building. According to the Sugar Building’s application to the National Register of Historic Places, the original tan-brick structure facing 16th Street was built in 1906 by the Great Western Sugar Company and was originally four stories tall. In 1912, an additional two floors were added to the top to bring the building to its current 6-story height. Along the Wazee side of the building, the red-brick section was the “warehouse” part of the building and it too was originally only four floors tall. It received a 2-story addition in 1916 to bring it up to six stories as well.

SugarSquare will be an extension of the historic building (as opposed to a stand-alone building) with internal connections between the original Sugar Building’s and SugarSquare’s floors. The addition totals 10,800 square feet of office space on four above-grade levels, plus a basement. A green roof/amenity deck will top the building. Here are several renderings, courtesy of Urban Villages and their project architect, Semple Brown Design:

2016-04-01_sugar-square-rendering-1

2016-04-01_sugar-square-rendering-2

2016-04-01_sugar-square-rendering-3

An interesting aspect of SugarSquare is that the exterior facade will consist entirely of glass and blackened stainless steel—no brick whatsoever, which will be a first for LoDo. However, despite the building’s contemporary design and materials, it continues the rhythm and massing of Wazee Street’s historic architectural context and provides a nice transition from the 6-story Sugar Building down to its 2-story historic neighbor to the southwest.

SugarSquare is 100% pre-leased and a building permit is under review with the city. If all goes as planned, the project will break ground this summer.

What a great addition to Lower Downtown! Not only is SugarSquare a cool-looking building, but a (very skinny) surface parking lot will be eradicated as well!