As you may have implied from the cover photo, we are going to be taking a tour of 1144 Fifteenth, as well as look at the building from a couple different vantage points around Downtown Denver. Even though 1144 Fifteenth has officially topped out, as of today, it has been determined that the building is 76.3% complete.
Let’s start out with two panoramas of Denver’s skyline, featuring 1144 Fifteenth, from two different vantage points; the first from the Colfax and Federal interchange.
Next, from the 38th and Blake transit station.
These two vantage points were chosen for this update because you can clearly see how the crown is coming together. The unique roofline, along with an all-glass curtain wall, is a welcome addition to the Denver skyline.
Let’s go on a tour! But first, a huge thank you to Mike Bjes of Hines for a wonderful tour. The lobby is starting to come together, as finishes will begin to go in around September. You can’t see it in the photos below, but the exterior glass for the ground floor is starting to go in.
The first floor also contains retail at the corner of 15th and Arapahoe with outdoor patio space along Arapahoe. In addition, this area will feature a staircase that leads up to a publicly accessible “living-room”.
The living-room will be a cozy gathering space, with a fire pit, for both tenants and visitors. Anybody who uses the parking structure on the upper floors can get off on this floor, and the ground level, from the dedicated parking elevator bank.
The second floor of the lobby will also contain a fitness center. This is reserved only for tenants and will require badge access.
Now let’s take a look at some back-of-the-house operations. All of the pumps and electrical are not on the ground floor or below grade; they are located on the top floor of the parking garage. The electrical feed comes in from the street, as you can see in the first photo, and is then fed up 13 floors to the electrical room. This hasn’t been done in any Denver high-rise since the 1980s.
Since they are starting to go live with the electricity for the building, we do not have any photos of the transformer room. The other two photos show another very large room on this floor where the pumps are located.
Speaking of the parking garage, you will notice that the interior has an opaque coating on the glass, which you cannot see on the exterior. The development team worked with the city on a solution to reduce the visibly of vehicle headlights as they are pulling in and out of parking spaces. This opaque coating will not completely mask the headlights but will make a huge improvement.
The first floor of offices starts on level 14. This floor is unique as it features an outdoor deck for the tenant that is going to occupy this space. At 14 floors up, the view is already impressive.
Now it’s time to take a trip up to the top of the building. We stopped on floor 41, the first level of the mechanical penthouse. Floor 40, the highest occupiable floor in the building, will feature an outdoor deck with spectacular views of the city and mountains and will have the highest floor-to-ceiling height of any of the office floors in the entire building.
On the other side of the mechanical penthouse, we were able to see the progress of the crown. As we were taking these photos, the glass for the crown was being lifted by the tower crane.
Let’s wrap up with the amazing views 1144 Fifteenth has to offer. The view towards the mountains, along with Lower Downtown and Union Station, is nothing short of incredible. You can see the almost-complete buildout of the Union Station neighborhood, and even Sloans Lake out to the west. On a clearer day, you would see much more of the mountains, including the Flatirons.
My personal favorite view is the one looking at the Four Seasons. It’s pretty neat being so close to the building and eye-level with the spire.
Finally, here is a panorama of the spectacular city view.
We will swing back around to 1144 Fifteenth in a couple of months to check out the interior finishes going in. Most of the exterior work should be nearing completion around that time as well.
What a great addition to Denver! Love this building, probably in my Top 3 for Denver now.
All we need now is (1) move the Federal Reserve Building and put a new high rise there; (2) build the second Four Seasons tower; (3) clean up the rest of the trashy buildings along 15th and turn that corridor into a second 17th street.
(4) See the City’s “Next Stage” vision for the DPAC come to fruition; (5) get that new convention hotel (1300 block of Glenarm if I remember correctly) off the ground.
Boy those views are awesome. Great pics Ryan. Does anyone know the status of a possible anchor tenant on this building?
Cool color and shape! Just curious though I didn’t think it would look to fat. If they build them this wide couldn’t they take the sq. ft. And squeeze it up taller? I notice that about a couple other towers in Denver, the Republic Plaza and the cash register building are also kind of wide. Is there some inherent local reason like a phobia for tallness?
I would think it is a matter of efficiency to some extent. Floorplates need to be large enough so tenants are not spread out on many levels. Also, elevator cores of taller buildings are larger, which further cuts into rentable space.
Republic Plaza, 1801 California, and the cash register building are all similar heights due to restrictions put in place because of Stapleton Airport. Downtown was only about 5 miles from the end of the runway so it wasn’t safe to build any higher.
This is great and agree with Cherry Creek and Freddie.
Its nice to see our skyline finally starting to change for the better! With the confluence and 1144th. Hopefully soon we can get a few new tallest’s with these new construction/condo laws. It would be amazing if people would look at our skyline in a few years and not even recognize it
Why does the south side beams on the tower crown look white/tan and not the normal rust color of the other steal beams? I assume different materials are being used, but for what purpose?