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Explore the West Corridor with ULI

Posted by Ken on August 30, 2010

Once a quarter, Urban Land Institute (ULI) Colorado hosts an Explorer series event that includes both a panel discussion and tour relating to an urban development topic, project, or site. (I’m co-chair of the committee that organizes these events). This Thursday, September 2, our Explorer event is “A West Corridor Story” where we will focus on RTD’s West Corridor light rail line currently under construction.

The panel (held at the Denver Athletic Club downtown) will focus on the corridor and the land use plans, projects, and impacts associated with the new transit line. The tour will then trace the route of the West Corridor line, with a stop and tour of the new St. Anthony’s hospital next to the Federal Center station in Lakewood. The tour will continue on to Golden, where we’ll see many of the great infill projects in Downtown Golden, ending with a reception on a terrace along the banks of Clear Creek.

For more details about the event and to register, please go to this page at the ULI-Colorado website. Tickets are going fast and there are only a few seats left for the tour portion.

By the way, you’ve probably seen all the West Corridor construction activity along Sixth Avenue, with the dramatic bridge over the highway by the Federal Center and the flyover at Indiana Street. But now the construction is closing in on Downtown Denver. Here’s a photo I took yesterday of a new light rail bridge just south of Colfax across from the Auraria West Campus station:

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The West Corridor light rail line will open in 2013.

Filed under Events & Meetings, Urbanism.
1 Comment

Ralph Carr Judicial Complex Project Update

Posted by Ken on August 16, 2010

A major milestone was reached this past weekend on the progress of the state’s Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Complex project in Downtown Denver’s Civic Center district: the demolition of the existing Colorado State Judicial Building.

If you were within a mile or two of Civic Center on Sunday morning, you probably heard a very loud bang at about 8:01 AM. That was the explosive “knock-down” (as opposed to an implosion) of what remained of the state’s 1970s modernist judicial building. Over the past month and a half, the Colorado Judicial Building had been undergoing a methodical deconstruction. Rather than ripping the building down outright, the building was “deskinned” of its light gray granite facade panels—part of the project’s recycling plan—which will be used within the new complex’s landscaped plaza areas. Much of the rest of building’s elements were also removed for recycling, leaving by Sunday morning a fragile shell of a building that was poised to be toppled by a few well-placed explosives. Even after Sunday’s explosion, much of the remaining rubble will be recycled.

Here are some DenverInfill photos that document the deconstruction of the Colorado Judicial Building.

July 5, 2010:

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July 25, 2010:

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Demolition Day minus 1 (that’d be Saturday):

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The explosive knock-down Sunday morning, August 15, 2010 (courtesy of CBS 4 Denver):

The aftermath - later Sunday morning about 11:00 AM:

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And finally, here’s the latest rendering view from the State Capitol (click/zoom to greatly embiggen) of the future Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Complex:

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The Ralph L. Carr Judicial Complex is being funded through user fees backed by federal government stimulus bonds, and not through Colorado taxpayer dollars. The complex is scheduled to be completed in 2013.

Filed under Architecture, Civic Center, Government & Civic, Infill.
19 Comments

Clyfford Still Museum Update

Posted by Ken on August 2, 2010

Construction is progressing nicely on the Clyfford Still Museum in Downtown Denver’s Civic Center district. The $30 million museum is scheduled to open in late 2011 and will feature rotating exhibits of some of the 2,400 items from the artist’s estate the City and County of Denver acquired several years ago. The Still Museum, along with the Ralph L. Carr Judicial Center and the History Colorado Center, represents a half billion dollars of investment under construction within a few blocks of each other.

The Museum recently released images of the final design of the building. The 30,000 SF minimalist-inspired structure, with its earth-toned concrete walls and horizontal massing, provides an appropriate and welcome counterpoint to its next-door neighbor, the titanium-clad crystalline-entity Hamilton Building of the Denver Art Museum. Here are a couple of photos:

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Or, check out this video animation tour of the future museum:

Details about the new building are available at the Clyfford Still Museum website.

Good things are happening in Downtown Denver!

Filed under Architecture, Arts & Culture, Civic Center, Infill.
17 Comments

Denver International Airport: The Next Generation

Posted by Ken on July 29, 2010

It was the mid-1980s and I had just moved to Denver when the whole “let’s build a new airport” debate was really ramping up. I was excited by the boldness of the plan and was impressed by Denver and its young Mayor Peña, that they had the audacity to pursue such a grand vision. I volunteered for the pro-airport campaign and, after construction started, would drive out to this observation deck off of Tower Road to take photos of the airport’s progress (foreshadowings of DenverInfill it turns out). Building DIA has proved to be perhaps the most important, strategic, decision Denver has ever made. Today, we are blessed with an airport that is modern, efficient, attractive, and widely regarded as one of the best airports anywhere, and one that offers expansion capabilities that are virtually unparalleled and the envy of our peers.

And then there’s FasTracks, another one of the most important, strategic decisions Denver has ever made.

Now we find ourselves at a point in time when these two monumental civic ventures come together. Denver International Airport, meet FasTracks. Curt Fentress, meet Santiago Calatrava.

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This is the concept for the East Corridor FasTracks transit station at DIA, with a 500-room Westin Hotel on top and an extension of the airport terminal in between. What it also represents is a great step forward for our city and its infrastructure to a world-class level. Image this, along with what’s taking place at Union Station, as the gateways welcoming the world to Denver. Quite profound, if you ask me, and something that I’m happy and proud to support as a Denver citizen.

For more information, check out the cool video animation and all the details about the new South Terminal Redevelopment program at DIA at the airport website.

Filed under Architecture, FasTracks, Infrastructure.
85 Comments

July 2010 – Downtown Street Reconstruction

Posted by Ken on July 23, 2010

Three street reconstruction projects are underway in Downtown Denver. Here’s a quick look at these civic investments—two of which will greatly enhance the pedestrian environment in the vicinity.

First, let’s start with the one that is a straight-forward street reconstruction project. 15th Street is being rebuilt in concrete between the bridge over the South Platte River and the intersection of 15th/29th/Boulder/Umatilla (one of those fun grid-colliding Downtown intersections). As a Lower Highland resident, I can vouch for the fact that 15th Street through there, particularly around the Platte Street intersection, has been a bumpy ride for years. The street reconstruction is about 50% complete, as you can see from these photos:

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Next is Larimer Street between 15th and 17th. This project includes reconstructing the street in concrete (from the current asphalt) as well as removing one traffic lane and widening the sidewalk with the reclaimed space. The sidewalk expansion will occur on the Writer Square/Tabor Center side of the block. While the Larimer sides of those two mixed-use complexes are not all that interesting from a pedestrian perspective, they’re more interesting than the Larimer Place/Barclay condo towers on the other side of the street. Bulb-outs (or, if you prefer, bump-outs) will be installed at each intersection, shortening the crosswalk distance across Larimer even more. Currently, Larimer is four through lanes in this area, and at 15th, the left two lanes continue as through lanes into Larimer Square and the right two lanes are right-turn-only lanes onto 15th. After the reconstruction, there will be three through lanes, and at 15th Street the left lane will continue into Larimer Square, the right lane will be right-turn-only onto 15th, and the center lane will be a combo through/right-turn lane.

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Finally, there’s the Colfax/13th/Tremont intersection. Chris blogged about this project a couple of months ago. That project is now under construction. Here’s a Google Earth aerial of the existing intersection (an automobile-oriented mess) and the diagram Chris provided of the reconfigured, more-pedestrian-friendly, new intersection:

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Here’s a photo of the corner I took this morning:

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There are more infrastructure improvements planned for the Downtown area coming up… topics for future blogs.

Filed under Highland, Infrastructure, Lower Downtown, Pedestrians, Streets, Upper Downtown.
14 Comments

DaVita World HQ Planned for Union Station District

Posted by Ken on July 16, 2010

It’s official… after months of speculation as to where in Downtown Denver Fortune 500 company DaVita would choose to locate their corporate headquarters, the decision is in. DaVita will locate to 2000 16th Street, the yet-to-be-constructed companion building next to the recently completed 1900 16th tower in Downtown Denver’s Union Station district.

Architecturally, the DaVita tower will not be identical to its neighbor, but it will be complementary in design to 1900 16th Street. The tower will contain approximately 270,000 square feet and will sit next to the Millennium Bridge between 1900 16th Street and the Consolidated Main Line tracks. By the time DaVita gets under construction with their tower (1st quarter 2011), the new light rail station at 17th Street and the CML will be open, so the light rail tracks that make the big curve at the DaVita site will be gone.

Here are a couple of images of the proposed building. These are preliminary designs and do not necessarily represent what the finished product will look like. The project architect is MOA Architecture. This first view is looking southwest down Chestnut Street from approximately 17th Street:

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This is the view from the west, from roughly the I-25 and Speer interchange:

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The building will contain 15 stories. The ground floor will include lobby and meeting functions, followed by five levels of structured parking (approximately 240 spaces). These first six levels will attach to the existing 6-level parking structure to the south along 15th Street. Above the parking are eight floors of office and training space, topped off by a penthouse employee lounge/cafeteria with an expansive rooftop terrace.

Welcome to Denver, DaVita! We look forward to your new building.

UPDATE: I snapped this photo on my way to work this morning. This is the DaVita site:

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Filed under Infill, Office, Union Station.
14 Comments

Highland Crossing Final Phase: The Model

Posted by Ken on July 15, 2010

Two days ago I posted an update on the final phase of the Highland Crossing project at 17th and Central. Thanks to Alex, a regular DenverInfill reader, I’m happy to provide these images of the model of the project that the general contractor Sprocket recently presented to a local community group:

Central Street side:

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17th Street side:

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Another positive step for Lower Highland and the greater Downtown Denver area!

Filed under Highland, Infill, Residential.
2 Comments

Highland Crossing Final Phase Under Construction

Posted by Ken on July 13, 2010

A new infill project is coming to the Lower Highland district: the final phase of the Highland Crossing development at 17th and Central.

The project’s first two phases were built in the early 2000s and consist of several condominium buildings along Boulder Street between 17th Street and Kensing Court. This final phase will develop the rest of the block with a new structure along Central Street featuring 55 residential rental units and two ground-floor retail spaces. Here’s the location via Google Maps:


View Larger Map

The building will be generally U-shaped with structured parking located to the interior of the site. Along 17th Street, the building will be 7-stories high, dropping to 4-stories along the Kensing Court side. Here are a couple of images from a few years ago when the project was going through review with the city. I cannot confirm that these images represent the final design of the project, but I believe they do generally reflect the scale and layout of what is being developed. I’ll post more up-to-date renderings if I can obtain them. The project is being developed by the Salazar family, the same folks who renovated the old Regency hotel near the Mousetrap into Auraria student housing.

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Here’s a shot I took about a week ago of the site under construction:

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This project will fill in a gap in the nice wall of buildings facing Downtown Denver that’s developing along the Highland bluff, and add to the vitality of the Lower Highland district.

Filed under Highland, Infill, Residential.
6 Comments

DenverInfill Blog Turns Five!

Posted by Ken on July 5, 2010

It was five years ago today, July 5, 2005, that the DenverInfill Blog made its debut.

A bit of history: I started working on the DenverInfill website in the spring of 2004. It took me a little over a year to complete all of the various downtown and center city district pages and the other major sections of the website. It was early July 2005 when I found myself with a finished website but with one of the ten menu tabs at the top still unused. Hmmm… what to do? Then it hit me: “What about a blog!” So on July 5, I named the final unused tab at the top the “DenverInfill Blog” and wrote my first post about rumors of a new condo tower called One Lincoln Park planned for somewhere along Lincoln Street. Back then I didn’t use any blogging software but wrote the posts on static webpages. You can access those original entries here. I did that for about a year before switching to the Blogger format on August 1, 2006. On December 20, 2009, the new (current) WordPress version of the DenverInfill Blog was launched, which was also the beginning of a new era for DenverInfill focusing on urbanism and not just infill.

The most popular DenverInfill Blog post? It’s not even close. On September 1, 2006, I wrote a silly piece called Guide to Suburban Denver Subdivision Names.  That day I had about 500 visits to the blog, which was about average at the time. Then on October 9, over a month later, my post on subdivision names got picked up by Curbed LA and then the next day by Boing Boing and my site traffic went through the roof with more than 10,000 visits over a three-day period. Since then, Guide to Suburban Denver Subdivision Names has thrived in cyberspace and continues to be viewed about 600 times every month, almost four years later. Overall, DenverInfill is viewed about about 60,000 times a month on average.

The most commented on DenverInfill Blog post? That would also be the briefest DenverInfill Blog post ever, at just eight words in length. Sixty-three people had something to say about The Shortest Path.

Over the next five years, the DenverInfill Blog will continue to evolve, but our mission will remain the same:

  • To inspire Denver citizens to envision and strive for exceptional urbanism in their city and region
  • To inform and educate on topics relating to urban planning and city-building
  • To serve as an online resource of notable urban projects, plans, policies, and programs throughout Denver
  • To promote and showcase Denver and its opportunities to the world
  • To advocate for positive changes to Denver’s existing and future built environment

To conclude, a big THANK YOU to all of you out there who visit this blog on a regular basis and for your kind words of support, and to the DenverInfill Blog contributors who are helping me expand the discussion about urbanism in Denver.

This is DenverInfill Blog post #884. Cheers!

Filed under Media, Miscellaneous.
18 Comments

DenverInfill Does Transit

Posted by Ken on June 30, 2010

Transit is a huge part of the success of any great city. Here in Denver we have a great light rail system, an extensive bus system, and there are plenty of transit improvements planned and under construction. So with transit being such a important element of urbanism, it’s something we need to cover here at the DenverInfill Blog. To that end, I’m happy to welcome Ryan Mulligan as the newest DenverInfill Blog contributor. Ryan is a transit planner and rail advocate here in Denver and he’ll be focusing on FasTracks and anything else that’s transit related… although Rick will continue to be the go-to guy for Union Station updates. Welcome, Ryan!

Filed under Transit.
12 Comments
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