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Archive of posts filed under the Historic Preservation category.
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Colorado Saddlery Building Rehab

Posted by  on October 7, 2009

A few years ago there was a proposal to renovate the historic Colorado Saddlery Building at the corner of 15th and Wynkoop and convert it into offices with some residences up top. The project was canceled or put on hold or something, but now there is some working going on at the building. They’ve had the Wynkoop facade covered up with fabric while doing some power-cleaning and yesterday they removed the cover. I’m not sure of the extent of the current work on the building and if it’s the same proposal as last time, but one thing is for sure: the Wynkoop side looks amazing! I never knew the Colorado Saddlery Building’s brick was the same orangey-red color as so many other LoDo buildings. I always thought it was more of a darker brown color like the Steelbridge Lofts building diagonally across the intersection. Wrong! Go see for yourself the difference since the 15th Street side hasn’t been cleaned yet.

I’ll try to post a photo later today or tomorrow.

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Filed under Adaptive Reuse, Historic Preservation, Lower Downtown, Office, Residential.
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The High Line

Posted by  on July 23, 2009

I’m in New York City on business and, as luck would have it, within a couple of hours of my arrival I found myself walking along the city’s newest park, the High Line–a park built on top of an old elevated train viaduct. In several places it runs through buildings. Anyway, it is very cool! Here are a few photos:

For more on the High Line, check out their website here.
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Filed under Adaptive Reuse, Historic Preservation, Public Spaces.
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Red White and Blue for the Sage Building

Posted by  on August 20, 2008

With exterior renovations complete, the Sage Building at 16th & Welton is recreating the look from its 1923 grand opening as Steel’s Department Store by decorating the building with bunting and US flags… nicely appropriate to celebrate next week’s Democratic National Convention. Here’s a shot from a few hours ago when just the first few flags had been installed:

When complete, it should look something like this:

Thank you, Evan Makovsky, for bringing this building back to life in so many ways!

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Filed under Central Downtown, Historic Preservation, History.
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Sage Building Exterior Renovation Complete

Posted by  on August 8, 2008

With yesterday’s removal of all the fencing and scaffolding and sidewalk barriers, the exterior restoration of the building formerly known as Fontius (now the Sage Building) has been fully revealed and declared complete! Developer Evan Makovsky promised that the exterior rehab of the long-blighted building at 16th and Welton would be finished in time for the DNC. Thank you Shames-Makovsky, klipp architects, and Milender White Construction, for a job well done. Here are a couple of photos of the completed exterior, courtesy of Renee at Shames-Makovsky:

Here’s a nice surprise: Have you noticed the new stairway leading from the Welton sidewalk down into the basement? Makovsky has the underground space planned for a trendy bar–glass steps even:

Finally, the building has been nicely outfitted with exterior lighting. I can’t wait to see the Sage shine at night:

What a great day for Downtown Denver! Scratch Fontius from the list…

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Filed under Central Downtown, Historic Preservation.
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Denver Cable Railway Hotel Project Update

Posted by  on August 5, 2008

Back in March 2007, I broke the news about a new hotel project proposed for Block 066, the site of the historic Cable Railway Building (currently the Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant) at 18th and Lawrence. The project, envisioned by Central Development LLC, would preserve the historic Cable Railway building, built in 1889 to house the power plant and maintenance facilities for Denver’s cable railway system, while redeveloping part of the site with a new 18-story hotel.

The initial concept for the tower looked like this:

After many months of review and negotiation between the developer and the city’s Landmark Preservation Commission, a new design has evolved. One of the important issues with the LPC was the preservation and visibility of the historic brick smokestack. The current location of the smokestack makes the layout of the tower difficult. So, a new design approved by the LPC looks like this (image courtesy of Ivins Design Group and Central Development):

Under the new plan, the project design incorporates a more pronounced mix of brick and modern elements, as well as approves the relocation of the historic smokestack closer to Lawrence Street, which increases the smokestack’s visibility and improves the layout for the new tower. Who knew you could just up and move an old brick smokestack like that!? Apparently, firms like International Chimney are up to the task.

The project’s approved building program incorporates 164,000 SF in the new tower and 55,000 SF in the historic structure for a total full-service hotel space of 219,000 SF and approximately 229 rooms, with flexbile space on the ground floor for retail or hotel meeting space.

Central Development is currently marketing the project either for sale or for a development partner. Given the project’s zoning and LPC approvals, moving this project forward is mostly a matter of market timing and waiting for the national credit/lending crisis to settle down so that a financing deal can be arranged. With 1800 Larimer under construction next door and Two Tabor planned for a block away, a hotel at this site seems to me to be a solid long-term proposal.

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Filed under Architecture, Central Downtown, Historic Preservation, Hospitality.
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Block 162 Update

Posted by  on August 4, 2008
Have you seen Block 162‘s Steel/Fontius/Sage building lately? It’s looking great. The building facade on the upper floors has been cleaned, repaired, and restored, and the leaky old windows replaced. Now, work is progressing on the ground floor, where decades ago the original exterior had been removed and replaced with “modern” storefronts.

Developer Evan Makovsky and the architects at klipp researched old drawings and photos of the Steel Building to learn what the original storefronts looked like, and the new ground-floor exterior is being built to match the original as best as possible. Here’s a look at the new storefronts going in (photo courtesy of Brice):

There’s a new (and wider) sidewalk along the Welton side of the building too.

Speaking of new sidewalks, the Urban Enthusiast over at the LiveDowntownDenver Blog did a post recently about the completed streetscape project along California Street in front of the Denver Dry building. I checked it out myself the other day and it looks very nice. With this streetscape project and the additional planters recently installed by the Downtown Denver Parntership, the walk between the Convention Center and the 16th Street Mall is about as spruced up as it can get, considering the several undeveloped lots still along the way.

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Filed under Central Downtown, Historic Preservation.
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