First, the project has a new name: One City Block—kind of appropriate since the project will cover one full city block. Currently, that one city block is covered by one ugly sea of asphalt. Here’s a GoogleEarth aerial where I’ve outlined this project’s location (click to embiggen, of course):

As you can see, this part of Uptown needs a parkinglotectomy, so One City Block is just what the doctor ordered.

The project consists of four buildings named after some of Denver’s urban parks: The Benedict, the Congress, the Washington, and the Commons. Here are some updated renderings (thanks to Davis Partnership Architects) of this 300-unit residential development that’s aiming for LEED-Silver certification.

This first image shows the block’s north side along E. 19th Avenue, with The Congress on the left and The Benedict on the right. It’s along this side of the project where the approximately 9,000 square feet of retail will be located.

Moving around the block in a clockwise direction, here’s the northeast corner, E. 19th Avenue and Pennsylvania Street, looking southwest at The Congress:

This is a view looking northwest at The Washington, located on the block’s southeast corner of E. 18th Avenue and Pennsylvania:

Next, this is the block’s southwest corner, with E. 18th Avenue in the foreground and Logan Street off to the left. The building on the right is The Washington, and on the left, The Commons:

Finally, here’s a rendering showing the pool in the center courtyard, looking southwest. On the left is the western end of The Washington, followed by The Commons in the corner and then on the right, The Benedict, which wraps all the way around the block’s northwest corner to bring us back to where we started in the first image:

Parking is no longer being permitted on the site. Later this month, site prep work and utility relocations should begin as the first steps in the project’s construction. The entire project should be completed by late 2013.

Nothing has gone vertical yet but there’s a lot of utility relocation, ground work, and obviously the two red cranes that will be on this site. On the right you can see the total size of the site. It’s not small by any means.

This project will cost a total of $367,000,000. This will be a 831,000 square foot space which will feature 348 patient beds, a roof top helipad, centerpiece chapel structure, central courtyard, and a roof top garden. It will also include a free standing utility plant, as well as two parking structures.

The Residences at 19th & Logan is a market-rate rental apartment project that will occupy the entire block bounded by E. 19th Avenue on the north, Pennsylvania Street on the east, E. 18th Avenue on the south, and Logan Street on the west. Currently a surface parking lot, the site was the home of the Machebeuf High School gymnasium when that institution was located in Uptown. In 2005, RedPeak purchased the property and began making plans to develop the site into a mixed-use retail and apartment project, but the financial crash hit before the project could get underway. Now, with the improving economy and the hot rental market in Denver, RedPeak is ready to develop the property. You can see the full-block parking lot site here on the Uptown page aerial photo at the original DenverInfill website.

The project will include approximately 300 apartment units in four buildings, named after four of Denver’s urban parks (Washington, Benedict, Congress, and Commons). The buildings will range from four to five stories in height and sit above two levels of underground parking containing approximately 400 parking spaces. About 9,000 square feet of ground-floor retail will face 19th Avenue. Landscaped plazas and common areas will fill the gaps between the buildings.

Here’s a rendering, courtesy of Davis Partnership Architects, of the center of the 19th Avenue side with The Congress (left) and The Benedict (right) and the plaza entrance in between (click and expand to embiggen):

This is a view of The Congress at the project’s northeast corner, with Pennsylvania Street on the left and 19th Avenue on the right:

Finally, here’s a view of the southeast corner showing The Commons, with 18th Avenue on the left and Pennsylvania Street on the right:

The good folks at RedPeak and Davis Partnership tell me they are finalizing the project’s site plan and building designs, so I’ll probably have some additional project images and details to share with you in another month or two. Construction will begin Spring 2012. The two buildings along 19th Avenue (Benedict and Congress) will be completed first, opening Summer/Fall 2013, followed by The Commons and The Washington a few months later. The project team is aiming for LEED-Silver certification.

This project is fantastic news for Downtown Denver. East 19th Avenue will become an even more viable local retail street and a full city block of ugly surface parking goes away. In fact, given this project’s proximity to Uptown Square, Park Avenue Lofts, Tower on the Park, and the many other recent infill projects nearby, it wouldn’t surprise me if this RedPeak development pushes Uptown past the tipping point, causing a rush to develop the nearby vacant parcels and elevating Uptown into one of Denver’s most desirable, walkable, and livable urban districts.

Can you imagine a parking-lot-free Uptown? I can, and this project is getting us there.

The proposed 90,000 SF building is being developed by Fleisher Smyth Brokaw and would replace an existing three-story medical office building and a surface parking lot at the corner. The project is proposed for eight stories with a parking garage incorporated into the structure.  The ground-floor could accommodate either retail or storefront medical.  The block is roughly triangular in shape, with the southwest corner of the site cut off by Park Avenue.  Here’s the site in question from Bing Maps, looking south:

Here’s the site plan. All the following images are courtesy of Fleisher Smyth Brokaw and the project architect, Mulhern Group.

Here are renderings of the project and building elevations and cross-section:

For more information, visit the project website at: http://17thavenuepavillion.com/index.php

This should be a nice addition to Uptown!

Additionally, a medical office building is under construction next door between 20th and 21st on High Street:

I’m happy to see that both institutions are making major investments in their Uptown campuses. There’s even another medical office building planned for nearby, which I will cover in my next post.

Finally, while it has nothing to do with the new RMHC, just a few blocks away at 19th and Franklin is one of my favorite buildings in Uptown—the historic Mullen Building on the St. Joseph campus.  Isn’t she an art deco beaut?

The Mullen Building was designed by prominent Denver architect Temple Hoyne Buell. According to the St. Joseph Hospital website, the building was dedicated on October 12, 1933 as the Catherine Mullen Nurses Home, and it served as the hospital’s nursing school and dormitory until 1970.

Old and new, Denver’s Uptown District continues to improve.

Fortunately, we now have a handsome residential complex at that location. Along with the Post Uptown Square project and DHA’s Hope VI Park Avenue redevelopment, this part of Uptown is really filling in nicely. Here are a few pics of the finished product:

The building is pedestrian scaled and offers a straight-forward design with classical forms and details done in a clean, contemporary manner. The heavy use of brick gives the project a solid, grounded feel that should age well both architecturally and physically. A perfect background building for Denver and a fine addition to Uptown.

Urbans@Lawrence (26th and Lawrence):

Trellis (next door to the above Urbans project):

Traverse (25th and Champa):

2428 Champa (next door to Traverse):

Cornerstone Residences (Park Avenue and Curtis):

25th and Washington:

Chroma Townhomes (25th and Larimer):

Rocky Mountain Children’s Hospital (19th and High):

Uptown Apartments (19th and Clarkson):

Nice to see all that brick!

I know there are a few more infill projects under construction out there that I haven’t recently posted a photo of (or at all). If you’d like to contribute to DenverInfill, please email me your well-composed, higher-resolution photos or send me a link to where the photos reside on a photo-sharing account, and I’d be happy–and thankful–to post them. Please also include the project name/location too.

First, the Park Avenue Apartments (formerly Uptown Apartments) project at 19th and Washington in the Uptown district (Project #20):

Also in Uptown, the big East Village redevelopment project has finally moved across to the southwest side of Park Avenue, with that project’s “Block 4″ now starting construction next to Benedict Fountain Park (Project #1):

Speaking of the East Village redevelopment project, on the other side of Park Avenue in the Curtis Park district, construction of “Block 3″ is nearing completion (Project #8):

I dig the architecture.

Also in Curtis Park are two new projects I don’t have on DenverInfill yet! First is a 6-unit townhome project at 22nd and Emerson:

and a condo/townhome project of some kind at 25th and Washington. This project is right up against The Point project and nicely completes the block. At the corner is a historic Denver Fire Department station:

In the Capitol Hill district, the new Argonaut Liquor (Project #10) opened two days ago at Colfax and Clarkson! Here’s the new building:

Finally, a new project not yet on the City Park West district page is the new Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children, located at the corner of 19th and High. Construction has recently begun:

Do you live or work near an infill project that I haven’t posted a photo of recently? If you’d like to be a contributor to DenverInfill, please send me an email (feedback “at” denverinfill “dot” com) with the photos or a link to where I can download them. Please just make sure they are higher-resolution, well-composed photos (no camera phones or shots taken through the car windshield, etc.) to maintain the high quality of this website. I will greatly appreciate it!