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New Downtown Denver Project: Hyatt Place/Hyatt House Hotel

Posted by  on May 6, 2013

Hotel developers are bullish on Downtown Denver.

White Lodging, a national hotel developer based out of Merrillville, Indiana recently announced plans to construct a 21-story hotel at the corner of 14th Street and Glenarm Place in Downtown Denver. White Lodging also developed the Embassy Suites Downtown Denver/Convention Center hotel at 14th and Stout that opened in late 2010. The new project will be located across the street from the Denver Athletic Club and next door to the small but historic Colorado Press Association and Denver Press Club buildings. Here’s a Google Earth aerial where I’ve outlined the project location:

The project will be a dual-branded Hyatt Place and Hyatt House property, with a total of 346 rooms. While an official rendering of the project is not yet available, here is a site plan the developers recently submitted to the city as part of the development review process:

What this site plan tells us is that the hotel’s main entry will be off of 14th Street, with a drop-off/valet lane to the right of the bike lane, similar to the condition at the Hotel Teatro at 14th and Arapahoe. Also, the streetscape will be upgraded in front of the tower to include the enhanced 14th Street landscaped planters, plus additional streetscaping along Glenarm and sidewalk canopies along both 14th and Glenarm, which will greatly improve the pedestrian environment.

This project is significant not only for the fact that it is a new 21-story tower in Downtown Denver, but also that its location is in a part of Downtown—sometimes referred to as the Silver Triangle—that hasn’t seen a lot of private-sector development in many decades. This project represents the expansion of developer interest into a part of Downtown ripe with development potential.

Here’s the site:

According to White Lodging, construction will begin late this year and be completed by Spring 2015.

This is great news for Downtown Denver! We will keep you posted as the project works its way through the development review process with the city and when official renderings of the tower are available.

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Filed under Hospitality, Infill, Upper Downtown.
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New Golden Triangle Project: Museum Center + The Art Hotel

Posted by  on April 18, 2013

The final phase of the Cultural Center Parking Garage mixed-use development project next to the Denver Art Museum is moving forward.

When the Daniel Libeskind-designed Hamilton Building at the Denver Art Museum opened in 2006, the project also included the new Cultural Center Parking Garage, wrapped on the west and south sides by the Museum Residences. The final phase of the project envisioned more residential units in a tower at 12th and Broadway as well as along the east side of the parking garage facing Broadway. That final phase never got off the ground, however, before the recession hit.

With the improving economy, the final phase of the project is back… except now the proposed development will consist of office space and a boutique hotel. Here is a Google Earth image where I’ve outlined the project location:

The developers, Corporex Colorado and Mile High Development, are currently marketing the office component of the project, known as Museum Center. Museum Center will include a total of about 50,000 square feet of space located on the second and third floors and a portion of the first floor. Other ground-floor functions include the lobby and the porte-cochère. The fourth floor will feature meeting rooms, entertaining and catering spaces, and a large outdoor deck. The hotel component, known as The Art Hotel, will include 165 rooms on floors five through nine.

Here are some renderings of the project. The architects, LoDo-based Davis Partnership and Studio Daniel Libeskind, produced a clean, contemporary design that is compatible with the museum and first phase’s iconic geometric style.

A view from above looking down at the 12th and Broadway corner:

A close-up view of the Broadway facade:

Street-level view looking north from roughly 11th and Broadway:

The view looking south from 13th and Broadway. (FYI, the north side of the parking garage at 13th and Broadway will remain undeveloped. That corner currently features a small park that serves as a storm water detention area, but for the long term, the corner was reserved as a future expansion site for the main Denver Public Library.)

This project will put the finishing touches on the stretch of Broadway between 14th and 12th that has dramatically improved with the completion of the Ralph Carr Colorado Judicial Center and the History Colorado Center. I hope this final phase of the museum project will get underway soon.

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Filed under Golden Triangle, Hospitality, Infill, Office.
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Downtown Denver: Aloft Denver City Center Update #1

Posted by  on April 4, 2013

Today we are going to visit the Aloft site on 15th and Stout. If any of you remember the old Burger King building that stood empty for many years, it has been leveled and hopefully we will start to see some construction activity soon!

This one picture says it all. We have a construction fence up, and the old structure is nowhere to be found! This also shows where the new Aloft will be nestled in at this intersection, being completely surrounded by three other buildings. That is some true infill!

As a reminder, this will be a 6-story building providing approximately 140 hotel rooms. According to their website, construction should be complete by July 2014.

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Filed under Central Downtown, Hospitality, Infill.
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New Downtown Denver Project: Aloft Denver City Center

Posted by  on March 17, 2013

A new hotel is planned for Downtown Denver: Aloft Denver City Center at 800 15th Street.

Aloft is a Starwood Hotel brand featuring a modern, sleek aesthetic that’s targeted to a younger, urban-oriented customer. The proposed Aloft Denver City Center project is being developed by Denver-based JBK Hotels LLC. In December 2012, JBK Hotels filed a development application with the city and the project is currently going through the city’s review process. Here’s a Google Earth aerial where I’ve outlined the project site (click to embiggen):

 

The project site is located at the corner of 15th and Stout, currently occupied by a former Burger King restaurant building that’s straight out of 1970s suburbia. Since Burger King vacated the property in the 1990s or early 2000s (not exactly sure when), the building has been a revolving door of cheap restaurants. Here’s a very recent photo of the property (surrounded by a chain-link fence—always a hopeful sign!) by our very own Ryan Dravitz:

What a forlorn site. I think it’s safe to say that all DenverInfill readers and urbanists everywhere will cheer the redevelopment of this property.

The parcel is small, only 12,500 square feet, so the new Aloft hotel is not going to be a large building, but it certainly will have a huge positive impact on this corner. The project will be six-stories high and about 70,000 square feet in size. A below-grade level will include hotel functions and a swimming pool/fitness area. The ground floor will include about 2,000 SF of retail and lobby uses and a porte-cochère with vehicle ingress off Stout Street and vehicle egress via the alley between Stout and Champa. The upper five floors will contain approximately 140 hotel rooms.

The following image was taken from the project’s development application to the city (architect is Olive Architecture of Raleigh, NC). Here’s a perspective of the 15th & Stout corner:

On the left is Stout Street (southeast) facade, where the porte-cochère entry is visible to the left of the lobby. On the right is the 15th Street (northeast) facade. For the first three floors on the southwestern side, the project shares a common wall with the La Boheme building.

A relatively smaller-scale project like this is a perfect complement to the many large newer towers nearby like Spire and the Hyatt Colorado Convention Center, resulting in a greatly improved pedestrian environment and further restoration of the urban fabric in this part of Downtown. Hopefully, the chain-link fence around the site means that construction will begin later this year.

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Filed under Central Downtown, Hospitality, Infill.
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Denver Union Station Update #109

Posted by  on December 2, 2012

Today, for my 100th post on DenverInfill, I am going to update you on Denver’s most extraordinary project: Denver Union Station. As you know, the historic station is now closed and will be renovated over the next two years. But that’s not all the exciting news! Both wing buildings are under construction as well as the enormous, beautiful commuter rail canopy. Let’s take a look!

These two pictures give you an idea of how large this canopy is going to be. It’s only about 25% complete and will span all the way across the historic station.

The North (red crane) and South (yellow crane) wing buildings are fully under construction. As a refresher, these are 5-story buildings not to exceed the cornice line of the historic station.

When traveling north on Wynkoop Street, you can see both tower cranes up for the new wing buildings. It’s quite a sight seeing so much construction going on around Union Station.

Going down the 16th Street Mall towards the Millennium Bridge, both lanes are now open for the mall shuttles.

Over on Wewatta Street, you can see two things: Wewatta Street itself is nearing completion and the structure for the Wewatta Pavilion is in place. Cadence is also beginning to rise above the street as well!

Finally, some additional views of the entire redevelopment. Here you can see the sheer size of the commuter rail canopy. Cadence is also beginning to make a small presence. You can no longer see the north side of Union Station from Millennium Bridge!

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the private-sector development planned for this neighborhood. With the station also closed for renovation and construction of the hotel, I am very excited to see what everything will look like in 2014 when the project is scheduled for completion.

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Filed under Hospitality, Infill, Office, Residential, Revitalization, Streets, Transit, Transit-Oriented, Union Station.
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Metropolitan State University: Hotel and Hospitality Learning Center Final Update

Posted by  on September 22, 2012

Today we will be covering yet another completed project over at the Auraria Campus. The Hotel and Hospitality Learning Center by Metropolitan State University is complete and open for students and visitors. Here at DenverInfill, we have covered this project very actively and even got an inside look when it was under construction. Click on the links below to follow this development start to finish!

Auraria Update: Hotel Learning Center 

Auraria Update: Hotel & Hospitality Learning Center

Auraria Projects Update

Auraria Projects Update #2

Inside the Infill: Hotel and Hospitality Learning Center

Auraria Projects Update #3

Here is an overall look of the development from the backside. For being located in Auraria, the scale of this project is larger than most of the buildings around it and, just like the Student Success center, it is architecturally unique with setbacks, different colored brick and a more modern glass design.

Now we’re going to take a walk around Auraria Parkway. This building adds a very nice street wall and since it is pushed right up to the property line, the building curves with the road maintaining the wall effect. The landscaping along the sidewalk is very appealing and the building provides a very welcoming feel with the glass walls along the road.

 

 

Just like the Student Success center, there are long hallways with glass walls. This provides great natural light and cuts down on lighting costs. Not to mention, it breaks up the facade and looks neat!

 

Time to walk under the hallway and into the courtyard. Here you can see a lighter color of brick being used along with a different pattern of glass. You will also be able to park or valet your car in one of the 75 structured parking spaces. The parking system is very easy with a quick in and out system. There is also a common patio area for students and guests to meet outside and enjoy our Colorado air.

  

This LEED-Certified project includes 150 guest rooms as well as classroom space for students perusing a hospitality major at Metropolitan State University. This development is a great start for completing the Auraria master plan and a great new building for the university. This is the first hotel at Auraria and its great for students coming out of state to stay right on the downtown campus.

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Filed under Auraria, Education, Hospitality, Infill.
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