DenverInfill Blog

Today we are kicking off a new special on the DenverInfill Blog. We are calling it ‘Inside the Infill’ where we take a special look inside the project with details from the men and women working on the inside. The focus today will be the Metropolitan State College of Denver Hotel and Hospitality Learning Center over at Auraria.

Before we begin, I would like to thank Nathan Huyler of RNL, Jason Miller of Mortenson, Tiffany Nation of Mortenson, and Chad Grubl of Metro State for making this tour possible for Ken and me.

First we will start off with the courtyard. This will be a common area outside for both students and hotel guests to meet, socialize, and study. The courtyard also will be used for vehicles to get in and out but will not disturb the function of the outdoor space.

Next we will cover parking. This project has 75 structured parking spaces as you can see below. It’s a very simple system as far as getting in and out. There’s one ‘in’ ramp and one ‘out’ ramp.

The connection between the two classrooms is going to host 7,500 square feet of meeting space. This is almost like a bridge over the courtyard entrance.

They may not look like much now but these are going to be the hotel rooms. The Hotel and Hospitality Learning Center includes 150 guest rooms.

When a guest is staying in the Hotel and Hospitality Learning Center, they are going to get some great views of downtown and campus as well. You can stare at the buildings on one side, or watch a baseball game on the other.

This is the lobby of the hotel which includes a meeting area and guest services where you can check in to your room.

Over to the classrooms. The academic program here is going to offer state-of-the-art food and beverage laboratories, classrooms, and faculty offices. This also includes a kitchen, student lounge, restaurant, and even wine tasting all wrapped around in glass.

Here are a couple bonus shots of the project. On the left is a shot looking at the project form the inside, and on the right from the outside.

Last but not least, thank you once again to the crew (and the hiding ones) that allowed us to tour their project.

As far as materials go for the project, they are going to relate to the existing campus’s low-rise, high-density arrangement and clad in brick. This project is also pursuing LEED Silver.

Coming up in the next few weeks there will be more ‘Inside the Infill’ posts of more projects around such as the Ralph Carr Judicial Complex so stay tuned!

As promised, I traveled over to Auraria to go check out how things are coming along. If you recall in my last update, there are two projects on the campus: The Metro State Student Success Building, and the Hotel Learning Center.

First, the Student Success Building. It appears the structure has topped out.

Workers were very busy today. There was constant activity at the site.

From a little bit of a different angle, you can see how long this building is. This will add a lot to the street-scape on Auraria Parkway.

The Hotel Learning Center was very hard to get to. It was blocked off with tall fences on all sides. I was able to zoom in a little and get this from the top of a parking garage. As you can see, there is a red tower crane up and this project is moving forward at full force.

In this bonus photo, you can see DaVita starting to break through the Lower Downtown / Central Platte Valley skyline.

When I was taking pictures on top of an Auraria parking garage, I looked around and counted 12 cranes. That’s a lot of development going on around the city, which I will be covering. Throughout the next few weeks we will be looking at some of the projects that have been regularly updated on here and also some smaller projects in Downtown’s surrounding neighborhoods that have yet to get an update.

Metropolitan State College of Denver, which recently changed its name to Denver State University, is developing two sites; The Metro State Student Success Building and the Hotel Learning Center.

The student success building is making significant progress. This is located at 9th and Auraria Parkway.

They have begun to build the steel skeleton for the building.

The Metro State Student Success Building is going to be a 4-story 145,000 square foot building. It is scheduled to open April 2012. Due to the recent name change of the college, the name of the building may be different upon completion.

Over at the Hotel Learning Center site, it looks like the site is being prepared for construction.

As you can see, there is a red tower crane base at the site.

The Hotel Learning Center will have 150 rooms and over 21,000 square feet of classroom space. It is expected to open September 2012.

The Metro State Hotel & Hospitality Learning Center on the Auraria Campus will break ground February 2011.

The proposed combination hotel/academic building is planned for the corner of Auraria Parkway and 12th Street where tennis courts are currently located. Here’s the site from Google Earth:

The hotel portion will be branded as a Marriott SpringHill Suites and will contain 150 rooms, a conference facility with a 350-person capacity, and a fast-casual restaurant franchise. The hotel will be managed by Denver’s Sage Hospitality. The academic portion will include over 21,000 square feet of classrooms, laboratories, and faculty offices for Metro State’s Hospitality, Tourism & Events program.

Here are three images of the project, courtesy of RNL Design:

View of the northeastern side. The intersection in the foreground is eastbound Auraria Parkway (wide street in front) and 12th Street (narrow street heading off to the left):

View of the southeastern side facing the athletic fields and Lawrence Street:

Internal courtyard:

If all goes as planned, the facility will open September 2012.