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:
17th Street side:
Another positive step for Lower Highland and the greater Downtown Denver area!
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:
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.
Here’s a shot I took about a week ago of the site under construction:
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.
The underutilized corner at 15th and Little Raven next to Confluence Park is one of Downtown Denver’s choicest development sites, with an interesting history of proposals dating back over a decade. Today, let’s review some of that history and take a look at what the future holds for the property. First, here’s the site in question (from Bing Maps):
Back in the 1990s when the area was mostly rail yards and warehouses, the Confluence property was zoned PRV (for Platte River Valley). The PRV zone was intended to be a placeholder zone for the valley until new developments would trigger rezonings on a site-by-site basis. In 2001, the property was rezoned to R-MU-30. At that time, development in the CPV was just taking off and residential in the area was still rather untested; plus, an Xcel Energy electrical substation occupied the adjacent parcel at the confluence of the creek and river. So, it was felt that the new R-MU-30 zone, which required a boxy LoDo-style building envelope was the best solution for the site. The resulting structure would have been 90 feet tall, stepping down to 60 feet, and covering the entire site from property line to property line, with facades the length of a football field facing Little Raven in the “front” and facing the electrical substation in the “back”. No project, however, materialized.
In 2007, developer Ray Suppa (who built the Palace Lofts in LoDo and the Waterside Lofts at Wewatta and Cherry Creek) started the process with the city to rezone the site. By 2007, conditions had changed in the Central Platte Valley. Residential development was booming and projects such as the Glass House reflected a trend for taller buildings and higher densities, and the Xcel Energy substation had been replaced with the new Confluence Park Plaza. That rezoning would have allowed a building up to 140 feet in height for a portion of the site. But before the rezoning ever made it to City Council for final consideration, the request was pulled. Mr. Suppa and others felt it was best to step back and take a fresh look at what would be best for the site.
In 2008, Mr. Suppa, Councilwoman Judy Montero, and the Community Planning & Development department decided to ask the Urban Land Institute for its opinion. The ULI convened a Technical Assistance Panel, which I had the honor to chair, to study the Confluence site. Our panel consisted of prominent architects, planners, and developers from both the Denver area as well as from out of state. After much research and interviews with dozens of stakeholders and other urban design experts, the panel concluded that the R-MU-30 zoning was no longer appropriate for the site and recommended that the site’s density be reconfigured into a point tower at Little Raven and the creek, with a shorter structure at the corner of 15th and Little Raven. By shifting the density upward, it also would allow for a good percentage of the site to become open space integrated with Confluence Park Plaza.
In August 2009, after a year of extensive outreach by Mr. Suppa to the CPV neighborhood and the broader Downtown community, the Denver City Council approved a rezoning of the site to PUD (Planned Unit Development). The new PUD zoning reflects the panel’s recommendations and provides for a high-rise up to 350 feet in height at Little Raven and Cherry Creek, and a mid-rise structure (maximum height of 65 feet) at the 15th & Little Raven corner with a form that creates a strong urban edge and identity to the site and connections with the adjacent parks. Brownstone-style residences along Little Raven connect the two buildings. Parking would be accommodated on three underground levels. The mid-rise at the corner would include ground-floor retail and five floors of residential and/or office uses above. The high-rise would have 32 or 33 floors of residential uses. Overall, the project would contain approximately 385,000 gross square feet. The project will also seek LEED certification.
Courtesy of OZ Architecture, here are a few images. Please note: the buildings have not yet been designed. These images reflect only the form, scale, and orientation of the project under its new PUD zoning. The actual architectural design of the project is yet to come.
Conceptual site plan (left) and conceptual rendering (right):
Two more images from OZ showing different tower concepts from vantage points nearby:
In May 2010, the city approved the Design Standards and Guidelines for the project, which articulate to a level of detail not found in the PUD zoning various aspects of the project including building form and orientation, landscaping, ground-floor treatment, etc.
Finally, some of you have no doubt noticed that the existing buildings at the site are being demolished. Actually, not all of the site will be razed at this time. The existing buildings consist of a two-story structure right at the corner of 15th and Little Raven, and a one-story structure closer to the Confluence Park Plaza that stretches all the way back to Cherry Creek. A portion of the one-story building near Cherry Creek will be retained and made available as two art studio type rental units. This is an interim situation, until such time as the full project moves forward. Which brings me to the question many are probably wondering: when will the tower project get underway? Like everything else these days, the answer is basically: “it depends on the market”. However, given Mr. Suppa’s track record with successfully building major projects in the Downtown Denver area and the high-profile and attractive nature of the site, I would say that this project is likely to be one we will see happen before too long.
Here are a couple of demolition photos taken Friday by my friend Matt:
Let’s hope the economy continues its recovery so we can see the Confluence project move forward soon. This is going to be an exciting addition to the Central Platte Valley and Downtown Denver.
Last fall I mentioned that the Saddlery Building at 15th and Wynkoop was finally getting its long-overdue makeover, and how amazing the exterior is looking after a good scrubbing. Today I’m happy to provide additional details about the historic structure’s rehabilitation, thanks to Kevin and Nancy from Studio K2 Architecture.
Work continues on the brick facade restoration, with only the 15th Street side remaining to be cleaned. Also of note has been the work on the windows. Many of the windows, particularly the large ones at street level, had been bricked in years ago. Now, the brick has been removed and, while the new windows are not yet in place, it is exciting to see the building’s steady transformation.
The completed project will include retail/restaurant space on the ground floor, office space on Floors 2 through 5, and the addition of two copper-clad residential penthouses at the top. The images below are courtesy of Studio K2 Architecture:
Here’s a perspective of the entire building as viewed from the roof of the Steelbridge Lofts across the intersection:
and the Wynkoop side from ground level:
and the project site plan:
You’ll notice in both images that a new wide sidewalk will be installed in front of the building along Wynkoop Street. Since the building’s construction in 1900, there’s never been a sidewalk along the Wynkoop side of the building given the loading dock’s location there. Speaking of the loading dock, the existing dock will be removed and a new, wider dock will be added that will not only allow for ADA access to the building, but will provide sufficient room for other uses, such as a restaurant patio. While the diagonal parking and narrow sidewalk located in front of the surface parking lot to the north along Wynkoop will continue to inhibit pedestrian movement, the new wide sidewalk in front of the Saddlery will be a huge improvement to the Lower Downtown streetscape.
The Saddlery Building project will be complete later this year.
Real estate investor Jon Cook recently announced plans to build a major urban redevelopment project called The Lumberyards near South Broadway and West Jewell Avenue in Denver’s Overland neighborhood. The site is across South Santa Fe Avenue from Overland Golf Course and includes the former Shattuck Chemical property. The project would potentially begin in 2011 with an 8-story building and would be developed over a number of years as the market allows. At full build-out, the Lumberyards project would include approximately 1,000 residential units, about 250,000 square feet of office space, and 150,000 square feet of retail. For more details on the project including a site map and conceptual renderings, please read this article from the Denver Post.
Here’s a bird’s eye view of the site from Bing maps:
The southwestern corner of the project area is a quarter-mile from the Evans light rail station on the Southwest line; a bit far to be considered a true Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), but close enough for it to be considered “transit proximate”, and certainly a selling point for the project overall.
The Lumberyards will have to compete with the other big TODs that didn’t get very far along during the last boom, like the Gates project just up the road at Broadway and I-25 and Continuum’s project at I-25 and Belleview. When the next boom finally arrives, TOD may be king of Denver development, with Downtown Denver serving as the biggest Transit-Oriented Development site around.
Overall, this is a good project and one that will hopefully succeed in offering additional housing opportunities for people who may want to live in a denser, urban environment, outside of the Downtown area.
Two important Lower Downtown historic buildings are being restored: the Colorado Saddlery Building and the Wazee Exchange Building.
I mentioned the Colorado Saddlery Building the other day. Not only is the building at 15th and Wynkoop getting a thorough exterior restoration, but the inside will be completely renovated and converted to offices with ground-floor retail and a new 3-unit residential penthouse up top. Also, the missing sidewalk and streetscape along Wynkoop will finally be installed! This is a project that was approved in 2006 but is now finally being executed. Excellent!
The picture on the left is the still-dirty 15th Street side, and on the right, the freshly-scrubbed Wynkoop side:
A few blocks away at 19th and Wazee, the Wazee Exchange building’s renovation is nearly complete. Along the Wazee side, paint has been removed from the building’s brick exterior to reveal a formerly hidden but dramatic historic commercial painted sign. On the left is the “before” and on the right is the “after”:
Along 19th Street, the historic storefronts have been restored, including the removal of the green metal panels to reveal the storefront’s beautiful cornice and modillions. Again, left is “before” and right is “after”:
It’s great to see that even in a down economy, investment in Downtown Denver continues.
A few days ago, Margaret Jackson at the Denver Post reported that DaVita, a Fortune 500 company that makes medical equipment, is planning on moving their corporate headquarters from California to Denver and is scouting several locations in the Downtown Denver area for their future home. One of those locations is Block 022 in Lower Downtown, the block bounded by 18th, 19th, Wazee, and Blake streets that is owned by developer Grand American, Inc.
Block 022, you may recall, was the site of the late-1990s “Stadium Walk” project proposed by Grand American and partner Arnold Schwarzenegger that was to include a Planet Hollywood, a multi-screen movie theatre, condos, restaurants, and a grocery store. Of course, that project never got off the ground, but now Grand American is pursuing the DaVita headquarters by proposing a mixed-use office development on their LoDo block. While the program and space needs for DaVita’s future headquarters building is still in flux, the company is apparently looking for approximately 150,000 square feet of office space. Grand American is proposing a 7-story office building of about that size at the corner of 19th and Wazee. This morning, that proposal was considered by the Lower Downtown Design Review Board.
The LoDo design guidelines set the maximum building height for most of the historic district, including Block 022, at 55 feet; however, a building can be approved up to 85 feet in height if it includes residential uses. Grand American is proposing to use the full 85 feet for the DaVita headquarters and to defer the required residential component to a future phase elsewhere on the block. Due to the weak housing market, a requirement to build residential at this time would make the project financially unfeasible. This phased concept was the focus of today’s LDDRB meeting, which the Board did approve, with conditions.
Grand American owns the entire block. Most of the Wazee side is surface parking, along with two buildings that are non-contributing structures to the historic district that could be razed. On the Blake Street side, the two one-story buildings in the center of the block (directly above the words “Blake St.” on the aerial photo) are also non-contributing structures to the historic district. Consequently, Grand American’s proposed project in its entirety is the “T-shaped” site formed by the whole Wazee side of the block and the center one-quarter of the Blake Street side.
Phase 1 of Grand American’s plan would include constructing an underground parking garage along the entire length of the Wazee side of the block and the 7-story office building at the 19th Street and Wazee corner. Subsequent phases to the project would include a building at the 18th Street and Wazee corner—either all office, all residential, or a mix of both—as well as a residential building on the Blake Street parcel that would necessitate, at that time, the demolition of the existing non-contributing buildings and the construction of more underground parking that would connect beneath the alley with the underground parking on the Wazee side. All three buildings would have ground-floor commercial uses. There’s even the possibility that DaVita’s space needs may require construction of office buildings on both halves of the Wazee side of the block in Phase 1, leaving only the Blake Street residential building as a future phase. It’s too early to say at this point what the entire project’s final program will be, but the Board’s approval today of the phased residential deferral concept allows Grand American and their design partner, Shears-Adkins Architects, to continue in their pursuit of landing the DaVita headquarters.
I mentioned the Board gave its approval, with conditions. Several of those conditions were technical in nature which I won’t get into, but one that I will mention involved the question of what to do with the 18th and Wazee corner after the underground parking goes in but before a building is constructed on top of it as part of a future phase, which could be years away. The developer proposed putting in a surface parking lot, edged along 18th and Wazee by some type of artistic/interactive urban design element that would serve as an attractive screen to the parking lot. The Board nixed the parking lot idea (except for one row of parking directly off the alley) and required the developer to identify, instead, something else—a park, plaza, garden, pavilion, whatever—that would serve as an engaging, if temporary, use for the site until it is covered with a future structure.
The next step requires Great American/Shears-Adkins to come back with more detailed plans showing the proposed mass, scale, form and program for all three buildings. This project is still very early in the design and approval process and, of course, if DaVita chooses to go to a competing location, all bets are off. But for now at least, this project moves forward.
I’m thrilled that DaVita appears to be focusing on Downtown Denver for its new corporate headquarters, and equally thrilled that an ugly, parking-lot-infested stretch of Wazee may be developed in the near future.
The 194-unit Park Avenue Lofts apartments project covers the entire block bounded by 19th and 20th Avenues and Washington and Clarkson Streets. Under construction since early 2008 when it was named simply “Uptown Apartments,” the project has recently been completed and renters have moved in. Before this project arrived, the entire block was a weedy vacant lot–something that’s always a shame to see anywhere in the urban core, but particularly when that vacant lot sits at a corner along a prominent thoroughfare like Park Avenue.
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.
Trammell Crow Residential is currently building a 400-unit apartment project in the Prospect district called Alexan Prospect. The other day I rode by bike down there and snapped a few pictures to share with you.
From left to right: 1. View at 29th and Inca, 2. Looking south down Inca towards 29th, 3. In between the project and the Ajax Lofts, 4. North end of the project.
The building at the corner will have a small amount of ground-floor retail.
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.
