DenverInfill Blog

It seems everyone is anticipating the groundbreaking of the proposed 20th & Chestnut project by the Nichols Partnership in Downtown Denver’s booming Union Station district, which will not only give Downtown its first full-service grocery store, but also put that store within two blocks of the region’s largest multi-modal transit hub. Here’s a quick progress report on the project and two slightly updated renderings, courtesy of Nichols Partnership project manager Dan Schuetz.

The first image is a view of the project’s 20th and Chestnut corner; the second image, the 19th and Chestnut corner:

The development’s groundbreaking was rescheduled from March to June, due to some final tweaks to the building design. Now, the project’s entire ground floor will have 28-foot ceiling heights. The consequence of this is quite exciting. The interior ground-floor parking area reserved for grocery store customers will now feel much more spacious with a ceiling that high. Also—and this is the really cool part—with a 28-foot floor-to-ceiling height, this has allowed the Nichols Partnership to add an L-shaped mezzanine level to the grocery store, increasing the store’s overall size. Sweet!

The Nichols Partnership‘s proposed grocery-anchored residential project in Downtown Denver’s Union Station district is on track for a March 1, 2012 groundbreaking.

Covering most of the block bounded by Chestnut Place, 20th Street, Wewatta Street, and 19th Street in the redevelopment area west of Union Station, the project will feature 55,000 square feet of retail (most of which will be a full-service national-chain grocer) and 312 rental apartments. Our last profile on the project was in April 2011, and since then the project has received its approvals from the city and is preparing for the start of construction.

Courtesy of the Nichols Partnership and the Mulhern Group, here are the latest and final renderings for the project. First, an axonometric view looking south at the corner of 20th and Chestnut:

Here’s a closer view of the same corner at 20th & Chestnut, with 20th Street on the left and Chestnut on the right:

Next, a perspective looking east at the corner of 19th & Chestnut, with Chestnut on the left and 19th Street on the right:

Finally, here’s a view looking north from near 19th and Wewatta, with 19th Street on the left. The grassy area on the right is the remaining portion of the block along Wewatta that will be developed in the future as a mid-rise tower:

Of course, the presence of the grocery store component of the project is big news for Downtown, but this development is also important for the way that it will begin to close in the gap between Riverfront Park and LoDo, as well as help connect the Prospect district with the Union Station area. It will be the first project to get underway in the area immediately west of Union Station and north of 16th Street, but it certainly won’t be the last. We’re on the cusp of a once-in-a-lifetime building boom around Union Station.

The Nichols Partnership’s 20th & Chestnut project will open in December, 2013.

The Nichols Partnership, developers of the successful Spire residential tower in Central Downtown, announced back in June 2007 that they had purchased almost the entire block bounded by Wewatta, 19th, Chestnut, and 20th in the Union Station district. At that time they proposed for the site a mixed-use concept consisting of a ground-floor grocery store with residential and possibly other uses such as hotel or office above. The project didn’t proceed, however, as the pending economic collapse and other factors intervened.

Four years later, I’m happy to report that the Nichols Partnership, along with partners Loftus Developments and the Mulhern Group, announce that the project is now ready to go!

The project (named “20th & Chestnut” for now) will be built in two phases. The first phase will cover about three-quarters of the block fronting Chestnut Place and will feature a 42,000 SF urban grocery store (national chain TBD) and an additional 13,000 SF of retail, plus 307 apartments above in a five-story building. Included within the ground-floor level are 104 parking spaces reserved for the retail uses, with vehicle access to these spaces from Chestnut Place. Below grade are two levels of parking containing 447 parking spaces for the residential uses, accessed via 19th Street. Here’s the street-level site plan:

The building will feature a prominent glass corner entry at 20th and Chestnut and a facade consisting primarily of glass and brick. Here are renderings looking toward the 20th & Chestnut corner and the 20th Street side:

Here’s a view from above showing the overall building orientation and footprint. The remaining one-quarter of the block fronting Wewatta Street will be developed as a future Phase 2 as a 12-story mixed-use tower.

If all goes as planned, the project will begin construction in December, 2011 and will open in 2013.

It looks like Downtown Denver is finally going to get a full-service grocery store!