Back in my March 4, 2006 blog, I first mentioned the possibility that the State of Colorado might develop the surface parking lot on Block 028-B at the northeast corner of Colfax and Lincoln… the last undeveloped parcel adjacent to Denver’s Civic Center green space (including the State’s Lincoln Park between Broadway and Lincoln). Until recently there were several undeveloped sites fronting Civic Center: the Colfax and Lincoln parking lot, the hideous surface lot where the new Denver Newspaper Agency Building now sits, and the parking lots that used to occupy the southeast corner of 14th and Lincoln where the State recently completed a new parking garage. Add in the Wellington Webb building and the new Libeskind-designed wing of the Denver Art Museum, and the Civic Center area has certainly seen its share of new development over the past couple of years.
Anyway, back to this new State building… the rumor is true! The State recently posted a Request for Proposal on the Colorado Department of Personnel and Administration’s website for a new “State Capitol Mixed-Use Building” with an estimated cost of $40-$50 million dollars. My thanks to Len for spotting this and bringing it to my attention. Here are a few quotes from the RFP:
“The Department of Personnel and Administration has received an appropriation from the General Assembly for the design of a mixed-use state owned office building on the northeast corner of Colfax Avenue and Lincoln Street. For planning purposes, the upper levels of the facility would provide approximately 190,000 gross square feet of office space with approximately 275 parking spaces located at the lower levels and approximately 15,000 gross square feet of retail space provided at the street level facing Lincoln Street.
The location proposed for the mixed-use office building is the site of the surface parking lot at the northeast corner of Colfax Avenue and Lincoln Street and the adjacent parking structure located at 1555 Sherman Street, which will be demolished in the fall of 2006.”
That parking structure at 1555 Sherman is currently under demolition. Here’s a couple of photos of the surface lot and the parking garage now being razed. From left to right: 1. View from Sherman Street; 2. Demolition on the Sherman side; 3. View from Colfax & Lincoln intersection; 4. View looking back at the State Capitol.
The development parcel is L-shaped, consisting of the surface parking lot along Lincoln, and the lot in the center of the Sherman side the block where the under-demolition parking garage now sits. There is some question as to exactly how tall this building will be and how it will be configured on the site. The original source from my March 4 blog called it a 10-story building, but it also gave a different square footage than is now listed in the RFP. Would the entire parking garage and offices cover the L-shaped parcel, or might just the parking garage span the north end of the site between Lincoln and Sherman, with the office tower and retail focused at the corner next to the existing State Services building? We’ll have to see. One other thing… the State’s website says construction on this project is due to begin in June 2007.
Let’s hope the State pays a little more attention to urban design, architectural quality, and long-range planning on this project than they did with the new parking garage at 14th and Lincoln. Boy, was that project a wasted opportunity! Not only did the State fail to take advantage of a prime location by not siting a more important and higher-density building there, but it didn’t even bother to incorporate ground-floor retail into the project. Of course, the State refuses to acquiesce to Denver zoning or design review, so we’ll get whatever the State decides to give us. At least we know there will be ground-floor retail with this new building, which is a step in the right direction. We’ll also see the removal of yet another surface parking lot in Downtown!
Meanwhile, at the other end of Downtown… in my blog of just a few days ago (October 25) about the new Sugar3 Building groundbreaking, I reported: “November 6, a construction fence will go up around the site.” Looks like the developer, Urban Villages LLC, was good to their word. Check it out from this afternoon:
Ladies and gentlemen, as of today, there’s officially one less parking lot in Downtown Denver! Rejoice!
