Ranko Mocevic, president of Hotel Gold Crown Champa LLC, plans to replace the old Burger King building with a 17-story hotel/condominium tower. Hotel Gold Crown Champa LLC recently closed on the 100’ x 125’ parcel at 15th and Stout. They previously had planned to develop the property with the same dimensions across the alley at 15th and Champa where Tarantula Billiards and a small parking lot are located. Mocevic originally planned to construct the tower at the 15th and Champa corner but decided to move forward with the 15th and Stout site instead as that site provides the opportunity to begin construction sooner. Here’s a closeup of that block:
The proposed 17-story tower would include lobby, restaurant, and other hotel functions on the first and second floors, 264 hotel rooms on Floors 3 through 14, and twelve condominium units (4 per floor) on Floors 15 through 17. Two underground parking levels are also planned. Here are some renderings of the proposed tower, courtesy of OZ Architecture LoDo. (Please note: these renderings were prepared when the tower was originally proposed for 15th and Champa. The tower at 15th and Stout would be a mirror image of the building depicted in these images.)
The colored roof panels serve as a mechanical screen as well as an architectural design element. The developer is planning to seek authorization from the city to allow those panels to be illuminated with slowly-changing colored lights to add interest to the Downtown skyline.
Hotel Gold Crown Champa LLC will be both the developer and hotel operator. The builder is Alfa Design & Construction Inc. and, as mentioned above, OZ Architects LoDo is doing the design.
The developer’s timeline has the project receiving a foundation permit from the city later this summer and completing the tower in 2010.
I don't know… I kind of like the old Burger King – now Asian restaurant.
I'm kidding – obviously! This building looks awesome!
really, really a beautiful building
More psycho buildings!!! Yes! I call them that and I tell my wife that is what i call all the new high rise buildings being built. Cause I love the new look Denver is getting and it's getting physco (mad)buildings downtown. I love it!
This building looks especially nice from the street level. I hope we can keep La Boheme, however, after all, Denver is supposed to be a city.
To all the tourist and visitors open your eyes.
Denver is tha place. Single girls and guys.
Come chill in tha city thats known for it's sports & weather
Downtown is tha place ya know it couldn't get any betta.
So come chill with us, downtown is where its at.
Slam a few drinks at the bar tip, salute & ya hat.
At the makers of this web site, and the buildiers that are building
Denver is the number one city to raise a family and a couple hundred children.
as the words of n' sync we will now sing to the owners of burger king now asain restraunt…
Bye, Bye, Bye
can i have a brick of the old burgerking. reminds me of the good ol' 80's. lol…peace love and burger king grease.
What a great looking building!
The glowing red roof looks a little demonic. If it's going to be "slowly-changing" colors, it should stick to the blue-green spectrum because that red color has got to be awful shining into your bedroom at night for those who live in the Spire.
I love the way the building looks during the day. It's a great combination of classical and postmodern architecture.
I too love this building. It looks sophisticated and is the kind of infill that creates beautiful texture to the skyline…not tall, yet quite fetching.
Fantastic! I am glad the decided the other corner.
The changing lights will be reminiscent of the top of the ol' Public Service Building a couple of blocks away on 15th (at Welton). That translucent block on the top used to change colors, too. Maybe they can reactivate that lighting system and create a real light show on 15th.
Yeah!!! This is a really great building. It would be a shame if this wasn't actually built.
While we could still use a downtown BK, I'm glad this empty one is getting replaced by such a nice building. I'm further glad that Leela is not being closed to make room for it as there are few 24hr spots in downtown and Leela has a cool vibe and good food. It's in the Tarantula building on 15th – try it!
I looks like a great building. However, my confidence level with this developer is really low. They have been trying to get a 6-unit townhome project built in Aurora for 5 years. And they just recently had a mid-rise project in Greenwood Village denied.
I hope they can pull this one together.
this is what…the 6th hotel planned for downtown?? Come on now! We can't get a hotel done by the Denver Art Museum…or the hotel by 1800 Larimer…or the Embassy Suites!?!??! Sorry i dont really think this project will happen. Great design tho!
This building is awesome. This project seems to have been quietly in the works for some time, but it makes you wonder why some projects, like the Embassy Suites, take forever to get going. If the Convention Center continues to bring in more and more conventions all of the lots in this vicinty should be occuppied by hotels within a few years. Hopefully, the Colorado Building on 16th Street will be renovated soon, it would make a great boutique hotel.
This is a very handsome building. I hope it’s built.
This would be an interesting and welcome addition to a long-underutilized corner downtown. Here's to hoping!
Nice job OZ, that's a good looking building. Hope it happens.
Every time I drive by that corner I think despicable it is that someone knocked down something that was probably pretty cool, and replaced it with a suburban drive thru fast food joint. Although there was an Indian place in there a couple businesses back that wasn't too bad.
This building is awesome. 15th Street needs more help in that part of downtown. I hope this spurs more development, especially with the ugly parking lot taking up the rest of the block along Stout St.
Confused? Model counts out at around 19 floors?
Also, same rant as before over and over, but if every block in downtown Denver is consumed with a 10-20 story building, well, then we won't have much of a skyline, will we? Go to Chicago, Dallas, Seattle, Minneapolis, I don't care where and no other city in the USA is approving buildings this short. It is a complete waste of preciously scarce downtown real estate. And worse, we have a habit of consuming entire blocks with these buildings rather than quarter blocks, for example. This building is gorgeous, why not build it at 1/4 the foot print only 4 times taller?
Reasons, I've said it all before, but it never hurts repeating and maybe it will start to sink in to someone somewhere:
(a) Environmental Green Design 101
(b) Land banking for the future and future developments. No one is going to knock down a 17-19 story to build a 34 story. It's just too expensive. And with condos in it, you'll never get all those people to agree to sell. The only way to protect the finite resource of downtown land, in order to increase the urban density for environmentally friendlier living. The only way to prevent Denver from turning into an urban sprawling unwalkable mess like Paris. We must do more to encourage higher vertical construction of thinner foot print towers. This is urgent. The city planners must get on board with this. It's easy to get excited to see a block of urban blight turned into a 17-story building. Hello, no one is going to be able to see that building even with a glowing red top. You know what they do in a lot of cities? They turn the other 3/4 of the block into a green park with grass and trees until some future date. It's called land banking, and it ought to be a sovereign right of children in our state to see there is land for them in the future for their developments.
Hopefully they will tear down the billiards place next to it. Those are such eye sores. Especially in that area. When people come to our BEAUTIFUL convention center it would be nice if the surrounding area complimented it well. Hopefully the strip club next door will be outta there! You stay classy Denver. One day I would love to see that ugly building on the corner of 14th and Champa (across from the Spire) torn down too.
Anon, 11:12pm. You completely shot your entire tirade to hell by saying that Paris is a sprawling unwalkable mess. Having been to Paris several times in my life, it's one city that is completely walkable from one end to the other. Oh and if I want to get out to the country there's always a train nearby. Or, if I don't feel like walking, I take the Metro.
Your immature and complete nonsensical views of construction, finances and market forces are disturbing. It's a good thing that you're not running the show!!
I loved the fact that BK was so forward thinking, heck even intuitive that people in the surrounding areas or even downtown dwellers would get in their cars and drive to such an exemplary example of modern fast food. Let's just call it sandwich art, ok? The reward for tackling the labyrinth of one ways was a little piece of $.99 utopia in the form of a stale white bun, and a dry greasy thing that we have been told was edible. The dead pickles, the sun baked onions and limp lettuce gave that sandwich a sense of credibility. The friendly staff was another reason to make the trip. These people were salt of the earth. One just needed to look past the articles of burger in their teeth to get past what some may consider grotesque to see that yes, they were human as well. Indeed, very human. In the end it wasn't the architecture or highfaluting ideas of urban design that everyone subscribes to today, but the sense of place, the ideals of that generation, the sense of time that only the BK on it's little suburban pod could provide.
Annon 11:12.. take your shoes off next time you try to count the floors.. you may get closer to the right number
Keep the strip club!
What is that guy talking about? Infill such as this encourages further vertical development as it consumes more vacant land downtown and creates density found in other great cities across the country. He stated Minneapolis and Seattle as examples however they are building just as many midrises as Denver is. I doubt they have as much proposed as we do right now.
I love that DenverInfill was quoted as the source of Rebchook's article.
In response to anonymous 11:12 PM: I disagree about your caricature of Paris as I'm sure most people will. It is extremely walkable. Even the suburbs are dense and walkable. Additionally, this building is probably taking up less than a quarter of this block. It is a small footprint. In response to Christopher: I think the last thing we need to do is start tearing down more buildings. That little building, ugly as it is, offers some much-needed retail in that area. I would say that it should be refurbished, though.
you're kidding, right?
* the building is less than a quarter block as it is.
* cities all over america approve downtown proposals on this scale
* we have tons of real estate to build upon in and around downtown. decades' and decades' worth.
* pretty skylines are nice, but hardly a planning priority. besides, the glowing crown will be visible for about 180 degrees from the west thanks to the sprawling convention center nearby.
* if paris is sprawling and unwalkable, we're pretty much SOL.
Dallas is a sprawling and unwalkable city and is constantly approving SMALLER projects. Especially since Denver's downtown is far denser and more interesting (granted, the Big D has a few more taller 'scrapers), I wouldn't use it as a comparator.
And Paris unwalkable? Ha! If you find Paris too unwalkable, hop the train and hit London just an hour away. Or is London too unwalkable for you too?
This building has a great design, height and everything. Far better than the ole BK building sitting there already. And La Bo needs to stay, though I don't care for strip joints myself, they've kept remarkably good care of that building.
This may be the pivotal project to finally jump-start infill along the rest of 15th Street – on the heels of what has been happening on 14th. In my book, 15th Street is the most underdeveloped part of downtown – it's like a 6-year old with a whole mouthful of missing teeth. It's long overdue for that part of downtown to mature and evolve . . .
Anon 11:12 *has* to be a joke. Doesn't it?
>I don't care where and no other city in the USA is approving buildings this short.
Actually all of them are.
>sprawling unwalkable mess like Paris
:facepalm:
>We must do more to encourage higher vertical construction of thinner foot print towers. turn the other 3/4 of the block into a green park with grass and trees until some future date.
That's what we did during urban renewal, and it was a disaster for cities everywhere. It is not walkable, it is not attractive, and it is *certainly* not environmentally friendly.
You know that episode of Seinfeld where the red light from the Kenny Roaster's Chicken sign is shining into Kramer's apartment? The top of this building reminds me of that….Cool looking building though. Are there really enough people in Denver to buy units in all these high rise condo buildings? With all the new condos set to come online in addition to the "old" (Glass house has 30 units on the market righ now), who exactly is moving into all these?
I don't understand the affinity for the stripclub. I know my comment is not terribly relevant to ken's post, but the other comments got me wondering. Why the sudden love for seedy businesses in the skin trade, in the heart of downtown even? where is the concern about under-used space? or impact on the pedestrian experience? or the impact on the skyline for goodness' sakes?! (yes, goodness)…. and what about the children?
(kidding about the children reference).
La Bo should go! 😉
The building looks schnazy, and the glowing top will be awesome! I am glad they went with the Stout St. location, it is adjacent to the light rail tracks, so all those folks taking the light rail will see a better side of downtown. I also like that all the parking is underground, rather than on floors 2+.
As for annon 11:12, The building's footprint is allready less than a quarter block, to get any smaller it would half to be the size of the D&F tower footprint, which would look just plain wierd at 50+ stories. A 17 story structure is fine, and there is vacant land a-plenty 'banked' in parking lots.
The new building is 17x denser than the current one, so I will 'settle' for that any day.
its nice but nothing unbelievable. but hey… beggars cant be choosers- ill take a 17-floor hotel over a burger king any day!
Gargoyles. This building definitely needs some gargoyles.
Anonymous at 2:55 PM on 5/13…Thank you I stated in an earlier post the the strip club should go. That area is becoming far to classy for the likes of that establishment.
Also…Paul. Are you talking about the strip club? What kind of retail does that offer? besides this project along with the Spire call for bottom floor retail. If you're refering to the building off of 14th and Champa their is no retail there. I'm pretty sure its the old AT&T building. Its ugly, has no windows and only distracts from the city trying to turn that area into an arts and entertainment district. I know it won't be torn down or refurbished anytime soon but it should be.
please…let's stop with this over-antiseptic, lack of mixed-use, boring downtown talk…strip clubs are part of the city – and they are GREAT for attracting bigger and better conventions (so, it really helps protect the taxpayers investment in the CCC). don't let them chase out the strip clubs…next is liquor stores, bars, then dancing, then driving, then seperating of uses are right back in style.
Shoot, I'm gay and I say KEEP THE STRIP CLUB!!!!
It's not as if that strip club caters to its small group of loyal perverts. The strip club is there because of the Convention Center. Conventioner's aren't coming to Denver to shop at an Apple Store; they are there to make connections, share knowledge, and to conduct business. Often while motor-boating between a stripper's ample bosoms while getting hammered.
Of course, for those of you in search of more generic, sterilized, family-friendly retail, you can head over to Bubba Gumps by the Hyatt.
Anonymous…I hardly think anyone is comparing strip clubs to bars, night clubs, or driving. Stating as much is simply ridiculous. Denver boasts some wonderful bars and nightclubs but postulating that strip clubs attract bigger and better conventions is simply ludicrous. I guarantee you that the DNC didn't look at the demographics for strip clubs when considering Denver as a choice for the convention. Same goes for the good folks at the Great American Beer festival…or the Auto Dealers of America…or the Great Outdoor Expo…shall I continue?
Hopefully a high rise development of a similar quality will occur where the downscale Tarantula Billiards bar sits. The bar is a blight and a source of crime in the downtown area bringing in seedy elements and keeping me busy as a police officer in the downtown area.
We need some nude strip clubs.
Heck, Tarantula seems to attract more crime than La Bo, and La Bo has a really nice looking building. I say they should stay since they take care of their land. We've got plenty of vacant buildings with owners that do nothing. Why punish those who are doing something, and something legal at that? And barely legal is still legal, mind you (and mind the pun).
$20 for a lapdance..it's not as if these clubs are attracting the bottom feeders. let me reprhase – 'business conventions' really need to have, but probably wouldnt' say it. (your DNC example is correct, but citing 1 correct example does not prove your point.) strip clubs, bars and cultural facilities nearby – it's a mini-vacation for their people. like it or not, hot women dancing is part of that business vacation for most people.
my broader points -1 – it's good for business. 2 – denver has too many 'blue-laws' already…let's not let the city get moralistic about dancing as well.
bring on the bitches!
I cited many correct examples. Business conventions do not, I repeat, do not look at strip clubs when choosing the location of a convention. We're seeing more business come to our city because of the renovations to the CCC not because of La Bo. This is simply going in circles. Your an idiot if you truly believe that a strip club is the reason for increased conventions in our city. I don't think strip clubs should be banned. I simply stated I would like to see it removed from that area. We have a beautiful city and i personally want that to be reflected when people come visit. What do you even do for a living? let me Guess…bouncer at La Bo?