I have it on very good authority that the Embassy Suites project on Block 138 is “under construction.” That may seem like an odd thing to say about a site with a huge hole in the ground supported by timber shoring walls, but this Embassy Suites project has been a bit odd from the beginning as it is. The Embassy’s developer, WPM Construction, apparently doesn’t believe in public communication about their projects, so accurate information has been hard to come by.

Demolition of the old Motor Hotel Garage at the site started in May 2007. That’s 16 months ago. Until recently, it wasn’t clear if they were still just pecking away at the garage’s remaining foundation, or if they were actually doing excavation work for the new tower. Basically, it’s been both. The three levels of underground parking for the new hotel will be 14 feet deeper than the foundation of the old garage, so they’ll keep digging while framing in the new building’s underground levels, followed immediately by vertical construction. Work has been slow reportedly because the workers have been limited on how frequently they can move their dump trucks on and off the site, or something like that. Nevertheless, it’s nice to know that in this era of economic crisis, we actually have another tower under construction in Downtown Denver. The project should open in about two years.

UPDATE: Thanks to my friend Grant, here are some site photos from this morning:


Grant also learned from one of the workers at the site that once the excavation for the underground parking gets down to approximately 30 feet below grade, the concrete team will come in to pour cason foundations to bedrock, and then go vertical.