The 45-story Denver Four Seasons Hotel & Residences project on Block 074 is coming along nicely.
The exterior facade is being installed, as are windows, and the tower is now up to almost 20 floors high. From different vantage points throughout Downtown, the Four Seasons is starting to poke above buildings and make its presence felt on the Denver skyline. Not bad for a building that’s only about a third of its ultimate height.
The base to this building is quite big – I hope that it's going to be "open," and by that I mean no blank brick or concrete walls, all the way around. Any one know about that?
I was driving down s. university the other day and noticed a new condo building near DU,and its entire face on University was a blank wall in the midst of what should be a prime foot traffic area – it was horrible, looked like something the zoning laws should have outlawed a long time ago.
The Four Seasons is going to make a great addition to the Denver skyline. Finally, we will see a noticeable difference in the skyline. Its been over 20 years without any major changes.
I slightly disagree… Hyatt and now Spire have added jazz to that west face. But over all yeah 4S will add a LOT of Jazz to the entire skyline not just one side/face!
Anyways I wanted to say that I’m SOOOO grateful for this website, as a Denver native I have always wanted more from this city as far as it architecture goes. This site not only feeds this hunger but keeps me coming back 3-4 times a week! I’m a photographer in the Air Force and one of the first things I do after coming home from a long trip is to get updated on our beautiful city. My ONLY request is that the “big picture” page be updated soon….????!!!!
Wolf – Lakewood CO
What's the status on that second tower? How many units in the first tower have sold out, and when do we find out if they'll build the other one?
and what is that small structure under construction adjacent to it? parking garage?
Looks like it's only 17 floors high right now. This is the hotel portion of the building. From this point up it's all residential.
matt,
they cancelled 1401 Lawrence months ago.
oh it looks like that low-rise structure is the pool/terrace and parking garage
Anonymous4:10, I think Matt is referring to the 2nd tower on the 4 Seasons site, and not to the 1401 building.
I don’t think matt is talking about 1401 Lawrence. He's probably talking about the second four seasons tower that they poured the foundation for.
I'm not talking about 1401 Lawrence, I'm talking about the plan to build a second tower in the Four Seasons project if the first one sells well enough. It looks like it will be a lot like the Tabor center where they leave one portion of the base plain and ugly rather than making it match the other parts when its likely to just be torn out to build the second high-rise.
"The portion of the Four Seasons site at the corner of 14th and Lawrence will be used for short-term and valet parking; however, a future 2nd tower of approximately 30 stories is planned for this corner, if market demand warrants."
That quote is from the Block 074 page on Denverinfill.com:
https://denverinfill.com/block_pages/central_downtown/block_074.htm
And where is this "other" tower?
The other tower would come from the same base as the first tower, extending to the corner of 14th and Lawrence.
If you're thinking of 1401 Lawrence, that got canceled, but it was across the street from the Four Seasons up against Larimer Square.
Idling in limbo until the next boom 20 years from now.
This will be an interesting building. I'm excited to see how it turns out.
I'd have to agree with Lembley, would be very surprised to see the second tower developed during these economic times. I have a feeling we'll be waiting at least as long as we have been for Tabor II
As long as we're talking about finishing infill projects that have been partially built, what's going on with the Museum Tower at 12th & Broadway? From the looks of things, it appears that they're still trying to sell units in the first phase across from the Hamilton Building. I know everyone despises Liebeskin's architecture now (especially since the museum's roof has proven to be such a functional disaster), but it would be nice to see that project finally finished.
historymystery
The Hamilton building seems to be a "love it or hate it" design. I happen to love the building. I especially like the view from 12th Avenue. It is a very interesting composition with the Hamilton building and the library framing the Greek theatre and the skyline beyond. Libeskin did a masterful job with all angles of the exterior. Also, numerous unique buildings have had roof leaks (most famously several by Frank Lloyd Wright). I am also anxious for the tower part of the museum residences to be built. I really hope it doesn't get permanently shelved. It will be terrific when it is completed and the new Colorado History Museum is finished across Broadway.
Corey
"what's going on with the Museum Tower at 12th & Broadway?"
I don't see that getting built anytime soon, if ever.
"…would be very surprised to see the second tower developed during these economic times. I have a feeling we'll be waiting at least as long as we have been for Tabor II"
There are a few reasons why I think we'll probably see high-end residential projects in Denver continue despite the economic downturn:
1) The dropoff in housing values has hit other overbuilt parts of the country (Miami, Phoenex etc.) but has largely skipped over Colorado, with only minimal impact here.
2) Aside from the credit crisis and the end of the housing bubble, the economic downturn is a consumer-end phoenomenon fueled by decreased middle-class confidence thus effecting retail spending. I don't see any evidencee, yet, that high-end people are doing any worse than they have been, and these projects cater to that high-end group.
3) Inasmuch as the credit crisis is concerned, which does effect serious business investments, it seems like that crisis would be the easiest to fix through a stimulus package. I'm not an economist, but when I hear people worrying that an economic stimulus package won't help the economy because people will save money rather than spend it, I figure that's a good thing when it comes to credit, because if everyone puts their money in bank accounts or pays off their credit cards then those banks are free to lend money to corporations making major investments like this. And construction seems to be a pretty safe loan because you are guaranteed a valued asset at the end, so hopefully it will be one of the first places banks start to loan to again.
4) If housing prices and land values do start to drop, you would think it would impact overbuilt suburbs before it impacts underbuilt urban areas.
5) The industries that are failing (like the auto industry) are not located in Colorado, and if they do fail, it will cause people to move out of those states, and they're going to go somewhere like Denver where the economy is doing better, leading to demand and economic growth here.
6) Federal spending intended to stimulate the economy could be funneled into mass transit and other urban-area sectors, one of its purposes being to stimulate private investments in areas closeby. That can only benefit downtown areas.
7) RTD was struggling with its FasTracks plan because the price of copper and steel was so much higher than projected. An economic downturn means that those material prices should drop and we could see the FasTracks program get back on track, which will stimulate private investment in downtown areas near the stations.
Like I said, I'm not an economist, but I do think that when we hear all the awful news about the economy its safe to assume they're not talking about Colorado per se, and they're not talking about every single kind of business or investment.
Just FYI, since the Hamilton Building was mentioned. There was an interesting article in this weekend’s Wall Street Journal (Weekend Edition) on architecture entitled “When Buildings Try Too Hard.” The general theme was architects attempting to create “instant icons.” Some successes mentioned were the Guggenheim Museum in Bilboa, Spain, Beijing’s Olympic Stadium, Libeskind’s Jewish Museum in Berlin, among others. Failures sited were Libeskind’s Royal Ontario Museum extension in Toronto and Denver’s Hamilton Building. A quote from the article (not specifically aimed at any of Libeskind’s projects): “100 years from now, all those iconic wannabes will resemble a cross between a theme park and the Las Vegas strip.” Ouch.
Matt,
That was some wonderful insight! I was the Anon 11/19 4:10 & 11/20 2:57 poster. But anyways, didn't know about the other tower. Thank you guys for informing me.
In a previous comment, SC48 mentioned a building near DU on south University that recently went up. My wife and I find it quite unattractive and are surprised that it ever made it through the concept phase. Glad to see we are not alone in our dislike of its features… We think it resembles an old USSR housing complex.
SC48:
"I was driving down s. university the other day and noticed a new condo building near DU,and its entire face on University was a blank wall in the midst of what should be a prime foot traffic area – it was horrible, looked like something the zoning laws should have outlawed a long time ago.
11/18/2008 09:05:00 AM"
I also am a Denver native who loves this site. Well done.
The Hamilton Building looks great from 13th in Cap Hill during the sunset. And that's about from the only locale and time it looks good.
Matt, I think you're pretty spot on there. And I do have a degree in econ.