Trammell Crow Residential is currently building a 400-unit apartment project in the Prospect district called Alexan Prospect. The other day I rode by bike down there and snapped a few pictures to share with you.
From left to right: 1. View at 29th and Inca, 2. Looking south down Inca towards 29th, 3. In between the project and the Ajax Lofts, 4. North end of the project.
The building at the corner will have a small amount of ground-floor retail.
Lookin' forward to how that area shapes up. Always thought it looked sorta shady with the railroads and few abandoned buildings contending with the nice new construction in the area.
Meh. It looks okay. I am very glad that Denver continues to get great swaths of infill but what concerns me is how well these buildings and others will hold up as time moves on. It's all well and good that we want urban renewal but what's the point if in 30 years these buildings will be as aged and dilapidated as the ones we tore down in the 70's and 80's? It concerns me when we construct buildings in our urban core that are supposed to represent urban vitality and strong design but are thrown up as quickly as their shoddy counterparts in the sprawling suburbs. Some of these infill developments simply aren't designed to last and age as well as some other projects. Depends on the goals of the developers, I guess. Quick monetary gain from cheap-o "hip lofts", or true longevity and good presence from their buildings. I just don't see that from any of the condos in this area (Diamond lofts, Alexan, etc) and some other areas.
It will be nice to have more density there however, Dana Crawfords original planned piazza surrounded by new lofts would have been better. I guess there was little demand for $300-$600 per sq ft loft copies. Having that area more finished looking will be a huge improvement.
Dammit! I was going to just post a pic of this! The stupid wax paper is off the windows and it is starting to look much better. The thing is gigantic. I'll post some pics on the skyscraperpage.com forums in a few days.
Is it just me or does every 4-6 story building built in Denver over the past 5 or 6 years look exactly the same? Especially north of downtown. If I was an architect, I'd be embarrassed to just make a copy. But they all do it. I guess I don't understand the industry. Maybe they're forced to by their clients:
"We're planning on building a 5 story building north of downtown. Now we want you to design one that looks exactly like every other building in the Prospect/Ballpark/Curtis Park/5 Points area…you know…one of them ones with the facade that has alternating materials that jut out and stuff. Can you do this for us?"
I really like how the street looks between the Alexan Project and the Ajax Lofts…The curve on the street makes it look a lot more approachable than two modern complexes. I would totally live there, it seems nice 🙂
Does anyone know if the coffee shop in the Ajax Lofts building is still there? Some additional retail in the area would be great!
– Michael
I like how many of the buildings have similar architecture styles. It helps them blend together to make a unified environment.
Seems like Trammell Crow has been throwing up a few Alexans recently. Are they trying to create a bit of a brand for apartments with that name? Off hand they have this location, the one at the old Gates Rubber complex at Mississippi and Broadway and also the one down in Englewood at the lrt station.
I have to say that I don't mind the fact that all these projects look the same, and I think that it is done on purpose. I don't think architects do it because of a lack of creativity, they do it to create a unified character for the neighborhood/city. Paris is the ultimate example of a city that has done this EXTREMELY well. Just take a look at this picture I found from google… http://www.survoldefrance.fr/photos/highdef/8944.jpg
To me, the beauty of that city is in the highly uniform architecture. It allows true monuments and landmarks to stand out of the crowd, rather than every building trying to fight for attention. It is my dream that someday Downtown Denver will be surrounded by a ring of mid-rise neighborhoods done in the "LoDo" brick style. Imagine it looking like Paris, but with a uniquely "Denver" architectural style.
I am pretty sure the coffee shop in the Ajax closed a while ago. I lived in the Metro there a few years ago. There seem to be a lot of people who live in the area, but almost zero street life and not retail but the sketchy bar by the overpass that I never went to.
It is a fairly convenient and nice area, but all the walking routes into downtown are indirect and not very appealing.
The old coffee shop space has been for sale for 2 years and is currently in foreclosure. This will be a great business opportunity when all of these apartments are rented out and the "Prospect" area lofts and townhomes are all finally sold out. I can't wait to see this area thrive. It's much more affordable than the River Front Park area across 20th St.
Retailers in Denver are terrible. Thats why every neighborhood looks the same.
Henry Ford perfected this: Sameness..stamped out..production line..sameness..the masses will love it…no thought..take the money and run..sameness…trendy today never think tomorrow..sameness…
utilitarian…could be anywhere…
How much of this crap are people willing to take? Flat top skyscrapers with toothpicks, and tons of this thoughtless BS.. show me some quality and vision Denver. Where are the visionaries in this town??
Retailers in Denver are terrible?? What does this mean and what does it have to do with the looks of every neighborhood??
It's true most of the rental apartment buildings built in the past 8 years look very similar: a massive mediocre looking box of brick and stucco.
This building went up in no time. That neighborhood is rather odd, as Coors Field, 20th Street and the train tracks seems to form a barrier to the city. It is like a suburban enclave more than urbanism. That area needs some neighborhood retailers and restaurants like what Uptown has.
Thanks Ed and Anon 12:21,
Let's hopee this area gets some retail traffic with the completion of the Alexan.
– Michael
For those thinking this area could support meaningful retail and restaurants, you're a bit delusional. What owner would want to invest their money into a business that sits isolated from auto and walk-by traffic..? It would fold in no time. Sure, there are several hundred people who live nearby, but for a business to be successful, you need several thousands who are likely to patronize your business. The best this area can hope for is very small service shops and some office space. But that’s not a bad thing – in fact this area might flourish (meaning appreciate) due to its close proximity to the developing Union Station – which will obviously see the bulk of the investment in the area. It might even become more valuable if they can someday re-route all the coal trains around the city and therefore eliminate the blaring horns in the middle of the night. Also, getting an efficient pedestrian access to the rest of the city would help as well.
In the meantime, I’m more curious as to what is eventually going to happen to the several old warehouse buildings in the area that are currently sitting empty. Aren’t these prime for redevelopment?
As nice as the re-routing of trains would be it's unlikely to occur any time during the next few decades. The proposed 200 mile Front Range tollroad looks to be dead now. And at that, it's not clear how traffic coming from the west via Moffat tunnel wouldn't still be routed south over the joint line (and thus running through downtown Denver).
To get rid of those trains, there would need to be some sort of routing around downtown, likely something new far east of town, and there's nothing in the cards right now for that. The other part would probably be the re-opening of UP's line over Tennessee Pass. There are no plans for that right now. So it too would appear to be at least a few decades away.
It's a wonderful idea for downtown. It would free those tracks up for transit and/or trails. But if I were a betting man, I'd put a Franklin on "not in our lifetime".
I think that better pedestrian access to downtown will be taken care of once the Union Station Neighborhood is developed. Right now Prospect does feel quite isolated, but once Chestnut is opened to auto and pedestrian traffic and Union Station is developed, all you'll have to do is cross 20th to be right in the heart of the CPV. If the King Soopers at the corner of 20th and Chestnut is ever built that would be even better!
A pedestrian bridge over the train tracks and the Rockies' player's lot connecting to LoDo would also do wonders for the pedestrian connectivity of Prospect.
I rode my bike to this area this weekend to check things out. First, Alexan looks quite a bit more interesting than the buildings closer to Coors field / bar / BNSF bldg.
I was cruising around and was in the Watertower (I think that's the name) parking lot when someone called for help… said he locked himself out on his 2nd story patio. Said he was going to jump onto a tree to break his landing and for me to call for help if it didn't go as planned. Next thing I know dude is airborne, branches breaking, and then he's bear hugging the tree. All went as planned, except for the tree.