As Rick mentioned in his recent post on Denver Union Station, there’s a new project that just broke ground in the Riverfront Park area of Downtown Denver’s Central Platte Valley district: the second phase of the Manhattan.

The existing Manhattan building was one of the first buildings constructed in Riverfront Park. It opened in 2003 and includes about 265 rental apartments in a 12-story building. The site across Bassett Street from the Manhattan was identified in the Riverfront Park Master Plan as the site for the Manhattan, Phase 2. Due to the relatively strong state of the rental apartment market in Denver, that project is now getting underway. The site in question is the rectangular parcel across the street from the Manhattan and separated from the Brownstones at Riverfront Park by an alley (image from GoogleEarth):

2011-03-02_manhattan2-site

The project is being developed by Boston-based General Investment & Development Companies. Gary from GID was kind enough to provide me with information on the project and the renderings below.

The Manhattan II project will consist of two five-story buildings that sit on top of a one-level underground parking garage that covers the entire parcel. The project will feature 134 rental apartments, some amenity areas, and leasing/management offices. The five-story scale of these buildings was intended to provide a transition from the taller Manhattan Phase 1 to the lower scale of the Brownstones.

2011-03-02_manhattan2-1

2011-03-02_manhattan2-2

The project will take about 18 months, with completion planned for late Summer 2012.