Last Friday, I promised that I would provide multiple updates to get you caught up after my long absence. This is the third of those updates.
Not only is the Union Station project rolling along, there is significant activity around the perimeter. In this post, I will touch on them briefly.
Construction of the DaVita Buiulding across 16th Street is in full swing. I took the first of the following photos of it from the Millennium Bridge. The other is from the parking lot near 15th Street, behind McLoughlin’s Restaurant. As you can see, the building is on its way up with elevator shafts and stairwells already two stories high. For background on the project, here’s a link to Ken’s blog about it from last July.
DaVita’s next door neighbor, 1900 16th Street, has been vacant since its completion a couple of years ago. The Denver Post reported recently that Pricewaterhouse Coopers and a law firm had committed to move into several floors of the building (I hoped to provide a link to the article, but couldn’t find it). Last evening, I noticed that four of the upper floors were well lit and showed obvious signs of office activity, which cannot be seen during daylight hours. I could see office furniture, computer screens, and (construction?) workers. I took the following photo from my Glass House balcony. It’s good to see the building is finally occupied, at least partially.
Until last summer, train tracks ran along the side of the EPA Building and 1414 Wynkoop. That location became an open lot after the tracks were removed in May (see background here). Equipment and materials, mostly large pipes, are now staged on the site awaiting some utility-related action. I think, but don’t know for sure, that the pipes may be used by Xcel to expand its steam system through the area. Here’s a photo.
Bassett Street in Riverfront Park is probably a little too far away from Union Station to claim that it’s on the perimeter. Nonetheless, an interesting new project that will bring even more residents to Riverfront Park appears to be ready to start. A construction fence recently went up around 75% of the block bounded by Bassett, 18th, 19th and Little Raven streets across Bassett Street from the Manhattan Apartments. It must be the long-awaited Manhattan II. The only part of the block that is not inside the fence is Riverfront Park’s Brownstones.
The only other imminent neighborhood project is the wing building immediately north of Union Station. I’ll be watching for signs of construction. Here is Ken’s blog of a year ago about that project, including a rendering of the building.
Great,thanks for the construction updates!!
It is, in fact, the launch of Manhattan II, according to a WSJ article I just came across a few minutes ago.
Rick, the Post article link re. the 1900 Building is http://www.denverpost.com/fdcp?1299053154585.
Mark, good catch! I subscribe to the print and online editions of the Wall Street Journal, and I missed it. Here are the first few sentences of the article you mentioned:
With the rental market booming, construction has restarted on a downtown Denver apartment building that was put on ice back at the end of 2008.
GID Urban Development Group plans to have the $32 million Manhattan II development finished by August 2012.
The upscale project is part of Riverfront Park, a master-planned community under way on reclaimed industrial land near train and light-rail stations and within walking distance of parks and several sports and entertainment attractions.
I’ve just exchanged emails with GID and will have a bit more on Manhattan II to share with you all very soon.
You can’t keep a good man down.
Nice to see a relatively quick rebound in downtown construction. Manhattan II, Davita and IMA financial buildings will all make nice contributions to downtown Denver. Hopefully a successful build out of Manhattan II helps drive additional residential building over the coming years. Would love to see some of empty LODO lots filled in as Denver transforms to a real 24/7 city.
Ken,
Do you have an update on when the light rail station at Millennium Bridge will be opened and the tracks removed out of the way of the DaVita construction? It appears that the existing situation will soon really hamper DaVita’s ability proceed and that there is a lot to complete before the station can be opened.
Dan, yes the new light rail station is scheduled to open in July. The crews at Davita will be able to keep busy until then, but as soon as the new station opens, they will begin removing the curve and rail along 16th to allow for Davita to work in that area and for the rest of 16th Street to be rebuilt.