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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.