Another new apartment project is getting underway in Denver’s booming Lower Highland district.
The project is known as LoHi City View Apartments and is located at the east corner of 17th and Boulder Streets. Here is a GoogleEarth image with the property outlined:
The project will contain 100 apartment units over a parking structure. The architect is reported as Beck Architecture and the owner’s representative is DAE. Here’s a rendering of the project from the DAE website:
Several older homes and a small commercial building were located on the property until recently, as demolition on the site has begun. The project is expected to be completed late 2013.
is it just me or is there becoming an overabundance of blasé new apartment buildings in the neighborhood? I know people say this every time another modernist block house goes up, but srsly..these developers are shredding the historical character of one of Denver’s oldest neighborhoods, one block at a time. I realize the old victorian house that used to sit on the corner of this lot was in pretty bad disrepair, but what about the fine craftsman that they just tore down on 33rd and Tejon to make way for more block houses? I haven’t lived in the hood for a long time (~4 years) but I have definitely watched it evolve for better and for worse…the new development is great for the city, but there has got to be some responsibility to it too–is there any kind of neighborhood preservation group taking any action apart from the national historical register?
All of these new apartment buildings are the same 5 story c-shapred boxes. It actually kind of sad to see city blocks wiped out and a huge big box apartment buildings dwarfing the surrounding areas. I know this will only be temporary since more and more in the lower highlands will be 5 story buildings. I guess the question might be how many 100 plus apartment buildings is enough in the lower highlands?
I grew up in the Highland neighborhood, but I don’t recall any craftsman style buildings on the 3300 block of Tejon. There was a relatively insignificant white house located on that block which was owned by a family friend and which was sold and demo’d about a year ago, but it wasn’t a craftsman and was of little historic or architectural merit. And in March, my family sold a property on Tejon – located between 34th and 35th which was recently demo’d. It was a 1928 brown brick house, with a very small retail component – it had sentimental value, but no true historic or architectural relavence and truly offered no posibility for renovation. Might that be the property referenced?
I really liked the place at 33rd and Tejon too but the reality is there are a bazillion houses in Denver of a similar style like that.It seems like essentially the developers in that area respect the truly distinctive structures.Of course sometimes you do see a place being torn down that you wish we’re preserved.
One argument is that this is the natural progression of the city. New York’s urban core started in lower Manhattan and has since slowly engulfed the rest of the island, replacing homes with skyscrapers. One could argue that Denver is now breaking out of its downtown core and is “engulfing” the Highlands. One could also argue that single-family homes are not the best use for the area given the population density.
I don’t know if that makes me feel any better, but that’s one way to look at it. I do wish there was more architectural variety in the new designs. Thirty years from now, will we look at this neighborhood and say “ew, that’s soooo 2010s”?
There hasn’t been any recent demo on the corner of 33rd and Tejon, but perhaps you are recalling the homes on the east side of Tejon in the 3400 block that were recently demoed. As Rob mentioned, I don’t believe that either of these homes had true historic or architectural relavence or truly offered posibility for renovation. This section of Tejon is Zoned UMX 3. I believe the intent of this zoning is to create a walkable urban cooridor including ground floor retail storefronts, while other streets in the area are zoned strictly for residential. I think it is great for the development of the neighborhood to include this type of walkable retail cooridor. As redevelopment of Tejon stretches towards 38th ave, I hope the storefronts are not lost, although many of them could use an update.