Today we will be taking a look at the AMLI Riverfront development. Just like 2300 Walnut, a prefabricated parking structure has been under construction. We all know that parking garages take a lot of time to build, so the prefabricated method saves on time and money.
Here is an overall view of the site. The parking garage is trucked away and out of sight. This is a good thing given the structures are not the most appealing to look at. However, the plans show the garage structure will blend in to the main building and not just be a concrete shell.
When you are walking, biking, or driving down 20th Street, there will be a significant street wall above giving the Riverfront Park neighborhood a definitive border. Even though 20th Street isn’t the most pedestrian friendly street, it will still be a nice visual touch.
There are a lot of points on Downtown Denver’s street grid that give certain streets a visual terminus. Basset Street isn’t a diagonal like central downtown streets are but it does end at 19th Street with AMLI Riverfront being a new visual terminus. With the Manhattan Lofts just being completed, there is a lot of density in this little area.
There is infill going on wherever you turn and in almost every downtown neighborhood. I’m happy to see key parcels, such as the one AMLI Riverfront is taking, finally getting developed.
To your point about the parking garage being more attractive when it gets covered: is it actually going to get covered? The initial renderings make it look like Little Raven will point directly at the parking garage, which seems like a gigantic-oversight on the part of the architects.
This is going to be a really nice building for cars speeding along 20th, but unfortunately it may be pretty ugly for people walking through Riverfront or visiting the dog park.
On Little Raven you won’t be able to see the garage..
https://denverinfill.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/2011-12-29_amli_19thLittleRaven.jpg
But Basset (last picture) perhaps you’re right. Also halfway along 19th from Little Raven towards Basset. It’ll be interesting to see once they start constructing the main building.
There will be some pine trees, juniper trees, etc. along the base of the garage and the garage itself will have some brick and metal mesh treatments. It is not suppose to be left with that concrete look that it presently has.
Denver planning:
http://www.denvergov.org/Portals/646/documents/Planning%20Board/Design%20Review/110926-AMLI%20Riverfront-Planning%20Board%20Submittal.pdf
They jacked this parcel up when they let the dog park have the primo frontage along 19th at the view terminus for Bassett St. I’m not going to blame the developer for placing the parking garage on the only portion of the property that fronts the raiload tracks.
Who is this Jerry and how do you have access to the panning boards submittal records? Hmmmm??
I just performed a Google search and it came up.
Yup I ended up finding the planning design page on Denvergov. Don’t know why I hadn’t bookmarked it before! Thanks Jerry
While it won’t be the concrete structure you will still be seeing the garage when you look down Bassett. It’s too bad they couldn’t have better wrapped the apartments around for this perspective. That garage also looms over the dog park there.
You know, how difficult would it be to paint the concrete wall along 20th with one color? I know its to cover all the graffiti. But, the original wall is painted a yellowish color. Couldn’t public works at least find something similar?
Larry, this is one of my biggest pet peeves with this city and its graffiti control…is it really that difficult to find paint that matches??? Of course it probably comes down to not having enough resources or the guys can only carry one can around when they cover up the graffiti. I respect the cities decision to address graffiti, we could certainly look like other cities that just let the graffiti go, but sometimes I’d really like to see a solid wall color rather than patches of dark brown or beige or yellow!