Over in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, 6th Avenue and Logan Street to be exact, The Logan, a 51-unit apartment project, is now open and already has residents living in it. As per tradition with final updates, here are all the previous updates so you can follow the project from announcement to completion.
The Logan finally broke the near two decade development dry spell in Capitol Hill, taking up a grassy lot that was a huge eyesore along Logan Street. Let’s take a look at the completed project!
The design, being a typical 5-story apartment development, exceeded my expectations between the jagged facade, front artwork, brick, and vibrant color schemes. The Logan gives a great modern face while fitting perfectly in the area. Capitol Hill already has a great tight knit urban edge feel to it but, there are still a few lots leaving huge holes. This is an example of a great step forward and I hope to see more of these crucial lots filled in the future. Welcome to Capitol Hill, The Logan!
As I indicated over on Denver Development Etceteras:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=196935&page=1000
I’m sorry Ryan, but its okay to not like that building. I wish more people would be more critical of the work being put up. Then maybe the Owner’s would be shamed into making architecture that is worthy.
These are some of the reasons that I think this building is really not successful.
1) Many of the parts of the building don’t work well together and seem to be a collection of parts form different buildings that were just jumbled together.
2) The brick on the first floor looks like a 70’s era Brady Bunch left over and is actually quite ugly.
3) The brick headers over the windows are tiny and look like they wouldn’t hold up a piece of paper. They just feel weak and inconsequential.
4) The first floor awnings seem to be set too high to shade the actual windows and while they look to be metal to match the front shade structure, they still seem to be too different. I guess they could of at least lined them up.
5) The windows on the first floor seem undersized and scaled wrong. Perhaps they’re hiding a utility room? But other than that, there is not reason to disconnect the building from the street so much.
6) The random collection of windows on the stucco part look…. well… random. That must be one funky stairwell. At least if the small windows on the right had continued the rhythm of the larger windows on the left. But, they’re too close and the bottoms are unaligned by inches.
7) The front balconies look temporary. Dare I say they look like fire escapes from this angle. Besides, those balconies really never get used. because most people don’t like to hang out in the sky. No privacy, too much sun, too much wind. They need to be sheltered on at least three sides so it feels like a room and not an afterthought. But they are CHEAPER.
8 ) None of the windows or materials have any kind of a shadow line. It looks like someone drew this on a piece of paper as an elevation and just glued it to the outside of a cardboard box.
That’s not to say that they’re aren’t some good elements to the building, but they are few are far between and don’t make up for the overall building.
The sad thing is that when buildings look bad, they’re hard to fill, people don’t take care of them, then its hard to rent them, and the rent rates drop to the point that only the poor can move in (I’m all for providing housing for lower incomes, but not in a concentrated mass); then it starts to drag down the rest of the neighborhood. It’s no different that a lot of the super low quality tract housing they build in the suburbs. This is a good example of building the ghettos for the next generation.
I guess that was my rant for the evening.
I used to work in the building next to it for years and I always wondered why this lot was staying empty.
I now wonder about the constructions that are going on on Speer, there are a couple of them between 6th and 2nd ave.
Does anyone have any idea about it?
Those developments are on my list to cover! I should have something on them in the next couple weeks!
I don’t really understand the negativity about this building…it looks much better than a lot of what is being built in my opinion. Look at the 5-story they put up at 13th and Downing…exposed parking on the first floor, cheap plain stucco and brick, very poor connection to the street…it looks like a suburban Ramada.
This at least has a bit of an urban feel to it. I actually like the plainer balconies here..they look cool and industrial and since they face east, they actually won’t be too hot and actually probably will be used. The mustard and cobalt mix is very nice and a bit different than the brick and cream stucco that is being used everywhere. I think generally the building looks very nice from Logan with its individual entrances and the nice old-style brick (which is a bit ornamented and looks way better than the plain brick seen again everywhere). I kind of wish they made the entrances out of the same brick instead of cinderblock, but the red coloring of that at least makes it look a bit nicer than it could’ve been. I do think the 6th Avenue side could have done a bit more to integrate it to the street, but considering its immediate neighbor is an office building, I think this is better. I also think it’ll look nicer with the landscaping that I assume will come by spring.
Boutique is a great owner and I know this is actually renting out quite quickly. The units are well appointed (as they should be for their price) with washer/dryer in the apartments, walk-in closets, spacious interiors and of course a rarity for Capitol Hill, underground parking. This elevates Capitol Hill apartments not “ghettoizing” the area. In fact, I’d say this is a new standard for apartments in the area that other new developments will have to meet or exceed.
I agree that the stucco part on Logan St itself needs a desperate improvement. Some cool art from a an interesting material on the stucco side of the building will be a nice cover-up.
All the rest is trendy.
I don’t hate this building, but I find it hard to love. I agree completely with Larry, regarding the brick on the first floor. Used brick never looks good on the outside of a building–it might be okay inside a TGIFriday’s restaurant, or an Applebee’s.
Boutique actually didn’t develop this, forum real estate group did
http://www.forumre.com/
another ugly, plain, boring square No character at all. How sad when you look at some of the architecture in the area.
I don’t have much of an issue with the building. I always love to have retail on the bottom floor of buildings though. It would also have been nice to have trees or some other type of greenery. Hopefully the house just north of this will come down sometime soon, this block has a ton of potential.
I really want 6th to become more of a destination, especially for walkers. Currently it feels too “concrete jungle” and is too hot in the summer time to walk along, we desperately need more trees along it.
It seems the City doesn’t review some of the important, small details that could have resulted in a better builiding at this site. I can imagine the mix of valid reasons for this, including length of permit review, subjectivity in decision-making, staff resources, private sector and professional deference, the adequacy of the existing development standards in guiding the physical form of the city, and others. (16M, elsewhere on this blog, received the royal treatment from all involved.) The Logan is a livable building in a livable city.
The house to the north has some beautiful design elements that once torn down won’t be coming back.