In April was our first blog post about the new Museum Center + The Art Hotel project planned for the northwest corner of W. 12th Avenue and Broadway in the Golden Triangle district in Downtown Denver. Today, we’re happy to report the project has just broken ground!

As a quick refresher, the nine-story project includes 50,000 square feet of office space known as Museum Center, and a 165-room boutique hotel known as The Art. Both names are appropriate, as the project represents the final phase of the mixed-use public/private project from 2006 that included the Denver Art Museum’s Hamilton Building, the Museum Residences, and the Civic Center Cultural Complex Parking Garage.

With the press release announcing the groundbreaking, Corporex Colorado and Davis Partnership Architects provided this rendering of the project, as viewed from the opposite corner of Broadway and 12th Avenue, looking northwest (click to view at full size):

If you compare this image to the ones we presented in our April 2013 post, you’ll see the design is essentially the same but with just a few relatively minor refinements and tweaks.

With the new History Colorado Center and Ralph Carr Colorado Judicial Center projects across the street, this project represents the capstone to a remarkably transformed two-block stretch of Broadway. Plus, I think we can all agree it will be nice to not have to look at the surface parking lot, big blank concrete wall, and weedy vacant lot that has occupied the site for the last seven years. What a great addition to Downtown Denver!