Since the announcement of 16M back in April 2012, everyone rejoiced that the old Office Depot building at 1350 16th Street was going to be demolished and something much better was going to stand in its place. Now that the fences are down, and 16M has been mixed into Downtown Denver’s urban fabric, the intersection of the 16th Street Mall and Market Street has a new breath of life. Before we get to the pictures, make sure you visit our previous updates of 16M.
New Lower Downtown Project: 1350 16th Street
Demolition Begins for 16th & Market Project
Summer 2013: Downtown Denver Hole-in-the-Ground Census
Time to take a look at the completed building. Designed by Gensler, 16M rises a total of 10 stories and provides the Lower Downtown District with 115,000 square feet of office space, 13,000 square feet of retail, and 47 residential apartment units. Here are two views of the building looking down the 16th Street Mall towards Union Station.
16M shares a similar design with its neighbor down the block, SugarCube. The first six floors are dedicated to retail and office space and floors seven through ten, set back from the office portion, are dedicated to the residential units.
The street level, where the pedestrians interact with the city, is the most important part of any project. 16M hit it out of the park, with a tucked away garage ramp, attractive office entrance, and ample ground-floor retail.
If you ask for my opinion about the ground-floor treatment, I would say this is infinitely better than walking along the blank wall of an Office Depot with a single entrance on the 16th Street Mall!
The presence, look, and feel of 16M is outstanding. It’s a very attractive building with brick and glass throughout the entire facade and it has the most important feature every urban building should have: an amazing street presence. Welcome to Lower Downtown, 16M! We are glad to have you!
Thanks for the update. Great work. Other than Panera Bread, what retail is located in 16M so far?
There is a Garbanzo going in along the mall as well. There is another build-out going on in there, but they don’t have indication of what it is yet. I probably walk by it every day (nice to finally have the sidewalk back!), so I’ll post back here when they finally list what it is.
Excellent, thanks. Glad that downtown is finally getting a Garbanzo’s!!
I agree Ryan. This building has turned out to be a real nice addition to the city. And the street presence is really outstanding.
I’m not the biggest fan of this building but next to Larimer Place a landfill would look good.
What an improvement!
Looks good! And it also looks like the facelift on the Rocky Mountain Seed building is done too. If I remember correctly the RMS was remodeled as part of the development of 16M, and I’m glad the new building paved the way for retention of a somewhat historic building too. Both look spiffy, active and inviting.
It would be interesting to see some before/after pictures of those last two street-level shots. I feel I’ve seen views from the same angles of the old Office Depot here on DenverInfill before. What a dramatic improvement! Thanks for the update.
It’s pretty amazing to see how much more appropriate it makes the adjacent condo high rise—esp in the first photo. Really ties things together… can’t wait to see/hear about plans for the now vacant bus depot, caddy corner from this.
This is excellent! Great modern architecture, and great to see the Seed building fixed up. Too bad the small empty lot at the end of the development, on 15th street is just a tiny parking lot. Getting small lots developed is important for city fabric, as they permit small businesses to set up shop. That would be good.
I believe there is a proposal for that lot, if you’re talking about the one on the 16M block. I haven’t been down there in awhile so I’m not sure about any construction activity, but they have a website: http://www.1500market.com/
Peter, if that becomes reality, then great. Like I say, small lots are important for an intimate city fabric with small businesses etc. Thank!
I don’t have any details, but I seem to remember that this lot was somehow used as part of the underground parking solution for the Rocky Mountain Seed building, and was built with a foundation ready to go for the small infill site. GoogleEarth has a pretty recent streetview photo from mid-construction showing the corner lot completely excavated, and a segment torn out of the the basement floor wall of the R.M.S. building. Is this all connected to the parking garage for 16M? If so then that’s pretty creative adaptive-reuse of an old basement, and helps solve the problem of cramming underground parking under these small lots which so often seems to plague the viability of their development.
The good thing is the underground parking lot extends under that lot so when a developer is ready to build they just need to go straight up.
The Panera at the corner is the nicest one I have seen. Hope they add outdoor seating, along with Garbanzo’s.
Not only does the Panera look nice, but they have great staff members. Excellent food, lots of options, and their coffee is decent too. Glad we finally have Panera downtown!
OT…..but I need to ask.
Any idea what is going on and when construction will begin on the lot right across from 16M?
Thanks in advance…
Any idea what the ultimate end result is going to be with them tearing up the former shuttle inlet on 16th between Market and Blake St.?
Nothing right now, just straightening the street for future redevelopment of Market Station.