Arapahoe Square, a Downtown district riddled with surface lots on almost every block, has been a little quiet on the development scene. This might change again with another very large project in the works: a 12-story, 353-unit apartment project.
Alexan Arapahoe Square will sit right across the street (Park Avenue West) from the 2300 Welton project possibly marking the start of another neighborhood building up along the Welton Corridor. Here is an aerial with the project site outlined. A small warehouse will need to be demolished for the new building.
Designed by Kephart, here are some renderings of Alexan Arapahoe Square. As a disclaimer, these renderings are a very preliminary design solely for Denver’s planning board. All of the images were pulled from this document.
Here is an alley and street frontage perspective of the building, both from Park Avenue West and Welton Street. The building will rise a total of 12-stories, containing 353 apartment units over approximately 395 structured parking spaces.
The street frontage to Alexan Arapahoe Square will be right along the Welton light-rail corridor, and two blocks from the closest station. Here is another rendering of the street level.
Construction time frame for this project is still unknown but we will keep you posted on any new developments!
What are the building height limits in Arapahoe Square? Couldn’t they have made this taller?
The are higher as you get closer to downtown. As you approach Park Ave they step down to better blend into the (mostly) residential buildings across Park.
*THEY” not The
According to the design guidelines that are currently being developed, the two blocks from 21st to Park Ave are 12 stories, 16 stories with incentives (whatever that might mean), or 20 stories in a point tower form. The block between 20th and 21st is 16 stories, 20 stories with incentives, or 30 stories in the point tower form. The blocks directly in line with Curtis Park are lower: 8, 12, and 16.
O. M. G. I hate it. It’s too big. It’s too bulky. I hate that brick. I hate those windows. I hate that white strip. I hate balconies. I hate that it’s not stucco. I hate that it’s over 5 stories. I don’t care it’s preliminary…wait..what? Oh, I will hate it anyway. Pfffffffft!
I totally agree with how ugly it looks but I ABSOLUTELY disagree that it should be stucco. Stucco is extremely overused in Denver’s new developments and looks very sad on big buildings. Stucco is meant for small houses. Secondly, If they didn’t put balconies on it, it would not only look even more like a big boring box, but it would also be unattractive for anyone living in it. That being said, all the change in this area could be a good thing IF they spent more time planning these developments, and IF they stopped destroying the beautiful old buildings that Denver has.
Spot on impression. You had me going for the first couple of sentences.
Love this project….that area is a barren wasteland.
I am really excited for this side of downtown to be redeveloped. Walkable continuity between the CBD and Uptown/FivePoints will be huge.
Nice to see this area developing again and especially on a parking lot site. While I don’t love the current, mostly temporary design, I don’t hate it either.
However, that number of parking spots is ridiculous and part of the problem of high rents in Denver, not to mention slower construction times.
I’m so glad this area is finally getting some love! Being this close to Downtown, I’m kind of surprised that it has taken over 30 years for anything to happen here!
Like that they’re putting stuff up in this blighted neighborhood, but I really hope it’s not all these nondescript boxes that keep going up everywhere. They’re usually built extremely poorly and they look incredibly generic.
Funny, to read the word “blighted” describing this very old, original off-downtown neighborhood, when we all know the one-mile radius around Five Points has actually been a “transitional” neighborhood for at least 40 years. Even before the term “gentrification” got into the popular lingo, a life-long friend bought an historic house a mile to the east of here, as thousands of other “urban pioneers” have, for decades.
If you know the history of Denver, you’re aware that the same renowned Mayor Speer — who channeled Cherry Creek and created the city’s grandest boulevard — named after him — also was responsible for ramming through the extension of Broadway, north of 20th, creating the zig-zagging, five-and-six-corner intersection opportunities along Broadway today, while virtually devastating the first predominantly African American middle class neighborhood in the city!
Even today, the presence of most of Denver’s homeless shelters is clustered just to the west, in so-called Arapahoe Square, which is both blighted and booming at the same time, with thousands of apartments, hundreds of single family homes, and even a growing number of townhouses. The architectural opportunities along what I still call North Broadway is unique in square-grid Denver, with diagonal intersections and truly interesting ways of mixing high-rise housing with office and ground-floor retail use.
If you really believe this area to the northeast of Downtown is blighted, you might favor the bulldozing solution that came with the politicians and developers who supported the Denver Urban Renewal Authority of the 1960s and 70s. Before Dana Crawford stood up for “blighted” Larimer Square, the Skyline Freeway was planned, to wipe out Downtown’s entire northeast quadrant, including most of LoDo.
Big streets, including North Broadway, Park Avenue and Welton, are hardly blighted. They’re the epicenter of where thousands of urbanists want to be, in the booming mixture of everything that makes the city worth living in. Every big city is always in transition, and the entire area northeast of Downtown is becoming an artistic urban jewel, the hottest place to build and live and work. You may see blight, but others see opportunity, worts and all.
If you are talking to the east of Welton, then I would say that you defense of the area is warranted. However, west of Welton is another story. The “blighted” area of Arapahoe Square that people usually are referring to is the area bounded by Lawrence, Glenarm, 20th and Park Ave and there are no single family homes nor row homes. That area is rife with parking lots, especially along Welton, which came as a result of the 60s and 70s urban renewal. The east side of Welton from 20th to 24th St is filled with just two structures. Only two! The west side is not much better, filled with just four small structures, two of which are being renovated, plus a massive, hideous, parking garage. I am sorry, but that proportion of parking/empty lots to filled ones is one of the conditions that leads to that area being called blighted.
JerryG, the point is that “blighted” was the legally-defined term used by DURA in the 60s and 70s to use public domain to seize and then bulldoze many square blocks of Denver’s architectural history. The result was very few replacement projects — only marketed to big developers — and most of the scraped lots ended up as the very surface parking lots we all despise.
“Blight” is a term that ignores small family businesses, low income housing and unique structures, all mixed in with what we no longer refer to as “slums.” You use a chicken-and-egg description of blight. But which came first? And which caused which? Blight or surface parking lots?
If “blight” is the reason a neighborhood looks rundown and dysfunctional, then why are large buildings with hundreds of apartments, retail and office space being developed along Welton and Park Avenue? Government urban renewal isn’t attracting these huge investments. Maybe the answer lies in the old real estate adage, Location, Location…
Out of curiosity, what other building looks similar to this one in design and massing? Also I do not think there is a correlation between the design of the building and construction quality. With few exceptions, when developing a building, the architect and the general contractor come from two different companies. As such, the design of the building does not have any impact on the construction quality unless you believe that the developer will use a different contractor depending on the design. The better indicator of construction quality is the developer. In this case, Trammel Crow, which develops all the Alexan apartments, IMO has a reputation for high quality construction.
Ugly, ugly, ugly…but at least it’s a start for AS. Hoping for a lot of point towers (as Jerry G mentions above) in the coming decades.
When can we move on from this cubist linear form? These buildings will be very dated very quickly….. I love architecture and I love many new building across our great city but a cube with a few different materials glued to the outside and a large overhang…really stop, just stop!!!!
It is hard to move too far from the “cubist” form given that the city blocks are square. I think that with some additional articulations, slight setback at the upper levels with perhaps some features at that point to establish a datum line would do much to improve the aesthetics of the building. Those were some of the comments that were made at the meeting of the Denver Planning Board when this project was presented. Here’s hoping those will be addressed when the design is back before the board next week.
The materials that you do not want “glued” to the outside of this building appear to be brick. This is backed up by the planning board document that indicates that the material is masonry veneer (aka brink unless you have a different idea of masonry veneer than I do). What other material would you propose putting on the exterior of this building. Also, if cubic brick buildings get dated so fast, then why do we care so much about Lodo. The majority of the buildings there are cubic, brick, and have some sort of overhang across the entire building. If this was 2020 Lawrence, then I would agree with your complaint. I however, do not think this design warrants your grievance.
Uhm, ok, but I’ve been waiting for something to happen to these lots for 30 years… Do you propose we wait another 30 years, when the style of architecture will finally meet your expectations and taste? Well, I’m happy with this building!!! It is designed to the maximum massing, it will not be stick built, it appears to have brick as a façade, and it is going to add to the urban fabric… Finally!!! Something!!!
I’m okay with the size and over-all aesthetic of this project, but the street-level design is not good. Not good at all.
I agree…building OK. Could be better. Street level…awful. That block will remain toxic to pedestrians.
Once again, its unfortunate they are going to tear down that cool looking warehouse instead of incorporating it into the building and doing something unique. Oh well, less surface parking lots is always for the better.