The last remaining undeveloped parcel adjacent to Denver Union Station will be developed as a 19-story, 342-unit (for sale!) condominium tower known as The Coloradan.
East West Partners, along with Amstar Advisors, will be developing The Coloradan on the “B block” as it is known on Union Station planning maps. The “B block” is located between the rail platforms and Wewatta Street, north of Wewatta Pavilion. The site for The Coloradan is outlined in yellow on the Google Earth aerial below.
The “B block” is one of five development parcels on the original 19.5-acre Union Station property. The other four, outlined in green, are the “north wing” and “south wing” parcels (developed into IMA Financial Plaza and One Union Station), the “triangle parcel” (developed, appropriately, into the Triangle Building), and the L-shaped “A block” (developed into the completed Platform apartment tower and the under-construction Kimpton Hotel/1881 16th Street projects).
View of The Coloradan site from the top of the recently completed 1601 Wewatta:
The Coloradan will feature a mix of unit sizes and include 10% income-restricted affordable units under the city’s Inclusionary Housing Ordinance. The development also includes 19,000 square feet of retail. Following are images from the project’s development review application to the city; the first one below showing the view of the proposed tower from under the commuter rail canopy. The project architect is GBD Architects.
The development program for the building stacks up like this: Two levels of underground parking, a double-height ground floor with lobby/retail uses and a mezzanine, three levels of parking, and 15 floors of residential units. The building tops off around 200 feet in height with the corner of the building next to the transit canopy stepping down twice—at the 140-foot level and again at about the 50-foot level—to frame views of the canopy and to reduce building mass near the station, canopy, and pavilion. Here are four building elevations:
West elevation (facing Wewatta Street):
North elevation (facing 20th Street):
East elevation (facing the canopy and Denver Union Station):
South elevation (facing Wewatta Pavilion and the Platform apartment tower):
The project will include approximately 450 parking spaces (for both residents and retail customers), 348 bicycle parking stalls for residents, and over 30 bicycle parking stalls for retail customers and visitors. The vehicle entry will be at the north end of the tower where a short driveway will align with 18th Street at Wewatta.
Another interesting feature is that the pedestrian bridge that spans over the rail platforms will connect to the building’s second level, allowing pedestrians to directly access the building’s retail/lobby level from the bridge. Residential amenities include a fitness center and concierge on the mezzanine level, outdoor garden decks on the fourth and fifth floors, and a pool and club room on the 18th floor.
Here’s one more rendering, looking at the 18th and Wewatta corner:
Construction is expected to begin summer 2016 with completion due in 2018.
Yeah! So glad the developer’s will be “opting-in” to the IHO requirements! It’s a start!
Ugly. Another opportunity lost to create something special. Read “Should Denver force buildings to look better” in the Denver Post 11-08-2015.
Naw, if they use dark gray brick and properly light the building, this should look great.
Yet again a giant disappointment in the architecture department – I really wish there was better architectural control around Union Station. The Decisions being made here by developers will come down to a legacy of buildings that will not hold well with time. Concrete pre-fab exteriors with giant blocky masssings only continue to fuel the look of cheaply made and quickly built. The public realm around Union Station deserves better.
Wow! For the final hurrah of the Union Station neighborhood, they throw up this abomination. This flies directly in the face of all the complaints people have been posting on the lack of quality architecture. You can scroll through the posts for years and see people pleading for something better for Denver’s “crown jewel”. Can the developers please set aside their arrogance and hire an architect with two connecting neurons on the right side of their brain. At first, the excuse of sub par architecture was “anything is better than an empty lot and it will take 10-15 years before it is all built out”. Now, a few short years later, the final lot if moving forward and we have completely blown the best opportunity Denver will ever have to showcase good architecture. It pains me so much to say this, but I would rather have this be an apartment building with good architecture than a condo building with bad architecture. At least with an apartment, it could be turned to condos 7 years from now. Talk about a bad Sunday, first the Broncos lose and then THIS!
Laughing out loud!!
With the no more land left in the Union Station neighborhood to develop and rising property values. Do you think that the underdeveloped Alta City House will ever be redeveloped? I hate to see wasted resources. But it looks like the developer made a huge mistake building such a short building.
As a resident of the poorly constructed Alta City House, I would make a large bet that they will be demolished within 10-15 years. The building is barely a year old and the floors are already warped, there are already cracks forming in the sheetrock and the development company could not care less about the repairs or quality. They’ll get their money out of it and then punch, so there may be hope for a decent development in the future.
I’m not normally an architect critique… BUT (ugh I hate that I have to post this) this building looks like an old cold war Soviet residence block… It may be a highly efficient use of property per dollars for the developer(most residences sold per square foot of lot)… BUT it is not efficient to the use of the city in the long term. How the general public feels when walking through this area will have a huge effect on how much time they spend there… That is how value is created… if it’s purely utilitarian, then no value has been created and it’s merrily formed to fit a space that fills a pocket book the greatest amount.
Here’s a link to a Soviet Residence block in Lithuania for an example:
http://www.truelithuania.com/Nuotraukos/KlaipedaSovietinis.JPG
It’s eerily similar, and arguably just as utilitarian to the builder, but overall not conducive to long term functionality and value of the neighborhood.
I was actually going to say the same thing! Soviet Lithuania, the new sister city of Denver! I feel like this building belongs in Bansky’s Dismaland!
Let’s face it; beautiful, graceful architecture died around 1930. But at least it’s better than a gravel lot. And it’s condos! I’ll take it.
Really wish I could’ve been two distinct towers on that property. Or possibly exchange positions with the alta house. Seems like a monolith.
You guys have hit the nail on the head. Much of Denver’s new development looks like Soviet Union residences. This Butt-ugly development will match with the butt-ugly Cadence tower next door!
I’m a long time reader of DenverInfill but this is the first time I’ve been compelled to comment.
About me: I live in the Platform and love it. It’s beautiful and impeccably managed – genuinely feels like living in a 5-star hotel. I know some of you find the design uninspired, but I think it’s an elegant building designed with appropriate understatement. At the very least, it does no harm to Union Station as it rises off the train platform.
The Platform, the Pivot, 1601 Wewatta, the Triangle building, the Klimpton development … these may not be the architectural marvels some were hoping for, but they are clean and attractive. (The junky Alta City House is an exception … same developer as The Coloradon – not a coincidence?)
Now I see the Coloradan for the first time. Ugh. To borrow Kyle’s word above, it’s an abomination. Brett’s comparison to a Soviet residence block is spot on. THIS is the building people will see from INSIDE the platform canopy? THIS is the building people will see most prominently when walking the promenade to the bus and light rail?
It’s hideous and dated, dark and depressing. As someone who lives in the Union Station neighborhood, I am appalled and I am not alone.
Is there anything to be done? Whom can we contact? Mayor Hancock? City Councilman Brooks? East West Partners? Do they care what people think? I’m a complete newbie to this process, so please be gentle as you point me in the right direction.
I am with you. I don’t know who the best person to contact would be, but I plan on writing to at least Councilman Brooks. Please let us know if you find out any other avenues to pursue!
Hey, agree with all above. View planes and height/density restrictions are the reason these Soviet blockhouses are going up all over Denver, including the Golden Triangle, Cap Hill, Cherry Creek, and every other neighborhood except Downtown Central, and a couple of point towers like Confluence and projects grandfathered in before the NIMBYS were able to put a lid on the whole city. Developers have to get the max square footage out of a site, and so the Big Box becomes the de-facto architectural style virtually everywhere.
Anywhere in Denver, the Mountain View For Everyone ethos trumps slender, interesting structures, yielding almost nothing but flat-top, boring buildings. Take away the height restrictions, and better buildings will happen.
Most of us remember that there was a much more high-rise proposal for the DUS master plan, which would have made for a more dynamic complex, but the “smart growth” people prevailed again, giving us the nondescript motif we’re seeing unfold. Architectural blah. Which encourages cheap construction, too.
I don’t think Alta and The Coloradan have the same developer. At least I hope not, because if so, I’d sign the petition to prevent its construction immediately. As I stated above, Alta is barely a year old and already in disrepair. Not only that, but the development company (Wood Partners based out of Atlanta) could not care less about the residents, their safety or their concerns. A month or two into your lease, you’re pretty much counting the days until your lease is up.
I can’t resist wading in. There’s been a ton, mostly negative, discussion of The Coloradan here and on other sites. It stinks, honestly, because we at East West really do take design very seriously. We are in this business to create great places for people to live and to work. And, we’re quite proud of the work we’ve done. From the condominiums along Commons Park, to the Triangle Building, to the train station design, to the plazas in front of the historic station, we see design as one of our key competencies. We also generally find our work to be well received: we recently won the Mayor’s Design Awards for One Union Station, an Urban Land Institute Award of Excellence for Union Station and the same award for Riverfront Park.
Great design is always a key component of our goals at East West. Sometimes we miss, but we’re always trying. We’re usually successful.
One of the weird things about being a developer in Denver in 2015 is that there is heightened interest in design. There’s also incredible interest in what happens at Union Station. It’s an honor, really, and an incredible responsibility.
At The Coloradan, we had to make a decision about process. We presented our schematic designs to the planning board. It was not required that we do so, but the project is so big and important, we didn’t feel like skipping that step with the board. Here’s the thing, when you present to planning, the plans get published online. But, these are only schematic designs. Their purpose is simply to establish construction pricing. As an example, we’re planning to use Terra Cotta as the primary material. These drawings help us price that.
So, what’s happening today is that people are seeing the guts on the table. Our architect, selected after a national search, is one of the premier residential high-rise designers in the country. I’d encourage you to visit GBD’s site (www.gbdarchitects.com). They’ve done incredible work all over the place.
We get it. The building is overwhelming. It’s color scheme is confusing, particularly in these sketchup-generated renderings. It lacks an elegance in its details. Heck, we chose the rendering view because it emphasizes our work at the station and hides the first thirty feet of the building. That’s most important part and we’re still designing it!
So, here’s a promise to everyone: we’re working very hard. And, with a pretty great team in place, we expect to get to something very, very good. We don’t expect to wow everyone, but we do hope to please everyone and even to wow a few. We are going to keep people updated as we evolve the design. And, hey, if you want to see some of our projects, by all means, visit our site (www.ewpartners.com) and see what we do. Thanks for the feedback. And, since a few people asked, I can always be reached at cframpton-at-ewpartners.com.
– Chris (East West Partners)
Thanks Chris – EWP has proven time and time again that they make the right choices. I have absolute confidence that your team will knock it out of the park. Keep up the good work.
RC
Thank you, Chris, for taking the time to respond. I don’t know much about this process so I appreciate learning more. I admire the Triangle building and some other developments East West Partners has contributed to our neighborhood.
That much said, I do hope design changes are made to The Coloradan. Once the light rail opens to DIA, thousands of people will arrive at Union Station and their first impression of Denver will be largely shaped by The Coloradan because of its location. What an opportunity to wow people!
It doesn’t have to be an architectural marvel, but what a shame if it remains the dated, dark, heavy design we see here. I look forward to following the process.
Chris, thank you again, for responding to bloggers here about your design for The Coloradan. You may feel the comparisons to Soviet housing architecture are unfair, but they seem to boil down to two factors — the texture of the building’s curtain wall, and it’s profile — which is the typical flat top we see in every DUS building, and almost everywhere across Denver.
You folks have produced some wonderful buildings, considering the height constraints you’re under, in the master plan’s zoning. The Triangle is elegant, inside and out. Looks like the improvements to the 16th and Chestnut office tower will make it a very nice addition to the 17th Street plaza streetwall. The texture, the feelings those buildings express, is pretty positive.
But DUS overall, as part of the Downtown skyline, looks flat and uninteresting. It’s mostly the tall buildings in the center of a city that make the place look and feel interesting — or humdrum. Kira’s point about the view of The Coloradan from the station platform makes the point for me, that it’s not as unique, as iconic as it should be.
You can make all kinds of changes to the building’s colors and texture, but you’re stuck with the height restrictions you’ve agreed to, in the master plan. And another flat-top profile will be built, so you can understandably get the most density possible, and make the project profitable.
Under the city’s restrictive zoning, what should be a tall, iconic structure in a key location will end up being just another mid-rise box, very much less than it could/should be. Not your fault, but the lid, the ceiling over Union Station dictates architecture by the numbers, instead of inspiration.
Come on people, don’t hold back. Let us know what you really think 🙂
For me, a bigger question beyond “What will the building look like?” would be how “Well they are planning for the future changes in technology, commuting habits, etc.?”. For example, I’d want to know what kind of internet connectivity is planned (ability to expand speeds dramatically in the future as tech changes), how many secure bike parking spots (minimum one per bedroom, assigned), ability to charge electric vehicles in each (or many) parking spots, building security measures, etc., etc. I currently live in the Spire, and many of these things were (almost) completely ignored by the developer and I can see the building management starting to struggle with these and other issues (which will only get worse as time passes).
Well, I was going to say that I’ve seen communist apartment blocks that look more interesting than this, but I’ve been beat to the punch. How can the same developer that created the triangle building (a beautiful addition to the Union Station neighborhood) be responsible for something so lame as the Coloradan? I don’t doubt that East West takes design seriously, but this definitely seems like a miss (even [or especially?] with terra cotta).
P.S. Somebody needs show all the architects responsible for Denver’s Soviet-style building boom that there are other shapes besides a square.