The undeveloped parcel at the east corner of 16th and Market streets in Lower Downtown Denver may soon be developed as a hotel.

T2 Hospitality of Newport Beach, California, has submitted an application to the Lower Downtown Design Review Board for an 11-story, 222-room hotel at 1600 Market Street. The property was acquired by T2 in November 2015 from Integrated Properties, the firm that developed the 16M project across the street. The property sits at a key corner along Downtown Denver’s 16th Street Mall, across the street from Continuum Partners’ proposed Market Station redevelopment of RTD’s former bus facility. Here are aerial and street view photos of the site from Google Earth:

2016-02-04_1600-Market-Hotel-aerial

2016-02-04_1600-Market-Hotel-streetview

The Lower Downtown Design Review Board will have their first look at the proposed building on February 11, where they will review the project for mass, scale, and context. Several rounds of review and approval are required by the LDDRB, along with additional approvals by the city before a project can begin. The following images are from the project’s February 11 application to the LDDRB and are very preliminary and conceptual in nature and are subject to further modification and refinement. The project architect is DLR Group.

Massing diagram, Market Street view:

2016-02-04_1600-Market-Hotel-massing-market

Massing diagram, 16th Street view:

2016-02-04_1600-Market-Hotel-massing-16th

One level of underground parking is planned for the project, containing 37 parking spaces and room for an additional 17 valet-parked vehicles. The porte cochere and underground parking will be accessed via Market Street near the common wall with the historic building next door. The ground-floor uses also include 7,500 square feet of leasable restaurant/retail space fronting the 16th Street Mall, with the hotel entry facing Market Street. Hotel patrons will head up one level to the second floor, where the hotel’s main lobby, lounge, and meeting rooms will be located. Here’s a ground-floor diagram:

2016-02-04_1600-Market-Hotel-ground-floor

Hotel rooms will occupy floors three through eleven. The building will rise 130 feet, the maximum allowed for this parcel.

While this project is very early in the approval process, the prospect of another vacant corner lot being developed in Downtown Denver is exciting. Corners are so important to good urban design as they define and help activate the public realm (the streets and sidewalks) for not just one street, but for two. And certainly, we celebrate the removal of another surface parking lot, those soul-sucking black holes in the urban fabric!

The proposed 1600 Market Hotel joins the recently announced 1701 Blake Hotel and the Market Station and Dairy Block projects as significant infill developments in the heart of Denver’s most beloved and walkable districts, Lower Downtown, where an intact urban form and an exceptional pedestrian experience are so important.

Hi everyone. Ryan here. I’m hijacking Ken’s post to share two photos of this site taken from a couple hundred feet up. In these photos, you can clearly see how much of an eyesore the surface lot is.

This project will bring a huge improvement to this corner of Lower Downtown Denver!