It’s been a couple of months since we’ve checked in on the Country Club Towers; twin 30-story towers going up in the Speer neighborhood. For this update, we are going to take a look at the Country Club Towers from an aerial perspective, which is the easiest way to follow this project.
Here are two different elevations of the twin towers. The West tower (leftmost tower in the pictures below) is more or less topped out at 30-stories. Workers are pouring the top floor and mechanical penthouse. The East tower has 7-stories to go.
As a refresher, the Country Club Towers are providing 558 apartment units to the Speer neighborhood. The size of these towers are impressive as they are visible around most of Central Denver.
All along I’ve felt this development was in the wrong place. Looking at these photos, it suddenly struck me that, with their site and situation, the two parking lots behind the Denver Pavilions downtown would have been a natural fit for this twin-tower concept. Does anyone else see this? Has anyone heard of any plans for those particular lots?
I agree with you about the location, but I think it is nice being so close to Cherry Creek Mall/neighborhood and is more noticeable in this location. I think there might have been a proposal a week or so ago posted on the Denver development thread on skyscraperpage for one of the lots, but no details or renderings were given.
At the risk of offending the constituency on this website that thinks that no building is too tall I will point out that the long, wide shadow cast by these buildings will have a price. The historic county club gardens environment is going to be very different, especially in the winter. It is going to be palpably colder, with snow in some years not melting for months.
I see it already with that section of Ellsworth still not free of snow and ice.
Ed M — I agree with you about the climate these towers will create in their shadow. I would go so far as to say it will be quite unpleasant. Unfortunately, this can be true once buildings start getting to just 5- or 6-stories tall though. I think Vacouver addresses this well by having wider separation between tall buildings and keeping them narrow rather than really wide as this is. Otherwise, not too many good solutions.
I used to be able to see the sun. This is progress? Who needs zoning laws when you can buy exemptions. Good luck finding parking or driving on downing. Rip Speer neighborhood. Twas a good run
I really hope the residents of the Speer neighborhood help advocate for a better transit solution instead of just giving up!
Who can I contact to purchase a high res picture of update #7?
I did not realize that people living in an urban neighborhood wanted to spend all of their time in their car! Pro tip: the less you drive the less you spend looking for parking. And all of this shadow nonsense is silly. Cities have shadows.
It’s not nonsense. A lot of streets are being blocked by apartment buildings that don’t let sun down and are built without much of a setback. Terrible. Can’t imagine that they’ll improve the traffic at all either.
C’mon, snow in Denver never lasts for months. As long as the sidewalks are cleared and not left to become packed down there is no issue.
And, the flip side to that argument is that in the very hottest months, the shade might actually make some of those grounds more pleasant to spend time outside.
JP, I’m a bit of an expert of the effect of shadows on snow retention. I live in a house that faces straight north. I’ve lived in it for 24 years and I can assure you that my front yard is covered in snow for months in most years while the south facing yards across the street are typically free of snow within days of most snow storms. That is the case as I speak, over a week after the last storm. The yards across the street haven’t had snow on them for several days and my front yard is still covered in snow. It gets irritating when at some temperatures the neighbors sidewalks across the street are just wet or may have an inch or two and I have four or five inches on my sidewalk. To rub it in some neighbors sometimes don’t shovel at all because they know it will melt in a day or two. Sorry I’ve vented on this. For a reason that I don’t entirely understand, the difference in snow retention between sun and shade conditions is is much more pronounced here than it is in Michigan where I grew up. It can be 50 degrees for day after day and the snow in the shade doesn’t melt.
Anyway, the point of all this is that the huge shadow that is going to be cast by these buildings that are utterly out of scale with anything in their surroundings, and are unfortunately linear buildings in the worst possible solar orientation (east-west), is going to make winter living in historic Country Club Gardens and areas beyond considerably less desirable. It will be noticeably colder and snowier than it has been in the past. I wouldn’t live there.
Ed M – you don’t sound like much of an “expert of the effect of shadows on snow retention” – you don’t even know why it is different here than in Michigan (hint: it has something to do with our elevation). Instead, you sound like someone with a little information who spreads false conclusions. It will not snow more because of this development. It will not be colder. It will only feel colder because the sun is not directly hitting your skin/window/sidewalk.
“Utterly out of scale with anything in their surroundings.” False: Within 5 blocks are 5 buildings nearly 20 storeys high.
Country Club Gardens? They are for-rent apartments, not privately owned homes. The apartment owner is the owner of the new buildings. He didn’t “buy” the exemption from zoning laws. He negotiated these buildings in exchange for not opposing the historic designation of the rest of his own property. The vast majority of direct shade in the winter will fall on . . . his own property. There will be no impact to people on the east – that is a golf course. To those on the west, the impact is limited to the early morning hours.
“Considerably less desirable”? – that’s a matter of opinion. In fact, rising home values and rental rates in the area are not in agreement with your opinion. If less desirable for you personally, please leave the neighborhood. I hear Highlands Ranch has plenty of sunshine – although it does actually snow more there – beware!
When someone on this forum challenges another poster’s intelligence or integrity or suggests they should move out of a neighborhood because they disagree, they cross a line. In regard to my “false” comment about this building being out of scale I’ll let facts make the case. This building is ten stories taller than anything in the area or for that matter anything within at least a mile. A couple buildings at Cheeseman Park may be comparable heights. But the height of the building is only part of the problem. It is over 400 feet long, considerably longer than a football field (the narrow gap in the middle is only evident in head on views.) It is a very, very long building with no precedents in the area. The combination of height and length results in a massive wall-like building that I submit is out of scale with it surroundings. I urge readers to drive First Avenue from the east to Downing, get a good look at the magnitude of this building, and reach their own conclusions. I would be very surprised if the majority didn’t agree with me.
I’ll agree with your Bog Etiquette. It’s perfectly OK to disagree, even vehemently or bluntly (as I am perfectly capable of doing).with the substance of another’s views/opinion. It is Not OK to attach someone personally. On my Sports Blogs that brings the so-called Ban Hammer down. 🙂