Over in River North, the Zeppelin Station project is now complete and open for business. The new four-story building features 80,000 square feet of office space and 20,000 square feet of retail, which is anchored by a market hall. In this final update, we will be exploring both the exterior and interior of Zeppelin Station. For all of DenverInfill’s coverage on this project, head on over to the link below:
Let’s start the final update with a view of the project from the railroad tracks and the 35th/36th Street Pedestrian Bridge. Zeppelin Station has a unique, modern design with a bright red accent. This makes it stand out in the area given it is surrounded by mostly warehouses and historic brick buildings.
Most of the building’s mass, including the parking structure, faces the railroad tracks. When you walk around towards the front, along 35th Street, the building unfolds into something completely different. Each floor has its own setback, going farther back as you get higher. In addition, an ample amount of outdoor space is featured on floors two through four.
The ground floor has a large open-air patio for the market hall, valet parking pickup, and a smaller covered patio towards Wazee Street. The red accent theme continues around the ground floor and includes a red line leading to the inside of the building.
Upon following the red line into the building, you are greeted with a large, open market hall with stores, restaurants, and bars. To navigate around, there are multiple colored lines and a map to guide you around. Because Zeppelin Station is right next to the tracks, everything is transit themed, which is great for transit geeks like us.
The ground floor of the market hall already has multiple retailers and a bar, and features a real-time transit schedule on a large monitor. At the moment, all of the open retailers are geared towards food and drink; however, there is a RiNo Made store underway and will open soon.
In addition to the open seating on the first floor, the market hall contains a second floor where there is an ample seating and another bar.
Zeppelin Station is the main feature you see when heading north over the 35th/36th Pedestrian bridge, and with great plans coming for 35th Street, this will be a very successful corner. Welcome to River North, Zeppelin Station!
I love the red accents!
I really like the over all development, very funky urban look to it. What a great addition to Rino and a sign of greater things to come.
Still, I went the food hall this weekend and was a bit underwhelmed. A bit too stark for my taste with the white walls and bright lighting. Some funky art work or wall paintings (a la Rino’s alleys) would certainly liven things up. Six or seven years ago this would have been the bomb, but in the intervening years Denver has developed a lot of choices. As food halls go, I’d much prefer the great location and views of Avanti or the the historic timbers and bricks of the Source, or the great central location of Central Market. Plus nearby Rino has exploded with even more choices in recent years.
The food hall piece of course is a small part of this development, so the overall development won’t rise or fall based on whether the food hall succeeds. Perhaps some additional tinkering (Color! Art!) will make it more interesting place to go in time.
I’m just going to 2nd the comments of Cherry Creek – the food hall is nice. But it just seemed bland, for lack of a better word. Have you ever gone to the public restrooms in the mall – where the hallways are non-descript and lack any art or creative design? That’s what it felt like. Big white walled, industrious corridors lead from the parking garage into the food hall with map lines on the ground that are a bit tacky, in my opinion.
Overall – the food options were good. I’m sure it’ll improve as the neighborhood grows, Brighton is finished with construction, and local destinations pop up. But for now – there are a plethora of other options. I hope the best for them, though..
Interior’s are where Zeppelin projects seem to fall flat- Source aside. Polished concrete, garage door windows, and white walls. The industrial vibe is understandable, but it seems overplayed. Also, I’m disappointed in the signage for the building when coming from the 38th & Blake Station. Despite being called Zeppelin Station, it largely ignores commuter traffic wayfinding from the outside. Would it have killed Zeppelin to put a bit more building signage to make the east entrance of the building where rail commuters would enter/exit to go from/to the pedestrian bridge more prominent? The entrance is already overshadowed by the adjacent parking entrance already. The wayfinding inside is great, but outside it’s reduced to banal sidewalk boards, nothing permanent. Disappointing.
Other than those two quibbles, this is a very nice building. It’s eye-catching for passengers on the train and the terrraced green roof is damn nice. Can’t wait to see it’s integration with the proposed 35th St woonerf.
beautiful building!
This building is mostly awesome. I like the strength and clarity of the box portion especially on the east side that faces the tracks. The front entrance is a bit weak and underwhelming as are the interiors….but overall it works with it’s setting.
I was very excited to experience Zep Station, having read about it for months. Took the fam there this weekend and was very disappointed. If there were no other offerings in RINO, it would be semi cool, but it really feels like nothing more than a slight upgrade from a suburban mall food court. With all that RINO has to offer, I can’t imagine spending my time or money in Zeppelin Station. Best of luck to them, as it saddens me to see ambitious ideas falter, but I won’t return.