As great as it would be to have Kenect Denver under construction, the first update for this project is going to focus on its journey through the Arapahoe Square Design Review process. When we first reported on Kenect Denver, plans called for a 34-story building containing 441 apartment units with office space and ground-floor retail.

With the second round of design review coming up next week, the project has gone through an extensive change in design including a height reduction. The proposed project now calls for a 23-story building containing 434 units along with office and retail space. There is also now a setback in height towards 22nd Street because the building will reside in two separate zoning districts; D-AS-12+ and D-AS-20+.

The submittal documents contain a significant number of renderings, which are all designed by Shears Adkins Rockmore. When comparing to the original renderings of the 34-story tower, the 23-story design is much more refined, and slightly wider to accommodate for windows and balconies on the narrow edges of the building.

The project will feature two amenity decks, one on level four, and the other on the top floor.

The first five levels will contain a podium, commercial space and ground floor retail. The parking podium will be completely covered on the Lawrence side, as part of the new design guidelines. Below are four renderings of Kenect Denver from the ground level.

Let’s wrap up with a view of the alley side, and a straight on view from Lawrence Street.

There are a few elements that are up for design review for this rendition of Kenect Denver. These elements include detailing on the street level, ensuring that the space is broken down into more human scale elements, and some additional articulation on the facade facing the historic buildings. For the full report, you can access the document here. Overall, the new design is great and will positively impact this area of Arapahoe Square.