Even in a booming economy, some infill development projects never make it out of the ground. It was starting to appear this might be the case with Trammell Crow Residential’s proposed 11-story 18th and Market Apartments in Lower Downtown Denver.
The project was announced in 2016 and steadily worked its way through the design review process with the Lower Downtown Design Review Board, gaining design approval by the LDDRB in February 2017. From there, it advanced through development review and building permitting with the city planning office and by the fall of 2017, the project had received most of its approvals and it seemed that construction could be imminent. Then many months passed with no word on this project until…
Two days ago, the Denver Business Journal reported that national developer Greystar purchased the development site along with the plans for the proposed apartment building and intends on breaking ground on the project soon. According to city records, Greystar purchased the property for $20,750,000. Greystar is busy in Denver, currently under construction with the 16-story Parq on Speer and the 13-story Ascent Union Station.
Because Greystar’s purchase includes the plans for the development, it is unlikely they will tinker much, if at all, with the approved design and move forward with this attractive building, courtesy of architects Johnson Nathan Strohe:
The 1800 block of Market is undeniably the most egregious hole in LoDo’s urban fabric and, to my knowledge, the only one-block street segment in all of Downtown Denver that is completely undeveloped on both sides. Greystar’s new property is about two-thirds asphalt and one-third dirt, while on the northwest side of the street it’s all asphalt—which, by the way, was voted by DenverInfill readers as Downtown’s Worst Parking Lot in our 2007 contest. Things are looking up for that property as well. Last year, Elevation Development Group purchased the entire half block and is in the process of crafting a development plan for the site.
Here’s a panorama from yesterday of the ugly dead space that will soon be filled with 302 new homes for people and 8,000 square feet of ground-floor retail:
We are super excited about this news and how the proposed development will dramatically improve the urban form and pedestrian environment in Lower Downtown. Hopefully, our next post on this project will be a ground-breaking one!
Now if we can only see the demise of the two block surface parking lot along the north side of 15th St either side of Glenarm ! And the north corner of 20th and Blake !
Look forward to it, hope it finally makes it out of the ground. So whatever happened to the hotel proposed for the 1600 Block of Market and also the one at the corner of 17th and Blake?