In November 2017, Denver voters approved Question 2C, part of the Elevate Denver GO Bond program, to raise $75 million toward the construction of a new $155 million Outpatient Medical Center for Denver Health. The measure passed 69% to 31%. In June, site work got underway on the new seven-story, 292,000 square foot health facility. The project site, outlined below on a Google Earth aerial, includes the former Denver Health Administration building (recently demolished) at the southeast corner of West 7th Avenue and Bannock and a triangular surface parking lot on the north side of 7th Avenue along Speer Boulevard. The new Outpatient Center will span over 7th Avenue and the northern part of the triangle parcel along Speer will be landscaped as a “gateway green” to the Denver Health campus.
Additionally, a new 1,246-space parking garage will be built as a companion project on Denver Health-owned property along the east side of Acoma on a portion of the block between 5th and 6th Avenues (also outlined on the aerial photo). The seven-story garage will have a 2,500 square foot commercial space on the ground floor. More details about the garage are available in this BusinessDen article from June. The garage is not being funded from bond proceeds, according to Denver Health.
Below are a few renderings of the new Denver Health Outpatient Center and parking garage. HKS is the architect of record for the Outpatient Center and Gensler is the architect of record for the parking garage. Turner Construction is the general contractor for both projects.
Courtesy of HKS Architects, here’s the proposed Denver Health Outpatient Center as viewed from Speer and Bannock looking south, and the new facility spanning over West 7th Avenue:
View from Speer Boulevard looking west, and view from above looking northeast:
Here’s a stacking plan for the new facility showing the various uses on the different floors. Image courtesy of Denver Health:
Moving on to the parking garage, here are two renderings, courtesy of Gensler, showing the view along Acoma Street looking south, and the view from the intersection of 6th and Broadway looking west:
The new Denver Health Outpatient Center and parking garage are aiming for completion in 2020.
Glad to see all those cars being so well taken care of. If only we had other health needs that require funds we could’ve built for those instead.
The garage isn’t publically funded.
I like the use of materials for the new Denver Health Outpatient building as they utilize some of the colors from the older main hospital building. As to the parking garage, what a terrible design! Ugly, ugly, ugly. How does this fit in to the surrounding neighborhood? I understand the need for a parking facility in a busy hospital campus, but it could have been clad in brick or something to help blend the structure in to the neighborhood.
I love how the huge parking structure introduces cross-traffic onto the pedestrian walkway. How wonderful that cars and people will get to interact right on the sidewalk.That’s what people mean by street-level integration right? After all, on the off chance this results in any nasty accidents, the hospital is literally RIGHT THERE. Seamless!
I’m sure some folks will grumble about the monolithic scale of the parking structure, but I’m sure in time we’ll find that rather than hideous or overbearing (especially compared to some of the more human-scaled developments in the area), this stark juxtaposition is actually a bold artistic statement. In just a few years, we’ll marvel at the courage and gumption it took this public entity to invest so heavily in a permanent structure, just as alternate transit modes are taking off, nearby walkable developments are sprouting, and new tech holds the promise of changing the way we get around. Similar to how the pyramids of Giza now have no practical purpose but are now lauded as a wonder of the world, I’m confident that the tourists of the future will find this to be one of the crown jewels of the queen city of the plains.
This is awesome.
A+ rant. A cantankerous tip of the hat to you sir.
That sure is one ugly parking garage! If I lived in the condos just down the street, I would be pretty upset about this eyesore.
The more I think about this parking garage, the more I hate it. Its just so damn ugly, and to top it off, there is a parking lot right across the street. Why couldn’t they have built the garage on the parking lot? This makes no sense to me. I hope the neighbors pitch a fit about this abomination going up in their neighborhood.
IIRC, Denver Health was planning a research center on that parking lot, and an expansion to the EMT training center on the adjacent lot. Not sure if those plans are still valid, but the parking garage’s location would make sense in that context.
Ugh. No ground-floor retail!!
(Kidding.)
I literally lol’ed
Unpopular opinion: the parking garage looks better than the outpatient building.
Popular opinion: they’re both ugly as sin.
An all around dismal project. The main building is rather drab and overbearing and the parking garage is a step down from that. They may need to expand the behavioral health suite due to all the architecturally induced depression this building will cause.
How in the world can that east facing side of the Parking Garage get approved by the City ?! We had to vote to approve the funds….we should have voted on the design perhaps…..
U-N-B-E-L-I-E-V-A-B-L-E
As noted in the post, the garage is not funded from the bonds, but still…
Instead of spending $30 million on the new parking garage, Denver Health could spend half that on encouraging their employees not to drive to work. They could start by running their shuttle to 10th and Osage light rail regularly enough for employees to rely on. I know people who live down south and would gladly take light rail if there was a dependable way to get from the station to the hospital.