Urbanists, and pedestrians, rejoice! The southeast side of Wewatta Street, between 17th and 18th, is now open. The latest milestone at The Coloradan, as construction is beginning to wrap up over the next few weeks, is the removal of the fences and barriers that have been along Wewatta for many months. With many new and unseen views of The Coloradan at the street-level, let’s take a little tour.
First, let’s check out the project from the commuter rail pedestrian bridge. The building hugs the bridge and gives pedestrians a splash of purple when walking up and along the bridge.
The plaza behind the commuter rail station has also been reopened with no fences in sight. Multiple awnings and storefronts line The Coloradan making this a very pedestrian friendly area.
Here are a few more pictures of the project from Wewatta Street. Just like the plaza, this is continues to be a pleasant pedestrian experience.
Wrapping up, here are two additional views of the project from a little further out.
The Coloradan is a clear indicator of how high the demand is for condos in the Downtown Denver area. With the building still under-construction, there are only 24-units left before the 334-unit building is sold out. Full completion for The Coloradan is expected in March with resident move-ins and retailers opening that month. We will swing by in the spring to take one last look at the project for our final update.
Wow, they did a great job at the street level making the walking experience nice. I almost thought I saw a sign for a business retail that may go in there. Are we to assume there will be some ground-level retail near the platform? That would be the cherry on the final completion of the Union Station area. As someone who commutes to Boulder most days through Union Station, having all of this right there when I get off the bus is great, and really facilitates more transit use.
The whole Union Station neighborhood is just incredible to me. It used to be a wasteland of parking and dirt, and now it’s one of the most built-up areas in the entire city!
Great project! The only thing that would make the pedestrian experience even better would be if DPW re-times the traffic light right there at Wewatta and 17th. Despite the constant crowds that cross Wewatta at all times of day, the light is timed so that pedestrians get only 10 seconds to cross and then have to wait for more than a minute for what is typically just a handful of cars to go by. It’s completely opposite what it should be and not at all fitting for such a prominent crossing! Over the longer term, this would be an ideal place for a raised pedestrian crossing so that 17th street feels like a seamless pedestrian mall from the light rail tracks to Union Station.
Wewatta St is really terribly designed for peds and bikes considering it was built from scratch for a transit oriented neighborhood. Especially trying to bike from the cherry creek trail to whole foods can be a confusing, dangerous mess. I hope the next mayor makes an effort to redo this street.
David,
Yeah, the city is going to spend millions of dollars to redo Wewatta having just spent millions of dollars to build it. Get real!
Curious why those 24 unsold units aren’t selling when the other 300+ were gobbled up. It’s been at “Only 24 Left!” for quite some time now which makes me wonder how they’re being marketed or what they are. All in all, this is a great and high quality project right next to Union Station. Looking forward to the retail and restaurant tenants opening up as well as the people moving in. Will add to the already active urban vibe of the area.
The Coloradan website says there are 17 2-bedrooms left ($770k to just over $1 million) and 5 3-bedrooms left (about $1 million). I wonder if these final 22 condos have wonky floor-plans or no view.
Down to 19 and ticking away week by week. Realtors say this is unprecedented pre-completion sales level. I’ve talked to a number of people who are thinking about it but just would not pre-buy before they can do a walk through of units and building.
Beautiful building and surrounding area-great info-thanks Ken and Ryan!
Just stunning!