One Platte, the 250,000 square foot office building being developed by Nichols Partnership at 17th and Platte streets, is close to topping off, as the fifth and uppermost floor is now being constructed. Let’s take a photo tour around all sides of this highly visible project, starting with views from the west side of Interstate 25.
Views from the 20th Street bridge and from Commons Park:
From Platte Street:
The project’s ground-floor commercial spaces, entry plaza, and highly transparent front facade should further enhance and enliven the already-walkable Platte Street.
One Platte should be completed by 1st Quarter 2022.
I don’t know how effective it would be but it would be nice if there were some sound walls along that side of the highway. The highway noise is super unpleasant in some spots on Platte street and Commons Park, and especially in City of Cuernavaca Park. Another thing that bugs me is how bad the experience is crossing the highway. I’ve had multiple visitors remark about how unpleasant it is to cross into the Highlands over the pedestrian bridge or on 20th by foot. It is truly a terrible pedestrian experience and unbelievably loud when you are directly above 25.
Boo-hoo Nick! It’s a freaking FREEWAY. Sorry your precious senses are so affected. Geez, get over it. No, let’s tear out I25 just so you are not bothered!
Perhaps people should have thought about the noise levels before they built all the buildings up against I25.
I 100% agree with Nick on this. It’s a shame that denver has 8 lanes of LOUD traffic slicing through two of our most vibrant locations (LoHi & Platte St / Commons Park).
Should be 12 lanes if you consider it’s the only main north south mega regional artery of a front range body of 5+ million residents pumping commerce and trade blood into this the buzzing heart of the region. But this misunderstanding is what happens when suburbanites move uptown.
That is an interesting take, as the 8 lanes of loud traffic where there before those neighborhoods really started to get built out and became vibrant. Obviously the highway didn’t deter development, so it is a moot point. As to the pedestrian bridge, I am not sure what the expectation is for a pedestrian bridge over a freeway. I personally use the 15th street sidewalk to cross, it doesn’t seem to bother me.
I’m no physicist but it seems like the buildings will act as a sound wall for those on the street. I actually like crossing that bridge. It’s kind of exhilarating to be right above the freeway. Especially when contrasted with the next bridge over the river. A sound wall be the park would be nice though.
We can just cap I25 here and then everyone goes home happy. 🙂
Seriously though. A freeway cap from the Speer / I-25 interchange all the way to 23rd Ave would definitely improve connectivity in Denver and add actual park space to an already dense and growing area.
No kidding… the resulting value of any land created from a tunnel over the highway would probably pay for the cost of the tunnel. Imagine the highway drops into a tunnel between 20th and Speer. That would leave about a half mile of property (12-15 acres) to work into parks and housing, etc.. Oh; and the highway noise would be gone, too.
Great Ryan, you pitch in the first million dollars for the capping boondoggle. God you people really kill me with the anti I25 rhetoric that creeps up here every so often. I25 was built back in the early 50s, before most of the buildings. We only have one north/south Freeway in a metro area of 3.5 million people and some of you want to tear it out, or spend hundreds of millions capping it. Wise up!
Lol! Capping I-25 does not equal anti I-25. I’m not sure what you’re getting at there.
There are 2 other north-south Freeways through Denver in addition to I-25: I-225, and E-470. Each is quite useful, and I-225 is rather close by.
I support capping I-25 eventually, but we have bigger transportation projects to tackle first, such as fixing the flow on I-25 through northern Colorado and doing *something* about I-70 congestion in the mountains.
Sorry AM, I225 and E470, by definition, are not true north/south through interstate highways, they are connector highways:
Three-digit interstates are shorter routes that serve individual metro areas, as opposed to the two-digit intercity routes. They connect to longer two-digit routes, and act as beltways, spurs, or connectors.
I stand by my original statement, I25 is the only north/south through freeway in metro Denver.
By the way Joe (post below), we native Denverites have been using “freeway” as long as “highway”. 6th Avenue Freeway, for example. The only use of “highway” was the original Valley Highway (I25) when it was built in the 50s and was much shorter.
Pittsburgh’s smaller but similar Crosstown Boulevard Cap is currently under construction. There ARE potential federal funding sources that i’m sure Hick, Bennett, DeGette, Polis, Biden, and Buttigieg would be happy to see devoted to something like this.
http://www.pgh-sea.com/index.php?path=i5-ucp
I lived in the the WestEnd apartments adjacent to City of Cuernavaca park for a while, which are right against the freeway. They were very comfortable inside with the doors and windows closed and that was with cheaper residential wood construction. Being that this is an office building with inoperable windows you probably will hardly know the traffic is there. The experience of crossing the highway on the bridges is a heck of a lot better than it used to be when you had to go to 20th or 15th…who cares if the traffic below is loud when you are on a safe pedestrian bridge, I don’t understand that complaint.
Boo-hooing about the “pedestrian experience” (noise) crossing into the Highlands is kind of a waste of energy, as is lamenting the location of I-25. It’s there. It’s not going anywhere. It’s a loud highway (or freeway for the Californians). That said, the 20th/Central/I-25 intersection/interchange is also very poorly designed for all involved: bikes, pedestrians, and cars. Besides just the noise, it’s extremely unsafe for people to cross through there. Walking or biking from the SE side of 20th to the NW side, you’re really running the gauntlet. Cars all think they have a god-given right to do a rolling stop through all red lights (including “no turn on red” spots), ignoring the posted pedestrian and bike crossings, which are legal right-of-ways. I’ve almost been hit a few times there, both on foot and on my bike. I would be in favor of a proper study to redesign that intersection and make it work better for everyone.
Here is an example of what capping can do to improve a half mile of city space…
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Paris,+France/@48.8310694,2.4028234,16z/
Speaking of capped highways, I would love to have something similar to Klyde Warren Park in Dallas. They estimate this city has increased economic activity by $2.5 billion over the last 10 years because of it. In fact, it has been so successful, they’re going for a new extension soon.
https://www.archpaper.com/2020/10/dallas-klyde-warren-park-is-one-giant-step-closer-to-being-expanded/
https://commonedge.org/repairing-the-urban-fabric-ruined-by-highways/
The building owners considered the road noise for sure – at least when it came to the glass. That side of the building was specified with a laminated product that has a higher STC rating effectively lowering the sound you would hear from the highway when in the building. That was a couple years ago in early design so not sure where it ended up, but I’d bet it stayed in. Tenants don’t want to hear the noise while at work for sure so this would be a big selling point for the building owner when offering space.