Over the past couple of months, work has been busy over at 40th and Walnut as Novel RiNo has broken ground. We first mentioned this project a year ago in our June 2020 River North (East) Roundup with no firm date on when construction would begin. Present-day, there are now two tower cranes on-site with ground and foundation work underway.
Let’s start the update with a few higher elevation photos from around the project site. Novel RiNo is situated on a fairly large, uniquely shaped lot just to the north of INDUSTRY RiNo Station. In the photos below, you can see the two new tower cranes and the first columns starting to go up on the western portion of the project.
Here are a few more ground-level photos of the project site.
Novel RiNo is split between two different building heights. The taller 12-story portion will be built towards Walnut Street with a shorter 5-story portion towards Franklin Street and the existing residential neighborhood. In total, Novel RiNo will feature 483 apartment homes. Below are some renderings of the project courtesy of Crescent Communities, the project developer. The architect on record is Davis Partnership with Milender White as the builder.
It is very exciting to see new projects get underway this year. We have more exciting River North projects to feature in the coming days. Stay tuned!
What do we know about the city’s plans (or lack thereof) to improve the 38th railroad/light rail underpass? Given all the new residents and their cars, it’s going to get worse quick.
Well, that’s dreadful. Unimaginative tower block. Breaking up the facade only highlights the fail. Interior residents will face darkness and looking at neighbors. This is so early 20th Century.
Well, that’s pretty nice. They used a creative mix of brick and setbacks to reduce the overall scale of a really large building. The center courtyard looks like a great opportunity to provide lower-cost units that aren’t too close to the neighbors across the courtyard. A nice update for 21st-century dense urban living.
Wow, these look great! I like how they broke up the facade, making it less bulky.
The visual impact of 12 stories at that end of Walnut will be substantial, the other new builds on the street are no more than 7-8 levels. I see a failure to plan for grocery shopping and other retail in this area, and that is disappointing.
There’s a grocery store planned on the whole block bounded by 36th/37th & Downing/Marion.
This is another good residential complex in the area. But I am still eagerly awaiting Rock Drill, Train, and the grocery (group still unannounced) at 36th and Downing. Plenty of beds to sleep in, but there’s no entertainment or food within walking distance. Thanks for posting the pics Ryan
All of Larimer St is within walking distance…
I see a lot of new cranes in RiNo, very excited to see all these projects go up!
Lordy. Shame and integrity truly are limited resources in this web post. It is disheartening to see that the people participating in all of this development, with no apparent concern for the legitimate fears expressed by those in the neighborhood, also have the time to post encouraging notes without disclosing their real or imagined participation.
I’m curious what concerns and legitimate fears the neighborhood has about this development.
We live about a block away. We are concerned with reduced on street parking for current residents in the neighborhood, and increased traffic through the 38th underpass that is already congested at current traffic levels.
The residents in the neighborhood are already dealing daily with people skipping paying for parking in the Industry parking garage and taking up a large amount of the on street parking in front of homes. I can only imagine this development is going to make on street parking for current residents even harder.
Ah so it’s the classic “taking my (but not really yours) public street parking” and increased traffic argument. I’m sure Industry is more than happy to ticket and tow people misusing that garage as all other private garages do. This is the city and the city has come to 38th and Blake. We cannot live in fear and shy away from development over street parking and traffic concerns. Having lived in Cap Hill, Uptown, Baker, and Union Station, where there are significantly more residential units, I’ve really never had fears of traffic, and street parking still existed. It may not be directly in front of your property at times but, again, this is the city and that should be expected. As far as the 38th underpass, whenever that gets rebuilt, I’m sure it’ll be for the neighborhood’s benefit.
If these neighborhood residents are concerned about parking, but are utilizing street parking because they don’t have enough car stalls on their private property to hold all of their vehicles than they are contributing to the problem and are guilty of rank hypocrisy.
The street in front of your house isn’t your property and anyone is allowed to make use of the parking spots given they adhere to municipal laws.
this one is actually for you Paul (but couldn’t reply to your thread). There’s hypocrisy and there is ignorance. West side of Franklin street and the bordering street have no alley access. These single family homes have no other option but street parking. I can see a concern. Last I heard, 480 apartment and only 1/3 the parking spaces. Before the pandemic weekdays during work hours made it impossible to park for blocks around the Industry who built a very large and under utilized parking garage.