Let’s head on over to Block 162 to take a last look at the completed office building. Named after its respective block in Downtown Denver, Block 162 has quite the history here on DenverInfill. Our first post on the block was in 2006 when the Fontius building was in rough shape. From there, Ken took us on a journey, highlighting the renovations for the Fontius/Steel, now named Sage building, and extensively covering all other activity on the block. All in all, there are 42 posts covering this block in just over 15 years. Head to the link below to see all of our coverage.
On a portion of what used to be a vacant lot, a new 30-story, modern office building featuring 595,000 square feet of office space stands in its place. While the legacy of the literal city Block 162 is not quite over, it is time to wrap up the new building. For this update, we are exploring the two faces of the building up close, perspectives from various neighborhoods, and wrap up with some skyline views.
First, let’s take a look at the broad side of the building. Like its glassy counterpart down the street, Block 162 spans the length of a city block, giving us a brilliant wall of blue glass. The roof-line from the broadside features a subtle “V” shape, which acts as a screening for the mechanical penthouse.
There is a concave “cutout” between the broad and narrow sides of the building; this breaks up the facade and gives the narrow side a more three-dimensional presence.
On the street-facing side of the building, the podium is mostly enclosed in glass. On the alley side, you are met with a fairly large brick wall however, there is still developable land next door, presumably for the Block 162 Hotel. Unfortunately, no progress has been made on the hotel since we first announced it in 2018. Below are a bunch of photos of the ground floor levels from all sides of the building.
Onto some perspectives from the surrounding neighborhoods. Block 162 is best viewed from the Golden Triangle. It fills in a gap from this perspective and adds a nice contrast of blue glass in a sea of masonry towers in Upper Downtown.
The view from Auraria also highlights this building nicely. Same as the Golden Triangle perspective, Block 162 adds a nice modern element to the skyline.
Finally, let’s wrap up with a few different skyline panoramas from areas that highlight this project best.
Golden Triangle:
La Alma / Lincoln Park:
Sun Valley:
Auraria:
That’s a wrap on Block 162. This 30-story tower fills in another gap while contributing to the Denver skyline. Welcome to Downtown Denver, Block 162!
Project Description | Developer | Architect | Contractor |
---|---|---|---|
30 Stories | 595k sq ft office | 10k sq ft retail | 956 car / 50 bike parking | Patrinely Group | Gensler | Swinerton |
You went all out, Ryan. Nicely done.
Thank you! It was a nice 6 mile walk taking all these photos. 🙂
Thanks for keeping up with this one and thanks for all the great pictures. It’s a nice building. I hope the remainder of the block gets built out as planned with the hotel tower and the restoration of the old buildings on 16th street. Any progress there?
Sadly nothing on the hotel..
Is there gonna be any exterior lighting on the top of the building?
According to the renderings, yes. I have yet to see it though.
I really hope the developers lost their shirts by making this building 40% parking garage and then seeing work-from-home become the new paradigm. Maybe the next developer won’t dedicate so much money and space to empty car storage.
The developers SELL the building, and the pandemic will be over some time.
Thanks for the amazing update Ryan. Love all the distant shots from other neighborhoods.
And that skyline view from Sun Valley…WOW!
You clearly worked hard on this one and took some beautiful photographs. Thank you.
Thank you!! I appreciate the kind words! 🙂
It’s too bad so many developers build above ground parking decks. They create boring facades above the street level. I know underground parking is more expensive, but much less intrusive in the urban streetscape.
Still better than the expansive wasteland of surface parking lots that once existed.
Thanks for the wrap up and all the various perspectives.
RIP 15th St Tavern
Excellent write-up. It’s been great learning about this development and going down the rabbit hole of previous articles!
Nice building and it’s great to finally see that hole filled. Alas, now the McClinktok Building seems to be in decline. Downtown retail seems to be in a perilous state indeed. Any updated info about the number of downtown employees who are actually back in the office? Last figure I saw (in the spring) was about 20 percent..
Thanks so much for doing this!
Quick question while we’re back Downtown: Did I read that Bell Park Tower is back on the menu?
Wow, great job here and so happy to see the finished product. Nice addition to the downtown core. Wonder how the TX developer feels about their prospects in the Denver market moving forward?
Any insight into what is planned for the site of the old Greyhound bus station at 19th between Curtis and Arapahoe? After being all but abandoned for a good couple years, demolition of the entire structure has finally started. It’s a full block-sized parcel without alleyways, so it’s a candidate for a really large project, but plans for big buildings in that area have been floated and fallen through before.