When we last visited 18th and Glenarm, vertical work was just beginning. Fast-forward a few months, and a lot of activity has taken place on the project site. A second tower crane has been erected, and the project’s concrete structure has now risen above the podium levels. Since the point tower form is still pretty uncommon in Denver, it was curious to see how the tower configuration, with the accompanying podium, would pan out.
When looking at the project from 19th Avenue, the twin-tower structure appears as one project. The shorter 32-story tower in the foreground below will eventually be overshadowed by the taller 38-story tower behind it. From this view, they will ultimately appear as two towers. Currently, the two towers are matched in progress in terms of structure height and are 14 stories up.
Watching these towers rise beside a crater of parking lots in Downtown Denver is a great sight. Here are a few more photos around the block from the street level
Aside from the towers going up, one notable difference about this block is the boarded-up 7-Eleven. While it is an exciting prospect that an additional two towers could get under construction soon, project details here, the existing structure will be used as a sales center for the first two towers for the time being.
Here are a few more photos of the two towers going up from the alley side. You can see the clear separation between them above the podium.
While notable projects like One Lincoln Park and Skyhouse Denver have occupied some of the parking craters in the past couple of decades on the north end of Upper Downtown, seeing more development trickle in is always exciting, especially condos to boot!
| Project Description | Developer | Architect | Contractor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 38 / 32 Stories | 461 condo homes | 12,800 sf retail | 530 (v) parking | Amacon | Davis Partnership | Amacon |
Left unmentioned is that Shelby’s Grill Bar used to stand on this site. Shelby’s was an historically seedy joint with a low-key vibe and a few wisps of Denver history swirling around it. Like Tom’s Diner in the past and El Chapultepec now, the conflicting interests of saving our young city’s history and continuing critical development have not found a path to compromise, and did not in this project either.
But that doesn’t mean that a course of action is not available.
What if developers could redevelop nearly any block in the city, within reason, but that the features and the legacy of the previous structures and institutions had to be brought forward into the new construction?
For Amacon on this site, the commitment would be for a new Shelby’s Grill Bar to be incorporated into the ground floor (sized and featured for contemporary restaurant use – Shelby’s was probably too small), The same factor would hold true for redevelopment of El Chapultepec now – Go ahead and redevelop, but bring the old establishment into this century.
So as long as they provide a sop to your nostalgia they can tear down anything they want? I’m down.
Sarcasm aside, are you proposing that a developer would have to provide a fascimile of of whatever business used to be on the site in one of the retail spaces? So the Finch project on West Colfax would have to have Rocky Mountain Orthodontics as a ground floor tenant? Would the Only in Colorado store have to arise again on the 16th Street Mall? Does Media Play have to go back into the Denver Dry building or does the entire building need to come back as the Denver?
I get the intent, but it just seems like selective nostalgia rather than anything practical.
Meh, Shelby’s was nothing special.
While it would be awesome to preserve some of these institutions, especially historically significant ones like El Chapultepec, there’s no way this could work in practice. The city can preserve buildings but not businesses. If nobody is willing to run El Chap as a jazz club or Tom’s as a diner, the city can’t force someone to do it. Tom’s building still exists but Tom wants to retire and nobody is willing to take his place so it sits empty. Same as Shelby’s. The city could’ve preserved the building or incentivized Amacon to incorporate retail space into the first floor, but they can’t force Shelby’s to move in. So reality is the opposite of what you’re proposing. If you want to preserve the history of these places, all you can really do is protect the structure they occupied and slap a plaque or something on it. You can’t just make business owners bring their establishment into this century. Cities change, businesses come and go especially restaurants, that’s just the way it is.
Wasn’t Shelby’s made of cinder blocks?
It’s nice to see this area fill in again. So many of downtown 18th Street buildings were bulldozed in the 70’s and 80’s.
So glad to see another downtown parking lot disappear.
I’m excited to see this rise, yes, but I don’t see the esthetic quality of four towers all generally at the same height. Just an afterthought but I like the idea of a point tower with the other three towers stepping down in less comparable heights resulting in the same amount of condo units for the site.
…and resulting in more expensive engineering and construction for the developer. Less likely to happen here with the veritable sea of parking lots downtown. It is what it is (and has been since DURA).
We’ve checked the “height gripe comment” box, so can someone check the “parking ratio/podium gripe comment” box and just get it over with?
Oh yeah I agree, by all means, notate. That’s extraordinary. This is an open forum am I right? Or do we have prefabricated modality of narrative input / response / opinion?
Definitely the prefab response/opinion thing. Wouldn’t have it any other way!!!
Is this project still going to be condos? At this point in construction, I would think there would be pre-sales going on using the closed 7-Eleven as a sales office.
Signage up now for sales!
The sales site is up.
https://www.uptonresidences.com