In 2008 before the recession, Shea Properties announced plans for a two-tower mixed-use project on Block 109—specifically, the half block facing Curtis between 17th and 18th streets. At that time, the project consisted of a 24-story office tower at the 17th Street corner and a 31-story combination hotel/condominium tower on the 18th Street corner. We did two blog posts on the project which you can read here and here. Unfortunately, the project was put on hold due to the financial crisis later in 2008 and the great recession that followed.
It appears the 999 17th Street proposal may be coming back. Davis Partnership Architects, the firm that designed the 2008 version, has recently published new design versions of the project on their website. While still a two-tower design, the program and scale of the project has changed somewhat.
Under the new design, the 18th Street corner features a 28-story, 360-unit apartment tower, and the 17th Street corner features a 9-story office tower with a striking angular glass design. Both towers include ground-floor retail and a seven-level parking garage anchors the center of the block between the two towers. An amenities deck is located on the 8th floor above the parking garage.
Here are some renderings from the Davis Partnership website:
Apartment tower at 18th and Curtis:
Office tower at 17th and Curtis:
Amenities deck above the parking garage:
As of today, no development application for this project has been submitted to the city. The fact that the design has been updated since the recession, however, may indicate that the project could be coming back as an active proposal in the near future. Let’s hope! This would make for an excellent addition to Downtown Denver and remove a half-block surface parking lot in the process!
I used to live about a block from there and it’s amazing how desolate that part of downtown felt at night, once you got away from 16th St. 500+ people moving into that location would really go a long way towards livening up that area.
I’m not sure how much I like the design of the nine-story office building (although I definitely appreciate the fact that they’re making it interesting) but I suppose, should this project ever break ground, the design will likely change several times between now and then.
Wow, what a wonderful way to distract the person driving or walking up 17th Street away from the recent poorly designed, cheap looking, Soviet-style two-story addition to the top of the Colorado National Bank building (I love that the bank is being re-used in a creative way; I just can’t stand the cheap quality of those top two floors, given the white marble used on the original building). With a giant crystal–and it appears to be projecting into the airspace above the street, if that’s even possible under current zoning–hovering on that corner, no one will ever notice how bad those top two floors of the hotel are. And I like how its relatively low height is similar to the next three buildings on that side of 17th, all much older, lending it a visual continuity, despite the difference in design and materials. Let’s hope this gets built, and that the design doesn’t get too much modified during the approval process.
I love the “Crystal Funds” building as well as the light cascades along the parking structure reminiscent of the Olympic swimming pool in Beijing. Very fun. The residential tower looks to be a nice filler building and not a head turner. Which is a good thing! Davis always does such nice work. I just hope the faceted glass facaded doesn’t melt any cars below (ala The Shard in London).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-23930675
This looks like a market bar graph — apartment rentals hot — with dozens of projects under construction — office leasing slower, with just a half-dozen mid-size projects in the pipeline.
This is very good news for Denver! Assuming this project makes it as we’ll as Tabor2, what would be the biggest blight of a parking lot left in Denver.? I would say block 162, but I’m cautiously optimistic that something will be announced soon. Meanwhile, 1401 Lawrence will be breaking ground soon as well as the Hyatt and Aloft just east on 14th and 15th respectfully. Out of the remaining lots, I’d say the two full size parking lots on either side of Market between 18th and 19th would be considered the biggest eyesore.
I work on Blake st between 18th and 19th, and those lots are right behind my office. When I walk out the front (on Blake), I feel like I am downtown. When I walk out the back, I feel like I am in the middle of nowhere. Might as well be the economy lots at DIA. I cannot wait for those two, massive eyesores to be developed. Definitely the worst block in downtown (Broadway-Wynkoop, 14th-20th st definition).
I saw them trucking in crane equipment today down Curtis. Curious to see where it was headed, I followed them to 17th and Curtis where they closed the street and began constructing the crane. So I came on here to see what they might be doing, and it appears as if this is the project they are about to start.