The old warehouse at the corner of 15th and Little Raven was demolished this morning:
This clears the site for the construction of the 34-story Confluence tower to begin. Our last update (#3) on the project was just a few weeks ago. Here are two updated renderings of the proposed tower via the project architect (Gromatzky Dupree & Associates) website:
We’ll post our next update when full excavation for the tower’s three levels of underground parking is underway.
What a great looking building..
Love these new renderings…very sharp! Way to go Denver on this one!
I have no idea how a 350 ft tower was approved for this location. 150, maybe even 200… but wtf? Developer win… public meh.
I’m part of the public and I call this a win. It’s nice to see that some uptight neighborhood group didn’t complain about this one!! I love this building. It’s like nothing else in Denver and it’s going to look amazing perched at the end of the park.
Earlier posts about this project provide a lot of information on the planning process.
I, for one, am growing get tired of the “big bad developer screwing the helpless public” rhetoric. Who else do you expect to turn blighted, vacant lots into vibrant neighborhoods? And they are entitled to a profit for their efforts, just like any other hard-working, contributing member to society.
For the record, the height allowance is in return for a significant amount of new public space that will be added on to Confluence Park. Ken has written extensively on the subject on this very website, https://denverinfill.com/2010/06/the-confluence-project-update.html. If the plan for the plaza looks anything like that article 4 years ago, and if it has some retail facing the park, then this will be nothing but an enormous win for Denver.
I don’t think I’m going out of bounds by saying that a 35 story tower over an already sufficiently sized set of parks is a little excessive.
Overall, I like height… Denver needs it, but in very specific places.
Don’t try to turn simple critiques into hyperbole.
p.s. Thanks for relinking that update post! xo
This is great news! I won’t ask about ground-level retail space ….
Exciting project. Thanks for the update.
I agree with R. I have no idea how a building this tall got approved in this location. It’s a great looking building, but it’s height is more suited to downtown Denver proper. I like the idea of a building here, but maybe half this height.
If you go back and read the previous posts you will have an idea how this design came to being. In short, tremendous thought and consideration was put into the process.
34 stories of beautifulness! Hooray for another underutilized lot going bye bye!!!
Is the parking underground? How many floors?
“We’ll post our next update when full excavation for the tower’s three levels of underground parking is underway.”
I don’t understand the bumpkin obsession with height. It’s not like you can tell the difference between 17 stories and 34 from the pedestrian’s perspective. Unless you’re already at 20+ stories, it’s not blocking anybody’s view. Taller ends up being narrower, so it actually reduces the sun-blocking effect. So what’s the complaint? The whining about height is how we end up with block-length 10-story buildings. Those are the ones that are truly banal. Anybody who complains about height without intelligently enunciating a rationale for doing so just isn’t worth listening to.
For a long time we’ve been told that the height restrictions in Union Station are designed to prevent that neighborhood from being an extension of downtown. Ok, fine. But now this monstrosity being built in this location?! It’s going to stick out like a sore thumb. There are plenty of surface parking lots in downtown Denver to build to this height!
A) There are several 240-foot buildings within two blocks. I don’t think it will stick out as badly as you say. And personally, I like the fact that it will stick out a little, breaking the plane of the neighborhood’s awkward 240-foot ceiling, and become a focal point of the neighborhood’s skyline.
B) The surface parking lots in the CBD aren’t next to a beautiful park in the hottest neighborhood in the city, otherwise I’m sure the developer might agree with you.
To call this building a “monstrosity” is obnoxious hyperbole. It’s not going to be the end of the world if every tall building in the city isn’t neatly tucked in to the CBD. I don’t know of any big city that’s like that, and Denver is becoming a big city.
Keith, this reeks of NIMBY-ism. Monstrosity? Please. This is the urban core of Denver, not Highlands Ranch. Stick out like a sore thumb? More like, stand out like a notable addition to our expanding skyline.
This neighborhood is very much an extension of downtown. It has become a very desirable place to live; Commons, Riverfront, Union Station all benefit from a stellar location. It makes the most sense to maximize this development, especially as other developments in Union Station are notably under-developing their sites.
That’s exactly my point Jeff. Union Station, Riverfront, are such awesome neighborhoods. So why the 240 ft limit in the first place? Short-Sideness, I guess. I would’ve been fine with this height if there were taller structures in the afore mentioned neighborhoods. You can’t have it both ways, or I guess you can!
One of the intents behind the height limits behind Union Station was for the area to build-out sooner rather than later. It might be short-sighted, but the city wanted to see a fully built-out neighborhood within ten years of the completion of the station versus the fifty or more years it will take to build-out the CBD from today.
I too wish developers would take the CBD and Arapahoe Square by storm. However this neighborhood is in so much demand. This is right in between the east highlands and LODO; it’s hard to beat. You act like this is such large tower and that somehow we’re turning into Houston by allowing this to pass. Its 34 stories and 10 blocks from LODO. Relax.
FYI….just to let you know, Barclay Towers on 16th and Larimer is 33 stories tall.
…and surrounded by dense urban massing.
Such an important site (the birthplace of Denver) should have an impressive project, and this fits the bill. I do wish the tall tower was at the corner of 15th & Little Raven and not the 5 story building, though the latest renderings show retail/restaurants wrapping around on each side. Any restaurant on the Confluence Park side will have an amazing view. Interesting that the parking is underground especially since it will be below the adjacent creek and river..
It’s a sharp looking building, and though the hight in this locations is slightly odd, I think it will add to the overall city scape nicely. The biggest miss is this isn’t a Denver firm but instead a firm based out of Dallas..
Is that an actual curve in the shape of the building? If so, kudos to the developer — it’ll age well.
I’ve just stumbled across this posting after seeing the construction site and the billboard for the new property. I looked it up and here I am. I’ve read many of the posts here and it’s funny really the complaints from people who have apparently never been in, near or lived any place like Detroit, an area that I’m from. I lived in Flint Michigan first, the place where cars were started way, way back in the day..is now a ghost town. Aweful looking, drug infested, crime ridden, hole of a town with no care in the world to make it better. None. The place where all cars on earth started is now a hole in America. Then, Detroit just a half hour or so drive from Flint. Unbelievably the worst major city I’ve ever seen. Imagine if you will downtown Denver, every block from logo to downtown proper to Capital hill all being abandoned both residential and business all closed up. Boarded up. Homeless taken over. Like a scene from a horror movie. For real. Look it up! I lived in it. Now, fast forward to Denver. When I came to Denver it was as if I’d gone to heaven, compared to Detroit. It’s clean. People actually care about the way the city looks. People are actually still building buildings, like Detroit who hasn’t seen construction on ‘our’ scale in decades. When something here gets boarded up, it’s immediately in the process of being redeveloped. When I arrived to Denver, 14yrs ago, Detroit hadn’t completely died at that time, like now, and the area where this building is going is/was dirty, unclean, unkept, old garbage and trash in this area as well as all sorts of individuals. At the time I arrived in Denver, this area hadn’t been really developed at all. It was a cold, rail road yardish, unpleasant and very, very Detroit looking. It has come a VERY long way to say the least. Instead of being afraid to walk in this area, like ANY AND ALL AREAS OF DETROIT, I’m quite pleased, comfortable, at ease walking now in this area. Thank you Developers!!! As for the height? Come on, seriously??? It would be a tremendous blessing to see actual real growth within our city. Growth, not shrinkage. Growth happens in many forms and today, in Denver, it happens with height. No longer will we be forced to have just the old timey blocks and blocks of old school Denver, but new Denver. Downtown/lodo/Denver is no longer the five points inspired, looking environment. It has come from very humble and at times dirty and ugly beginnings to become a thriving metropolis that’s pretty much brand spanking new, depending on where you are. With that comes height. As far back as the Ancient days, height symbolized not just growth but prosperity, an awareness of greatness and significant sign of achievement for any onlooker from other areas of the country. The plaza being planned would completely change this area for the better bringing in all sorts of people who have some place to be in the morning, local businesses, shops, restaurants and even more housing. Housing because unlike Detroit, people aren’t running in droves to escape it’s fate. As for myself, no, I can’t afford to live in any of these amazing properties downtown in the slightest, but that doesn’t mean I want to see my city, Denver, become another hole in the plight of American cities. I’ve seen my fair share of that. Enough. Grow Denver, grow!!