Since our last update, The Coloradan has reached many milestones. This month, the 334-unit condo building topped off at 19-stories and the highly anticipated terracotta facade is starting to make an appearance.
Let’s start by looking at The Coloradan along Wewatta Street. This project completes the east side of Wewatta and takes up the last open parcel adjacent to Denver Union Station. In the second photo, you can catch a glimpse of the terracotta facade.
The Coloradan also has a significant impact from under the commuter rail canopy. With all adjacent blocks now completely developed, the commuter rail station has an incredible urban feel.
Now let’s take a look at the brilliant terracotta facade that will be used for the entire building. The “Alpenglow” terracotta is a deep purple which is not only unique to Union Station but all of Downtown Denver.
The Coloradan nicely contributes to the Union Station neighborhood skyline. Here is a panorama showing the neighborhood from Lower Downtown.
The Coloradan is expected to open late this year. According to East West Partners, units are selling fast with 215 out of 334 units already sold. This shows that there is a solid demand for condos in the Downtown Denver area and we can only hope more condos can get underway soon.
I am reading this thread and princes song purple rain is playing in the background. Coincidence?
I really love the last photo. You can see a little bit of almost every one of the new buildings over 6 stories high in the Union Station neighborhood in one photo. Would love to see that photo next to one taken about 8 years ago from the same angle. Hard to believe the change since the new transit center opened.
Here is the closest I can find that I’ve personally taken. Redevelopment was already underway. March 2013:
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4742/39902337901_1f8db1038a_k.jpg
Wow. Such a striking leap. Hard to believe all of that has happened in 5 years.
I am no art major, but the vegetable isle at Whole Foods tells me that the terracota is more of a “Red Cabbage” or “Eggplant”. Definitely not an “Alpenglow”.
The developer’s side of the story… http://thecoloradan.com/blog/the-coloradans-terra-cotta-journey/
Wikipedia definition of terra cotta is products made of earthenware (clay) and generally of brownish orange color, which varies considerably. Is deep purple within those parameters at the opposite end of the color spectrum? Are these materials earthenware? Regardless, nice to see this neighborhood finishing up re-development. I think there are only a few small sites left, over by the sub-station.
To add a little more color here (pun intended) – Terra Cotta panels come in huge variety of color combinations. Typically they are glazed just as any other earthenware product – coffee mugs, plates, etc. If you look closely, there is actually a really vibrant tradition of terra cotta cladding in Denver, particularly on heritage buildings. The Paramount Theater comes immediately to mind – that is a white glazed product. We’ve looked closely at the material for cladding on several of our projects as it is a very durable, high-quality material. Kudos to the E-W team for choosing it – and especially in purple!
Love it.
The Coloradan must not have maxed out the height limit since the Platform is taller.
I thought I’d share a couple of quick hits here:
Here’s a story about the Terra Cotta that I think is pretty cool. http://thecoloradan.com/blog/the-coloradans-terra-cotta-journey/
And, we did maximize height. For various strange fluky reasons, The Coloradan site was not as tall as The Platform site.
Wow, I think I might love this building after all. I live in Seattle now after spending 15 years in Denver and it’s so great to see Denver finally getting some artfully designed buildings instead of the same drab shite.