Holland Partner Group has wrapped up construction of 1880 Little Raven, a 161-home development in the Riverfront Park area of the Central Platte Valley, so it’s time for our final update on the project. For our previous posts on 1880 Little Raven (previously Parkside Apartments), click here.
Here is an overview photo of 1880 Little Raven, situated at the corner of 19th and Little Raven diagonally across the intersection from the Denver Skate Park, plus a shot looking up 19th Street toward Union Station and Central Downtown:
The development consists of a seven-story building in the back of the lot, stepping down to a four-story building along Little Raven. The corner features the building’s main entry and a lot of glass:
Along Little Raven, walk-up units include outdoor patios and plenty of landscaping. The mature street trees in the tree lawn along Little Raven add to the pleasant pedestrian experience:
Between 1880 Little Raven and The Brownstones at Riverfront Park, a landscaped pedestrian walkway provides access to the project’s interior courtyard and the seven-story building in the back:
Welcome to Downtown Denver, 1880 Little Raven!
So was this the last lot to be developed in this section of CPV? Is the dog park going to be developed, or is that a permanent amenity? That said, I think 1800 Raven looks better than its rendering!
This project and Riverfront Green are the last two projects in RP. They both got started about the same time but this one, as a smaller project, finished before Riverfront Green, which is probably another month or two from wrapping things up. The dog park is not a development site to my knowledge.
There is technically one other undeveloped site in RP, a tiny parcel right at the corner of Little Raven and Basset next to Riverfront Green where supposedly the founder of East West Partners is planning on building his single-family home.
Curious how any plot in this neighborhood can be developed in a single-family residence. I’m sure it’s not because it’s owner is a well-connected real estate developer or anything.
it specifically is because of that. He owns the land.
What I mean is, why is anything in this neighborhood zoned to allow this? He can own anything he wants, but that doesn’t mean he should be able to develop the property in a manner that isn’t in the city’s best interests. Even a small plot of land can accommodate multi-family housing.
The zoning on the small parcel (8500 sf) where the house would go is the same as the rest of the block—zoned for the higher-density uses through the Commons PUD. But somewhere along the way when East West Partners sold this block to AMLI for the development of Riverfront Green, EWP excluded from the sale the tip of the block at the corner so that the CEO of EWP could build a home there. Had they not done this, what most likely would have happened is that the small parcel would have been included in the sale of the block to AMLI and their Riverfront Green project would have had a slightly larger footprint, adding about 10% more units to the project. Apparently, the zoning does not set minimum development size standards that would preclude putting a SF home on the small parcel. It’s still going to be a fairly good-sized home. According to the preliminary development app submitted, it would be 3 stories and rise 47 feet in height. But I certainly get your point about, is this the best utilization of the land in a high-density transit-accessible part of the city?
Thank you for the shedding some light on the recent history of the property. I’m under no delusions that wealthy and well-connected real estate developers have to play by the same rules as everyone else, but this development seems particularly egregious given how beautifully planned the rest of the neighborhood is. Hopefully other parcels of land don’t suffer the same fate.
I believe that the single family home has been envisioned for that spot for at least a decade- maybe longer. The Commons Planned Unit Development (PUD) that was done in 2002 allowed for this use as well. For context- it would be about twice the size of the brownstones that were built along Little Raven and is not out of scope with other developments in the area.
It’s certainly debatable whether there’s a more altruistic use for the land, but considering what E/W has developed in the city (omitting the transgression known as City House) I’m willing to let this parcel slide.
I agree. City House is a far bigger transgression that this single-family home parcel.
Quality project. What a difference from what was there before.
I like the basic massing, the geometry, the materials and the muted colors. It’s a rather complex building that responds to the site. Having said that, I think the designers lost their way on the detailing. The different colored flashing, the different railing systems, the unresolved intersections between materials all add up to a cluttered result. For example, in the first photo, the corner of the 5th,6th & 7th floor. That lone white column looks unplanned. There are lots of little unresolved things about this building that I otherwise like.
I agree, that white column and the corner flashing is a messy detail. Other than that this is a nice building and quality design.
Not the worst, but definitely not the best. That top portion looks like a total after-thought. What will it take for this city to start caring about legacy in design?
I read this website regularly and appreciate learning about all the updates – what is clear to me is the sudden slowdown of new projects in the downtown area – seems to be grinding to a halt overall.
“grinding to a halt” is a huge overstatement. Just take a look around town. There are 25+ cranes up in the Denver area and new projects continue to get approved/funded