High-Rise Rundown: Denver

[ski82]

Originally Posted by Top Of The Park

...Geeze, I wish we had the water, but oh well. Actually we are ahead of Seattle as far as Light Rail, they are ahead with bus ridership, but not by much. We have a better Airport, they have more downtown living, but we should fare well. Seattle and Denver both have downtown stadiums. All things considered, they have big downtown retail and just a better, bigger city all around. Denver may get to that point eventually....

I agree. While the water in Seattle is beautiful, it is grossly under-utilized. Their retail scene is much greater. I think that is because they don't really have a Cherry Creek type area. Bellevue is too far away and really its own area to be considered such.

Interesting point about the downtown stadiums. Coors has the best location out of the two cities. But look at the differences/similarities between Key Arena and the Pepsi center. About the same proximity to the CBD but the Seattle Center/Lower Queen Anne area is 10x better than the sea of parking that (mostly) surounds the PC. It would be fantastic to see Denver model the area around something like the Seattle Center. You could even extend the concept into the campus. We have a great start with Elitch's right there.

Sorry for getting off topic.

[Top Of The Park]

....I've been playing around with the virtual earth 3D as mentioned on the SSP USA photo thread....and looking at other downtowns...not to compete by comparrison, but to judge how Downtown Denver is doing. I found Denver's Downtown's dimensions to be approximately 8 blocks at the widest and about 21 blocks long. I have always though Calgary's downtown was much longer than ours, but its just over half if you measure Denver's Downtown from Lincoln to The Glass House condos. There are far more buildings in their downtown over 20 stories, probably half again as many as Denver or more. This isn't to compete, just to recognise differences.

Denver's Downtown by dimensions is close to Seattle, Minneapolis and Houston. Dallas has a relatively small downtown, yet a number of taller buildings. Please don't construe this as an us versus them post. One thing is certain, our infill will utimately make for a very attractive Denver.

[DownhomeDenver]

Totp, every city has their pros and cons. I've only been to Calgary once and I found it be a great city overall.

Seattle is gorgeous, but I know the rain and gloom would get to me over time. My wife has simply stated, "NO!" to any move outside of Colorado. Not that I blame her or anything. lol

[blm3034L!fe]

Originally Posted by DownhomeDenver

Totp, every city has their pros and cons. I've only been to Calgary once and I found it be a great city overall.

Seattle is gorgeous, but I know the rain and gloom would get to me over time. My wife has simply stated, "NO!" to any move outside of Colorado. Not that I blame her or anything. lol

LOL That's funny I have the same situation with my wife, although the moving opinion is reversed, I am not willing to move anywhere else period. She always talks about California because alot of her relatives live there, and I tell her the only option in CAL is San Diego which we cannot afford so there you have it. NOT MOVING OUT OF COLORADO!!!

[DownhomeDenver]

BLM, I dont blame you on your stance about CALI.

[Top Of The Park]

Originally Posted by DownhomeDenver

Totp, every city has their pros and cons. I've only been to Calgary once and I found it be a great city overall.

Seattle is gorgeous, but I know the rain and gloom would get to me over time. My wife has simply stated, "NO!" to any move outside of Colorado. Not that I blame her or anything. lol

....as is Seattle and most cities for that matter have something special. But my intent, albeit poorly executed, was to not compare a cities features or even skyscrapers. I was exited at looking at the dimensions of the different downtowns through the Virtual Earth (free download) [url]http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=E9298080-50C4-4F2E-9FC4-4009074996BA&displaylang=en[url] that was posted on the SSP photography site under Urban Photography/Found City Photos "Virtual Earth-North American Downtowns in 3 Dimensions" at http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=142934

The other thing that impressed me about this site may be the ability to add new proposals to the skyline in 3D as has been acheived by DenverInfill, if one is talented enough. I love the illustrations of The Four Seasons as an example. So here is a chance for anyone to use this to evaluate for instance the R/R tracks and Union Station area from above and in 3D.

Something like 20 years ago there was a model of Downtown Denver made of metal, balsa wood, plastic with all the buildings to scale (at that time). It was at the State Historical Museum and talking to a representative, he said its probably in storage..and he added...there is alot of stuff in storage as we have limited exhibition space. Now with this 3D site, one can have a model of Downtown Denver at ones fingertips and for that, I am pretty exited. What a wonderful tool and for free.

[blm3034L!fe]

^ That's awesome it also gives you a great perspective to determine the future potential in the City and where things can/may be developed in the future IMO.

And seeing Denver and other Cities on that link kinda gives you the impression of the actual Density of each City, None on the list can touch NYC or Chicago IMHO however even though Denver's footprint is Not the largest? IMO in terms of compairing with realativly similar sized or slightly larger downtowns as Denver.

I think that Denver actually appears to have a MORE Densified downtown vs some of the other Cities shown, due to the Proximity of the current developments, Denver may not have the tallest buildings? But in terms of being a dense city? I think Denver is very densified!!! And that is good because once everything on the interior is pretty much built out? Then the City will continue to expand, only then it will expand with larger developments instead of the 5-10-15-20 Story range of current fringe developments.

Possible future developments like Denargo Market if completed to scale will truely assist in expanding the City. Imagine if the current boom does not slow where Denver may be in 10 years!!! WOW OMG WOW. That's all I can say...

[davedensf]

Originally Posted by Top Of The Park

....
Denver's Downtown by dimensions is close to Seattle, Minneapolis and Houston. Dallas has a relatively small downtown, yet a number of taller buildings. Please don't construe this as an us versus them post. One thing is certain, our infill will utimately make for a very attractive Denver.

And to think a hundred years ago Denver was already a major city, with Dallas, Houston, and even L.A. little more than large towns. I wonder what things will look like in 50 years.

[Top Of The Park]

Originally Posted by blm3034L!fe

^ That's awesome it also gives you a great perspective to determine the future potential in the City and where things can/may be developed in the future IMO.

And seeing Denver and other Cities on that link kinda gives you the impression of the actual Density of each City, None on the list can touch NYC or Chicago IMHO however even though Denver's footprint is Not the largest? IMO in terms of compairing with realativly similar sized or slightly larger downtowns as Denver.

I think that Denver actually appears to have a MORE Densified downtown vs some of the other Cities shown, due to the Proximity of the current developments, Denver may not have the tallest buildings? But in terms of being a dense city? I think Denver is very densified!!! And that is good because once everything on the interior is pretty much built out? Then the City will continue to expand, only then it will expand with larger developments instead of the 5-10-15-20 Story range of current fringe developments.

Possible future developments like Denargo Market if completed to scale will truely assist in expanding the City. Imagine if the current boom does not slow where Denver may be in 10 years!!! WOW OMG WOW. That's all I can say...

Seeing Denver and the other cities in 3D and in the same scale really showed me plenty. Also, I don't know of too many other cities that have the expandability in nearby neighborhoods and their connection to Downtown that Denver has. I mean...look at whats happened in the Golden Triangle for instance in the last 10 to 12 years...and what Denargo Market will bring. This tool has enabled me, for one, to really appreciate what has been accomplished and how incredible things will become. The new buildings will certainly flesh out that diagram of our downtown. It also showed me that our downtown has better size than I ever realized. I always see your enthusiasm too.

With the Union Station East/West development, more retail, even more infill and a couple grocery stores, trolleys etc...and we won't be lacking too much. Meanwhile, neighborhoods like Baker and Curtis Park continue to get better and better.

[zaphod]

Denver is also kind of lucky that downtown is not walled off on four sides by massive 10 lane elevated freeways with crackheads living underneath like some other cities

During the 60's did they ever plan some ridiculous freeway system that would have plowed through residential areas?

[denveraztec]

Before LoDo was called that, we had several bridges there that connected to the highway. I am so glad they are gone and the areas below flourished because of it!

[Top Of The Park]

Originally Posted by denveraztec

Before LoDo was called that, we had several bridges there that connected to the highway. I am so glad they are gone and the areas below flourished because of it!

...which were there mainly to go over the train tracks when up until the late 50's Union Station had trains going through like you cantbelieve. Bums as transients were called then,lived under the viaducts and in lean tos in the CPV. Seems like we had the 15th, 16th, 18th and Broadway viaducts. At one point they were going to put an expressway into downtown cutting from 8th and I-25 (Valley hwy then) and continue it across the 38th and I-25 thruthe CPV.

[The Dirt]

Anyone have any construction photos for 1800 Larimer? It just seems eerily quiet here about the project...

[1Post2]

I-25 should be named the Valley Highway again. Unique names beat out the interstate designation any day, but both could be on the signs if need be.

Any famous Denverites come to mind for I-70 through town? The Don Cheadle expressway? (The internet says he was born in KC, though.)

[denveraztec]

Originally Posted by 1Post2

I-25 should be named the Valley Highway again. Unique names beat out the interstate designation any day, but both could be on the signs if need be.

Any famous Denverites come to mind for I-70 through town? The Don Cheadle expressway? (The internet says he was born in KC, though.)

Phillip Bailey and three other members of Earth, Wind and Fire went to East High, as did Don Cheadle and Pam Grier. Maybe call it the "Earth, Wind and Fire Autobaun" or "Kristy Love is Gonna Get You Speedway"!

[blm3034L!fe]

^ I know with this might be controvesial issue, but it is a fact!

Denver needs to seriously start planning something for Most all of the Metro area freeways! I-25 is only functional in the southern 20+ Miles from about what Broadway/Gates down past Lincoln.

But then if you look at I-70/I-270/H-36/I-225/H-6th to name a few they are all over congested almost any time of day, and the condition of the freeways are atroshious IMHO!!!

And if minimal upkeep and non widening continue for the next 5-10 years? The metro Denver Area is Screwed LITERALLY!!! Right now I have to commute 25 miles to work one way. Only taking one freeway I-25 But it takes me 45 min-1 hour to get to work and home, you might think that is only rush hour? It's not I left early the other day for an appointment and guess what? 1:00 P.m. same damn 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 congestion.

Now I know that some of the Growth has apparently slowed down? But from what I have witnessed and from just being in my industry talking to people meeting with people, there are still plenty of people moving to this area daily, in fact on a daily basis I talk or meet with people who have just recently moved to Denver or are planning to do so. Anyhow the Metro area is estimated at or around 2.7/2.9 Million, I think that is an understatment personally but okay what ever, imagine by the year 2010 when, no question the Metro area will surpass 3 Million! Then what? that is an additional at least 100K vehicles on the freeways!

Denver is in a traffic and Highway/freeway Crisis in my honest opinion, like it? or not? Something WILL have to be done soon, and I believe sooner rather than later and continuing to pretend that the problem does not exsist is simply retarded...

[FrancoRey]

I actually find that Denver's freeway system is pretty good, except for I-270 and I-70, and I-25 north of these two. What scares me is what the hell will Denver do when Eastbound I-70 between I-25 and I-270 needs to be replaced....holy 🞵🞵🞵🞵 it's gonna be a 🞵🞵🞵🞵-show. Will they be able to re-build a 2 mile bridge over 40th avenue without shutting the freeway down to one-lane each way? Ick.

I seriously would consider re-routing traffic off of I-70 altogether during such a project, funneling it through to I-270 and onto I-76 at the interchange...all of it could go back onto I-70 where the two freeways meet in Arvada @ Wadsworth.

Sorry for the off-subject, but those three are what concern me most.

BTW....I-70 shall be called the The John El-(free)Way. It works. I-SEVEN-ty.

Who wants a road thread? No more of this chat in the highrise thread.

[Top Of The Park]

Originally Posted by The Dirt

Anyone have any construction photos for 1800 Larimer? It just seems eerily quiet here about the project...

...as of about a week ago.....it was excavated somewhat , fenced off with a construction trailer at the west end

[soonermeteor]

Originally Posted by FrancoRey

BTW....I-70 shall be called the The John El-(free)Way. It works. I-SEVEN-ty.

I like it. Dallas already has the Landry freeway.

[DownhomeDenver]

Originally Posted by zaphod

Denver is also kind of lucky that downtown is not walled off on four sides by massive 10 lane elevated freeways with crackheads living underneath like some other cities

During the 60's did they ever plan some ridiculous freeway system that would have plowed through residential areas?

Yes, I believe Larimer or Market was supposed to be turned into a highway with ultra modernist towers on both sides.