DENVER | Main Development Thread #6

[Dogpatch]

I prefer this to the previous rendering. I think this will look much better when completed than this little rendering shows. If you look at the hi-rez image posted on Denver Urban Review, it looks quite nice. It's refreshing to see something that isn't beige. Ugh. And frankly, the randomly splattered panels trick is getting pretty tired.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by The Dirt

This is such nonsense. What consensus and what the hell is progressive Western living as an architectural style?

Who knows?


Thinking back to other cycles and especially apartments built from the 1950's through 1990's. the 1950's and 1960's is primarily when construction occurred in the downtown area. There was nothing particularly outstanding about those buildings other than most were brick. Most were boxes and flat boxes at that.

With this latest cycle of new apartment construction there's been substantial use of setbacks and color variation to make them much more interesting IMO. Most all create a nice street edge.

Of the 25 "Largest Apartment Developers (2015 Rankings)," Alliance Res. (#1), Mill Creek Res. (#2), Wood Partners (#3), Trammell Crow (#7), Greystar (#8), Lincoln Property (#10), Carmel Partners (#11), Holland Res. (#15), Forest City (#18) and AMLI Res. (#20) have all been active in Denver urban development. Other notable builders like Gables Res. and locals Red Peak and Zocalo have built especially nice projects. I know some don't care as much for the exterior of some Zocalo projects but they are some of the highest overall quality construction.

Generally, these developers have built similar product wherever they have built and most hire local architects to pick up the local flavor of things. In Denver that has meant a lot of brick at least at lower levels (Thank you Mill Creek).

I will continue to contend that this cycle is overall of much better quality than past cycles most notably the suburban complexes that were built from the 1970's through the 1990's.

There are currently a number of really nice projects under construction from Country Club Towers to Joule, SkyHouse Denver, Eviva Cherokee, The Confluence, Pivot Denver with more in the pipeline.

Has there been a number of more mundane "Plain Jane's?" Well, duh, of course. They can't all be Prince's.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by Dogpatch

I prefer this to the previous rendering. I think this will look much better when completed than this little rendering shows. If you look at the hi-rez image posted on Denver Urban Review, it looks quite nice. It's refreshing to see something that isn't beige. Ugh. And frankly, the randomly splattered panels trick is getting pretty tired.

Yes, especially if you use the zoom feature (click) and I agree. Link

[Denverite]

Originally Posted by EngiNerd

Do we know which rendering of the Coloradan is correct?

DI has one rendering, while the news organizations have another (less colorful) rendering with some other changes.

Denver Infill


Denver Post

Holy smokes, this "thing" is horrific. I sure as heck hope the "architect" isn't paid much. It's truly awful. Prime real estate for visitors stepping off the DIA Train and this brown (or is it dark mud-gray?) block takes up a big part of the sky. I almost can't believe it. Is this a joke?

[seventwenty]

16th Street Mall parking lot sold to West Coast developer: 15,665-square-foot lot fetches $10M, according to public records

Neither the sale price nor the buyer's identity were disclosed, but county records show it was K4 Dev LLC, a Newport Beach, Calif.-based company, paying $10 million for the properties at 1321 16th St. and 1616 Market St.

. . .

In 2007, the same property was sold as part of a $15.8 million transaction that included the site of the old Office Depot store across the street, according to county records.

That property, 1560 Market St., has since been redeveloped by Integrated Properties into a 10-story mixed-use building called 16M.

. . .

The zoning of the property, known as Block 47, allows for "a wide range of uses ranging from multifamily to office, hotel and retail," CBRE brokers said.

"Block 47 is one of the last prime lots in LoDo and is the ideal location for a quality new development," Integrated Properties CEO Bruce Deifik said in a statement. "The purchaser, a visionary developer, was able to see the value in the land."

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by seventwenty

16th Street Mall parking lot sold to West Coast developer: 15,665-square-foot lot fetches $10M, according to public records

Plus this quote:

K4 shares an office address with T2 Development, a hotel development group that works primarily on the West Coast, according to public records and the company's website. A call for comment was not returned Monday.

T2 Development website. Other than for that very first photo their site hardly looks compelling but who knows?

Hard Rock Hotel San Diego photo courtesy of T2 Development

[RyanD]

^^^
Well.. That'll fill in a nice gap, whatever they do!

[Sam Hill]

Originally Posted by Denverite

Holy smokes, this "thing" is horrific. I sure as heck hope the "architect" isn't paid much. It's truly awful. Prime real estate for visitors stepping off the DIA Train and this brown (or is it dark mud-gray?) block takes up a big part of the sky. I almost can't believe it. Is this a joke?

Horrific? Really? I can't tell if you're being facetious. So you want it to not be brown, and you want it to be shorter. But what makes it horrific? Not enough glass? Too blocky? I'm curious.

It looks good to me. I'm glad it's not another stucco box (or EIFS or whatever they're using now) with random, brightly-colored rectangles. And I think there's enough glass and lighter colors throughout the rest of DUS that it would be nice to have something darker mixed in to the DUS skyline.

There are a lot of really ugly buildings being built around Denver that everybody likes to criticize, and I normally agree, but I don't see what's particularly bad about this one. The Platform is also a somewhat boring, utilitarian box, and it also abuts the train shed, but I don't see anybody complaining about it.

*edit: I just reread your post and realized that I misinterpreted it the first time when I thought you were implying it's too tall. Speaking of building heights, I think we can blame the strict height limits for much of DUS looking blocky. This developer appears to be squeezing every bit of square footage they can possibly get into this lot.

[DenverInfill]

I think the rendering in the Post is the newer one. I had to use the renderings from the development application on Sunday due to a mix up, but will be getting more project info soon. Also, I suspect these aren't the final final renderings yet in any case.

[Denver Dweller]

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_29093416/denver-awards-2-9m-loans-three-affordable-housing

[Octavian]

Originally Posted by DenverInfill

I think the rendering in the Post is the newer one. I had to use the renderings from the development application on Sunday due to a mix up, but will be getting more project info soon. Also, I suspect these aren't the final final renderings yet in any case.

DP rendering looks worse. The splash of white looks way better.

[Denverite]

Originally Posted by Sam Hill

Horrific? Really? I can't tell if you're being facetious. So you want it to not be brown, and you want it to be shorter. But what makes it horrific? Not enough glass? Too blocky? I'm curious.

It looks good to me. I'm glad it's not another stucco box (or EIFS or whatever they're using now) with random, brightly-colored rectangles. And I think there's enough glass and lighter colors throughout the rest of DUS that it would be nice to have something darker mixed in to the DUS skyline.

There are a lot of really ugly buildings being built around Denver that everybody likes to criticize, and I normally agree, but I don't see what's particularly bad about this one. The Platform is also a somewhat boring, utilitarian box, and it also abuts the train shed, but I don't see anybody complaining about it.

*edit: I just reread your post and realized that I misinterpreted it the first time when I thought you were implying it's too tall. Speaking of building heights, I think we can blame the strict height limits for much of DUS looking blocky. This developer appears to be squeezing every bit of square footage they can possibly get into this lot.

I saw your edit. It just looks hideous to me. I'm not being facetious or trolling. I truly think it looks awful. One of the worst things I've seen in awhile at this scale - though, I'm constantly complaining about the timber condo projects, which are pretty terrible as well, but this is just a pile of ick. I'd rather it NOT be there than support its construction for the sake of infill.

I may have mentioned this before, but for me personally, this style and color can look quite good at small scale - still not sure on this one though. For example, the Denver Fugly page on FB singles out a lot of scrape-offs and small-scale residential that has similar styles, colors, angular, artsy, and at small scale in a residential setting, there are few I don't like. That's just me. At this scale, it just looks like Eastern Bloc template with a slight facade upgrade. We have too much of that already. Obviously, it bugs me.

[Scottk]

Originally Posted by Denverite

I saw your edit. It just looks hideous to me. I'm not being facetious or trolling. I truly think it looks awful. One of the worst things I've seen in awhile at this scale - though, I'm constantly complaining about the timber condo projects, which are pretty terrible as well, but this is just a pile of ick. I'd rather it NOT be there than support its construction for the sake of infill.

I may have mentioned this before, but for me personally, this style and color can look quite good at small scale - still not sure on this one though. For example, the Denver Fugly page on FB singles out a lot of scrape-offs and small-scale residential that has similar styles, colors, angular, artsy, and at small scale in a residential setting, there are few I don't like. That's just me. At this scale, it just looks like Eastern Bloc template with a slight facade upgrade. We have too much of that already. Obviously, it bugs me.

Completely agree.

The fact that visitors will be greeted by this massive soviet era structure really rubs me the wrong way.

Welcome to Denver!! Check out this massive black building that we have looming over our train station…. a train station that doesn't even protect you from the elements!!!!!

What ever happened to the guy on this forum who worked for East West??? I wonder what he would have to say about this building.

Edit to add: this project looks like some of the ghetto ass project buildings you see around Newark, Chicago, etc.

[lumos]

It certainly appears to be somewhat unsubtle in the renderings, but I am hoping that is because of the way they have chosen to use a view point filling in the whole of the train shed roof. The plot is quite narrow so in real life the block may appear lighter and less doom laden.

With the condos at 250 Columbine averaging $600 per sq ft for the closed sales I would have liked to have hoped that some money could have been put into a design with a little more drama. Personally I would have liked to see a greater glass area as the reflections back of DUS would have been far more engaging than the gothic lipstick hues depicted.

I think Platform works well, the subtle curve of the building on the station side create a feeling of flow or motion. I believe that 1601 Wewatta is world class both in its design and its use of materials. What a simply gorgeous choice of stone, as well as clear glass. Triangle is a huge win for DUS with its insane sharp edges and colour providing a foil for the earth tones. I love the wing buildings with their angled bricks shifting form as the sun moves across the sky giving an ever changing texture. The early renderings of all of these looked inferior to the actual build. The first renderings of the Triangle building actually had a large concrete carpark welded to the side, 1601 was in white stone so one can always hope that the architect will get some budget for better materials or a little wasteful design flourish.

It looks like the big DUS project will be finished by the end of 2018 and we can start lamenting about the lost heritage when we read that City House is going to be demolished and a 28 storey tower is going up.

[DenverPoke]

Originally Posted by Scottk

Completely agree.

The fact that visitors will be greeted by this massive soviet era structure really rubs me the wrong way.

Welcome to Denver!! Check out this massive black building that we have looming over our train station…. a train station that doesn't even protect you from the elements!!!!!

What ever happened to the guy on this forum who worked for East West??? I wonder what he would have to say about this building.

Edit to add: this project looks like some of the ghetto ass project buildings you see around Newark, Chicago, etc.

Have to agree, the Coloradan is pretty disappointing. I wish they would've broken it up into 2 or 3 buildings but that would reduce the # of units, so the dollar wins again. E/W hit a home run with the Triangle building but City House and this thing are whiffs. At least it's a condo project, hopefully others will follow.

[bunt_q]

So apparently if we wanted somebody to notice that we've been building crappy commie blocks for a decade now, the secret was to do one on top of Union Station. We can build garbage everywhere else in the city, but by God, don't do it above our palace of wealthy white people.

I actually kind of like the architecture of this building. But I'm not criticizing the urban form, I merely accept brutal urban form as par for the course in Denver. But hey, we have form based zoning, so chalk that up as a win for planning.

[CherryCreek]

Originally Posted by bunt_q

So apparently if we wanted somebody to notice that we've been building crappy commie blocks for a decade now, the secret was to do one on top of Union Station. We can build garbage everywhere else in the city, but by God, don't do it above our palace of wealthy white people.

Actually there's been constant, wide spread, extremely vocal criticism of "commie block" architecture in Denver for years.

[BG918]

The architect, GBD, has some good designs. Most of their work is in the Pacific NW. I like this one: http://www.gbdarchitects.com/portfolio-item/2nd-pine/

Hopefully they'll post some new renderings.

[TakeFive]

I guess in the best of tradition, I'm just a commie lover at heart. I think it has a nice muscular, erotic look.
Maybe they should go for more of a flamboyant look; iridescent panels maybe?

[PLANSIT]

I actually think this will look great in person. I don't think the rendering gives the facade justice (From what I understand, it's terracotta). The only big issue may be the massing. Will have to see.