DENVER | Main Development Thread #6

[TakeFive]

Clear the tarp from the doorways; tenants need to move in.

...

Photo courtesy: Basha Cohen - North Denver Tribune

Since the photo is a bit small I thought including two might help.

"The West Colfax beat goes on"
June 3, 2016 by admin - North Denver Tribune

Residents have started moving into the 369-unit Alexan complex with restaurants like Highland Tap & Burger working rapidly to open as anchors for the development that will be a mini city within a city when it reaches completion,

Close to 1,000 new residential units comprised of rentals, townhomes, workforce housing and luxury condominiums will integrate with retail, restaurants, office and open spaces. Wider sidewalks, patio seating and street-scaping that include trees, flowers and vegetation are planned, along with community gardens.

Well written and worth the read Basha updates the activity with the redevelopment of Saint Anthony’s and the area around Sloan's Lake.

The re-imagination of the West Colfax corridor is steadily taking root as the SLOANS development, former home to Saint Anthony’s, is rapidly sprouting up and shooting its roots into the once thriving, then derelict, now reviving West Colfax.

On a recent site tour Cameron Bertron, Senior V.P. of the EnviroFinance Group (EFG) noted, “The Chapel Plaza is the midpoint in the development providing a centerpiece to SLOANS. It will be activated with Farmer’s Markets, Blues festivals and landscaping including tree lawn, benches, and café seating for residents to relax in.”

[PLANSIT]

Originally Posted by CherryCreek

Reminder. This is a concept rendering and not actual design.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by CherryCreek

I was really impressed with this. They did an amazing job with the "input" from the review process and almost every response they had was a major improvement over the original.

This is a great project.!

Ahh, so a development worth waiting for then?

BTW, while those unbroken pavers are fine I assume you are especially impressed with the broken pavers?

[TakeFive]

So elegant


Photo credit: Justin/Denver Urban Review from his June construcdtion update

"1401 Lawrence: Forward Facing"
Words by Sarah Goldblatt, AIA - Featured in the June 2016 issue of Building Dialogue via CREJ

NSFW unless you are an architect/construction geeky type.

Debuting on Denver’s expanding cultural red carpet and filling a long-missing link in the city’s urban fabric, Toronto-based First Gulf’s new office development 1401 Lawrence is poised to usher in the next generation of skyline-defining towers.

Fun read, especially if you know what she is talking about. One example:

To achieve the desired look, The Beck Group worked closely with local glass and glazing contractor J.R. Butler. “To get the quality and performance of the interlocking, unitized curtain-wall system, we integrated the metal panels at the punched openings into the overall premanufactured system. You don’t typically see this, ” says J.R. Butler Marketing Director Brian Patton.

J.R. Butler also tackled Beck’s wing-wall or “fly-by” design feature where, at six corners on each office level, the curtain wall flies by the edge of the concrete floor slab. “It was challenging to come up with a solution that worked from an aesthetic as well as a thermal and water infiltration prevention standpoint,” says J.R. Butler Project Manager Brian Sweet, P.E.

Read it or weep.

[TakeFive]

I don't recall if this was previously posted or not but DBJ came out with a release.

"12-story apartment complex coming to Capitol Hill"
Jun 7, 2016 by Molly Armbrister - Denver Business Journal

McWhinney, a Loveland-based firm that had a hand in the redevelopment of Union Station and is now busy building the Dairy Block mixed-use development, will break ground later this year on a 12-story apartment complex in Denver's Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Called Sova, the 211-unit apartment building will be built on the northwest corner of 19th Avenue and Grant Street in the fourth quarter.

Justin/Denver Urban Review had announced this back on March 11, 2016 including this dandy rendering:


Rendering courtesy Craine Architecture via Denver Urban Review

[CherryCreek]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

I don't recall if this was previously posted or not but DBJ came out with a release.

"12-story apartment complex coming to Capitol Hill"
Jun 7, 2016 by Molly Armbrister - Denver Business Journal


Justin/Denver Urban Review had announced this back on March 11, 2016 including this dandy rendering:


Rendering courtesy Craine Architecture via Denver Urban Review

I like that contemporary look! I wish we had more like this going up.

[bunt_q]

We have lots of those going up. Just that most of them are office buildings in the tech center.

[DenverInfill]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

I don't recall if this was previously posted or not but DBJ came out with a release.

DenverInfill published the details covered in the DBJ article about a month ago after communicating directly with McWhinney:

http://denverinfill.com/blog/2016/05/new-uptown-project-sova.html

[TakeFive]

Hump Day Highlights

* History is made as DBJ announces that according to AAA, Denver made the Top Ten list for summer travel destinations among road warriors at #10. I can only assume it's all the cranes downtown and thousands of people wanting to check out prospective apartments for their move to Denver.

* I got a chance to review James Real Estate Services 1st Quarterly Report and while he continues to throw up caution flags for increased apartment vacancy he has over the last year counter-balanced that with more positive points. The only notable Starts in Denver were the 511 units at 1707 and 1777 Chestnut Place and the 99 unit Senior Residences at 1625 Pennsylvania Street.

* DBJ also recently announced that Colorado was 7th in addding construction workers YOY at 7% which off an already healthy number is still impressive.

* There is a noticeable uptick in suburban apartment construction but it's off such a low base that it still doesn't seem like all that much when scattered around. Lennar Homes is more active than I realized although they've focused mostly on suburban apartments. The only notable Denver project (to date) will be a 336-unit project to be built in the Green Valley Ranch neighborhood. It will be three miles from the RTD's Gateway park transit station at 40th Avenue and Airport Boulevard. Getting closer. Lennar is also sitting on two downtown sites.

* The economy seems to be bumping along with bad news being offset by good news. Couple of interesting mergers but whether that's good or bad news for Denver is still off in the distance.

One of my favorite songs as I was packing to leave Denver.

[CherryCreek]

Originally Posted by bunt_q

We have lots of those going up. Just that most of them are office buildings in the tech center.

Haha. I guess you are saying it looks more like an office building than an apartment, and true enough I suppose.

I prefer it tp soviet-block style housing in much of Rino, but point taken.

Here's three examples "modern" construction apartments I love;

MOTO at 8th and Sherman:



My Block at Speer and Washington



On City Block at Logan and Penn




Alexan LoHi

[bunt_q]

I will reserve judgment on Alexan LoHi. But the first two - absolutely agree. One City Block should be the model for other projects around town.

[RyanD]

The York is going to be pretty good too (hopefully):

[Denver Dweller]

http://www.businessden.com/2016/06/08/developer-plans-18-story-apartment-building-in-five-points/

[RyanD]

^ I really do not like the 18-story slab of building / wall this is going to be. It's even taller than the Great Wall of Logan Alexan Uptown. Eesh...

via DenverInfill



One reader on the blog summed this project up perfectly:

[lumos]

The one thing that I like more than a new tower crane being installed; and that is when one comes down. It looks like Skyhouse Denver is shedding a crane.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by bunt_q

I will reserve judgment on Alexan LoHi.

The rendering looks pretty snazzy at least. The brick, the mostly recessed balconies with interesting corner windows and windows that are generally recessed a few inches makes it quite interesting... at least in the rendering.

Originally Posted by RyanD

The York is going to be pretty good too (hopefully):

Again, recessed balconies are so much nicer than ones that are hanging out like loose pocket change. They serve to break up the exterior lines of the building nicely.

Originally Posted by Denver Dweller

http://www.businessden.com/2016/06/08/developer-plans-18-story-apartment-building-in-five-points/

Haha, I had just mentioned Lennar in my earlier comment. They never seem to be in a hurry but do eventually get things built.

Originally Posted by RyanD

^ I really do not like the 18-story slab of building / wall this is going to be. It's even taller than the Great Wall of Logan Alexan Uptown. Eesh...

via DenverInfill

Lennar is probably even more pedestrian than TCR. It's close. Still, I'll take it.

[ddvmke]

Originally Posted by RyanD

^ I really do not like the 18-story slab of building / wall this is going to be. It's even taller than the Great Wall of Logan Alexan Uptown. Eesh...

via DenverInfill



One reader on the blog summed this project up perfectly:

Is there any chance that this project, and others that haven't yet been approved in that area, will be held off until the new Arapahoe Square design guidelines are finalized...or is that just a pipe-dream at this point?

[CherryCreek]

Originally Posted by RyanD

^ I really do not like the 18-story slab of building / wall this is going to be. It's even taller than the Great Wall of Logan Alexan Uptown. Eesh...

via DenverInfill



One reader on the blog summed this project up perfectly:

I agree. For comparison:

Here's one KC is getting:




Or how about this LA:



Or this in San Diego:



Or this Houston:



Or DC:

[ramanboy33]

Originally Posted by RyanD

^ I really do not like the 18-story slab of building / wall this is going to be. It's even taller than the Great Wall of Logan Alexan Uptown. Eesh...


One reader on the blog summed this project up perfectly:

lol - you found my DenverInfill alter-ego.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by CherryCreek

I agree. For comparison:
Here's one KC is getting:

"Crossroads will get first apartment high-rise"
Apr 13, 2015 by Rob Roberts - Kansas City Business Journal

Copaken Brooks and EPC Real Estate Group LLC are preparing to break ground on the first-ever high-rise apartment project in Kansas City's Crossroads Arts District. ARTerra, a 12-story, 125-unit building, will rise from the heart of the arts district at 21st and Wyandotte streets.

Nothing like a little incentive to grease the wheels.

Schlagel said a 10-year property tax abatement from Kansas City's Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority and recent City Council approval helped pave the way for the new Crossroads landmark

Obviously this is a smaller site with about 38 percent the number of units in an arts district that is being nurtured by the the city. Certainly the building is much better proportioned.

Originally Posted by CherryCreek

Or how about this LA:

You picked a real corker here.

"All the Tenants at Hollywood's Sunset Gordon Tower Have Been Told to Get Out"
SEP 14, 2015 BY ADRIAN GLICK KUDLER - Curbed LA

The other shoe has finally dropped for the tenants of the Sunset Gordon apartment tower, who have been worried they'll be kicked out of their homes since construction permits on the Hollywood building were retroactively invalidated last October: This past weekend, management left notes on apartment doors saying tenants have to be out by October 4, reports the LA Times.

So what's the problem?

When CIM began construction on the site in 2012, it was supposed to preserve part of the old Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant on the site (built in the 1920s and originally an auto showroom) and incorporate it into the new building. But CIM decided the building was too far gone, demolished it all, and promised to recreate parts instead.

That can't be the whole story.

Lawyer Robert Silverstein ... sued to invalidate Sunset Gordon's permits—a judge sided with them in fall 2014, after the building was completed and tenants had already moved in.

OMG

Originally Posted by CherryCreek

Or this Houston:

Definitely a nice building

"New Museum District apartment tower breaks ground"
Oct 28, 2014 by Olivia Pulsinelli - Houston Business Journal

Dallas-based developer StreetLights Residential recently broke ground on The Carter, a 20-story, 305-unit apartment tower.

The units will include one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans as well as townhouse and penthouse options. Features will include 10-foot ceilings, keyless entry systems, stone countertops and built-in speakers in some sound-system-ready units.

StreetLights Residential is indeed a quality developer as you can see if you click on the link. They've built mostly in Texas but also list Nashville and San Diego. Here again is a distinctive project in a distinctive Museum District. But I'd be delighted if they chose to build in Denver.

Not sure how you chose your examples but Denver too does have some nice projects currently under construction.