DENVER | Main Development Thread #7

[DenverInfill]

It's been under construction since June.

https://denverinfill.com/blog/2017/06/new-project-13th-delaware-apartments.html

[mojiferous]

The office portion of the 17th and Curtis project might be underway - they have closed the sidewalk along 17th and seem to be finally tearing down the old ATM kiosk

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by DenverInfill

It's been under construction since June.

https://denverinfill.com/blog/2017/06/new-project-13th-delaware-apartments.html

Then it's about dang time they got around to a groundbreaking.

Which reminds me... I don't recall a proper remembrance of the passing of such a notorious part of Denver's history here at Denver SSP. Bail Bonds Row was a special place, where when I walked by many would call me by my first name while others would holler "Aren't you the SOB that still owes us money?"

So in a Blues Brothers remembrance of high times and low times and old times:


Photo credit: Burl Rolett/BusinessDen

[semiurban]

Originally Posted by mojiferous

The office portion of the 17th and Curtis project might be underway - they have closed the sidewalk along 17th and seem to be finally tearing down the old ATM kiosk

They have even re-pointed their hazy webcam:

https://www.workzonecam.com/projects/sheaproperties1/#!/99917thstreet

[twister244]

I would call today a success then.

1.) Crane starts coming down for 1144.
2.) The office portion of 999 17th is now underway
3.) I can FINALLY get my mac and cheese from Whole Foods by Union Station now after working out at Colorado Athletic Club a block away.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by RyanD

^Sweet! I love aircraft warning lights! They're on because the crane starts going down today!

Yeah... I've always had a fetish with aircraft warning lights. It's like they send a subliminal message about the prominence of tall buildings, "I am so tall that I need warning lights to notify aircraft that I am an obstacle in their flight path".

Only thing I noticed last night was that the red warning lights were extremely dim compared to what the standard level of brightness should be... I'd say they were at about 25% of the standard intensity level. Pretty sure they were just testing them on a low setting before going full power, as aircraft warning lights are federally mandated and regulated based on strict guidelines.

[TakeFive]

Whooaa... A Live band, free pedicab rides and ticket giveaways to “An Evening with The Lumineers.”


Photo credit: Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Mayor Michael Hancock and Downtown Denver Partnership President and CEO Tami Door hold some giant jackfruit.

Whole Foods Market Union Station opens Wednesday
November 15, 2017 by Adrian D. Garcia - Denverite

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock both checked out the new Whole Foods during a private preview Monday.

“I started a business almost 30 years, two blocks from here, just across what were empty freight yards with broken bottles and shards of glass everywhere and old tin cans,” Hickenlooper said.

The 50,000-square-foot store expected to employ 210 workers, including 75 from the store Whole Foods closed Saturday in Capitol Hill.

[comoneymaker]

Image from Pablosan.




This is why I am so mad with the Union Station plan. The other one allowed taller buildings. You know there would be a few 400+ ft ones going up there if they would have gone with the other plan. Shoot maybe even a 700ft or 2. But imagine those in there and look how much it would have extended our skyline.

[Cirrus]

Is that a rusty monolith that with a label that says "art?"

And if so, is it satire?

[Cirrus]

Snark aside, serious question: Who owns the narrow grassy patch in front of the RTD station? Is that RTD land and is that its final form?

Obvious criticism aside, I will also take this chance to reiterate how much I like the new no-nonsense serious business trains, aesthetically.

[semiurban]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

Is that a rusty monolith that with a label that says "art?"

And if so, is it satire?

Entrance to the RiNo Arts District. Rhino cut out of the upper left of the rust. No satire.

[The Dirt]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

Snark aside, serious question: Who owns the narrow grassy patch in front of the RTD station? Is that RTD land and is that its final form?

Obvious criticism aside, I will also take this chance to reiterate how much I like the new no-nonsense serious business trains, aesthetically.

The grassy patch is where the central light rail line (you know, the one that goes up Welton) will have a platform.

[CherryCreek]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

Whooaa... A Live band, free pedicab rides and ticket giveaways to “An Evening with The Lumineers.”


Photo credit: Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Mayor Michael Hancock and Downtown Denver Partnership President and CEO Tami Door hold some giant jackfruit.

Whole Foods Market Union Station opens Wednesday
November 15, 2017 by Adrian D. Garcia - Denverite

What the hell is a Jack Fruit and what the hell does someone do with a fruit that sized? Jack Fruit juice?

[Cirrus]

Originally Posted by semiurban

Entrance to the RiNo Arts District. Rhino cut out of the upper left of the rust. No satire.

Oh it's a sign! Not strictly a public art sculpture. That's OK then.

Originally Posted by The Dirt

The grassy patch is where the central light rail line will have a platform.

Makes perfect sense.

Thanks for the explanations, you two!

[bunt_q]

Originally Posted by CherryCreek

What the hell is a Jack Fruit and what the hell does someone do with a fruit that sized? Jack Fruit juice?

They make great smoothies. On every street corner in Southeast Asia.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by comoneymaker

This is why I am so mad with the Union Station plan. The other one allowed taller buildings. You know there would be a few 400+ ft ones going up there if they would have gone with the other plan. Shoot maybe even a 700ft or 2. But imagine those in there and look how much it would have extended our skyline.

The other plan allowed for TWO tall buildings at ~650 and 550 ft. That's all. Everything else would have been at the height that's currently going up there.

Not saying that there was a missed opportunity, but hindsight is 20/20. Funding was so tight for Union Station that had the other design been selected it might not have gotten off the ground due to it's higher price tag and the economic conditions at the time.

[mr1138]

Originally Posted by wong21fr

The other plan allowed for TWO tall buildings at ~650 and 550 ft. That's all. Everything else would have been at the height that's currently going up there.

Not saying that there was a missed opportunity, but hindsight is 20/20. Funding was so tight for Union Station that had the other design been selected it might not have gotten off the ground due to it's higher price tag and the economic conditions at the time.

This echos a comment I was thinking of making earlier. The real estate economics were completely different at the time. Also, it's not as though Denver is hurting for a site for a 650' building. At this point, all our tallest proposals and projects have been on vacant downtown lots. Wait 20 years when there are fewer vacant lots, and then we can bulldoze a few of the Texas-doughnuts (*cough* CityHouse), and we can still have tall buildings in the CPV. Except now it's a vibrant neighborhood full of people and a higher level of real estate opportunity (at least partly thanks to the people living in the disposable buildings).

[Cirrus]

Originally Posted by mr1138

it's not as though Denver is hurting for a site for a 650' building.

Yeah but those other sites won't pay for putting Union Station's light rail and commuter rail platforms closer together, which the taller CPV option would have done. The lost opportunity here isn't the aesthetics of skyline-building. It's that Union Station functions less well because we prioritized short buildings over transit operations.

I will say that had the bottom fallen out and the taller buildings not been built, that would've been a disaster. So it's true that we got the lower-risk option, and maybe it was an OK bet to be conservative with. But it's definitely a lost opportunity for real, meaningful reasons.

[BG918]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

Yeah but those other sites won't pay for putting Union Station's light rail and commuter rail platforms closer together, which the taller CPV option would have done. The lost opportunity here isn't the aesthetics of skyline-building. It's that Union Station functions less well because we prioritized short buildings over transit operations.

I will say that had the bottom fallen out and the taller buildings not been built, that would've been a disaster. So it's true that we got the lower-risk option, and maybe it was an OK bet to be conservative with. But it's definitely a lost opportunity for real, meaningful reasons.

Yes and hopefully other cities that use Denver as a case study will not make the same mistakes.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by bunt_q

They make great smoothies. On every street corner in Southeast Asia.

Jack fruit or hookers? Because both make great
smoothies