DENVER | Main Development Thread #6

[enjo13]

A "pocket park" style plaza wouldn't have really been worth it, in my opinion. Denver needs something more like Union Square in SF, and we weren't ever realistically going to get that here.

Union Station seems to be serving that purpose (although I hope to see some improvements in terms of seating/shade soon) and it's only two blocks away.

Also on that note: MAJOR props to writer square for undoing the modern, weird, remodel fiasco thing of a few years ago. The new update has taken it back to a much more charming area and it's just teeming with people today. Also sushi burrito's are delicious.

That is all.

[RyanD]

Originally Posted by enjo13

Also sushi burrito's are delicious.

That is all.

Yes they are! I went there on Sunday! Worth the... drive?

[TakeFive]

Off topic - Here I thought that only Phoenix had nut cases like this. Yikes, they're everywhere.

[bunt_q]

Originally Posted by PLANSIT

That is a ****load of retail. [/IMG]

Seriously, wow. Would be phenomenal if that sticks.

I'm with Mr. 1138 on this one - cautiously optimistic that it could be very cool. I think shallow plazas are generally a disaster, and I do not think we have enough corner/street-facing space to work with to accommodate the retail we need. So a tiny alley is a neat solution... if it's executed well.

[DenverPoke]

Originally Posted by mojiferous

The southwest corner of Welton and Park Ave. is fenced off, so it looks like another chunk of the sea of parking lots is disappearing. That was the site of a 12-story apartment, right?

Also, there is construction fencing up around two spots on 10th and Acoma. Urban Roots and the abandoned house on the northeast corner and the daycare on the southeast corner. Anyone know what is going on there?

The SW side of Welton/Park wasn't fenced off when I drove by today. The SE side is fenced off for use as parking/construction equipment for the project going on across Park. Is that what you were referring to?

I thought the Alexan project was going on the SE side but I'm not positive.

Also, soil samples were being taken a few weeks ago on the parking lot on the SE corner of 22nd and Welton. I haven't heard of anything proposed there so who knows.

[Matt]

The apartment tower for 999 17th Street is HIDEOUS! It's "COLOTECHTURE" on steroids. Why did they change its design from the sleek glass as per the original proposal? An important point, considering it is adjacent to the modern Denver Place, aka "Starfleet Academy".

I give it 20 years before the apartment tower falls into the same disgrace as the old Executive Tower. Denver just CANNOT get its head out of the reds, browns, and beige color pallet. I guess the same architect that designed every LoDo/CPV building in the last 20 years finally tried his hand at a skyscraper. Time to retire, old man. The artists who make the ceramic Christmas Dickens Village collection need you back.

[bunt_q]

I like the colors. Colotecture is, incidentally, the color of Colorado. Not every modern city on the planet needs to look identical.

Also, a little disrepair isn't bad. If things stay nice and fancy forever, we would never be able to redevelop a skyscraper into student housing.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by bunt_q

I like the colors. Colotecture is, incidentally, the color of Colorado. Not every modern city on the planet needs to look identical.

Also, a little disrepair isn't bad. If things stay nice and fancy forever, we would never be able to redevelop a skyscraper into student housing.

Calgary shares the same natural color palette of Denver, yet they've managed to stay away from relying on earth tones to carry their skyline.

The argument that "This is Colorado, henceforth we shall drown ourselves in earth tones" is so provincial and short-sighted it doesn't deserve acknowledgement. Denver doesn't own the earth tone pallet, nor should we let it completely define us and limit architectural diversity.

[Scottk]

Originally Posted by Matt

The apartment tower for 999 17th Street is HIDEOUS! It's "COLOTECHTURE" on steroids. Why did they change its design from the sleek glass as per the original proposal? An important point, considering it is adjacent to the modern Denver Place, aka "Starfleet Academy".

I give it 20 years before the apartment tower falls into the same disgrace as the old Executive Tower. Denver just CANNOT get its head out of the reds, browns, and beige color pallet. I guess the same architect that designed every LoDo/CPV building in the last 20 years finally tried his hand at a skyscraper. Time to retire, old man. The artists who make the ceramic Christmas Dickens Village collection need you back.

If you look at all the big towers currently under construction in Denver (1114, 1401, skyhouse, the confluence) they are all mostly glass towers, and none really scream colotecture. I don't think 999 17th looks bad at all, even if it is colotecture. 1 out of 5 isn't so bad

[bunt_q]

Are you sure that's Calgary? It looks just like Vancouver. Or any of 30 mid-sized Asian cities. Or frankly, Houston or Atlanta, who also have Skyhouses that look just like Glasshouses. I don't think earthtones make Denver provincial any more than a city not surrounding itself with Levittowns 70 years ago would've been backwards and old fashioned. Just because you like every architectural fad of the day doesn't mean riding that bandwagon is the only road to greatness. Sooner or later all glass starts to look the same too.

Also, point out how many of those glassy buildings you love are residential and rental. That's something to consider too. We don't do a lot of office buildings - we have glorious architectural diversity in the tech center - and the office towers we are doing are nearly all glassy. Who does that in rentals, though, really?

[Matt]

Originally Posted by bunt_q

Are you sure that's Calgary? It looks just like Vancouver. Or any of 30 mid-sized Asian cities. Or frankly, Houston or Atlanta, who also have Skyhouses that look just like Glasshouses. I don't think earthtones make Denver provincial any more than a city not surrounding itself with Levittowns 70 years ago would've been backwards and old fashioned. Just because you like every architectural fad of the day doesn't mean riding that bandwagon is the only road to greatness. Sooner or later all glass starts to look the same too.

It's not so much a fad, and for as long as I've been following, Denver has never been widely celebrated for its architecture. Most will acknowledge - even Jennifer Moulton when I met her in person - that Denver's skyline blows chunks and is pretty dismal and depressing. A great city otherwise, but the skyline does not reflect the vibrance of our downtown or the passion of the people who live here.

Pose the question on this forum to people living in Calgary, Toronto, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Seattle - all cities with great skylines. Tell them that their skylines "look just like the others". I'd really love to see the feedback you receive. Nothing wrong with architectural diversity, and Denver is missing out on so many new and emerging schools of high-rise design. Denver doesn't deserve anything less than an amazing skyline. We've come this far from being that settlement on the Platte. It's time to look the part.

Also, what when - if "Colotechture" (which is the fad you're really referring to) becomes dated and goes out of style, relegated to the architectural garbage heap by successive generations? Imagine a downtown full of "Brady Bunch" houses. We'd be the laughing stock of the world.

[TakeFive]

A toast to the Denver voters and to the voters of Adams and Denver counties.

Aerotropolis here we come.

[Scottk]

Originally Posted by Matt

Pose the question on this forum to people living in Calgary, Toronto, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Seattle - all cities with great skylines.

Meh.

I suppose Denver's skyline is not as beautiful as the cities you list.


But, I am more concerned about what is happening at the ground level. The overall urban feel of a city.

And in that regard Denver is almost certainly better than several of the cities on that list.

Originally Posted by Matt

A great city otherwise, but the skyline does not reflect the vibrance of our downtown or the passion of the people who live here.

1114 15th street will change things.

[Denver Dweller]

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2...BElKTwGoSbqOBYu5F%2FO7W7Amf&t=1446615042

[comoneymaker]

But for some reason vote yes on 1A proving voters completely incompetent.

[mishko27]

Originally Posted by PLANSIT

That is a ****load of retail.

The retail spaces are tiny - there are few anchor store that are missing from downtown that need rather big spaces and it would be great, if they got them here (obviously, they could combine the spaces). We need Inditex to enter our market and while Pull&Bear could fit into one of those spaces, I think they'd enter with Zara. Same with TopShop / TopMan, they need a larger space and considering that Uniqlo is about gobble up what large space is left at Pavillions, it'd be cool if this project could have an anchor.

[mhays]

I tried to look up election stuff at the Denver Post. Gotta say (after past attempts as well) that the Denver Post is the most painful-to-use website on the face of the earth. Regardless of browser. It jams constantly. Ads pop up again and again. A god damn commercial started playing and couldn't be turned off because it jammed.

The Seattle Times sucks too. And the PSBJ/DBJ collection goes out of its way to find new ways to suck. But the DP is the worst because in addition to the barrage of ads, it also doesn't function.

Hopefully there are usable news sources in Denver. An informed, participating populace is important, and the Denver Post is probably damaging the city.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by mhays

I tried to look up election stuff at the Denver Post. Gotta say (after past attempts as well) that the Denver Post is the most painful-to-use website on the face of the earth. Regardless of browser. It jams constantly. Ads pop up again and again. A god damn commercial started playing and couldn't be turned off because it jammed.

The Seattle Times sucks too. And the PSBJ/DBJ collection goes out of its way to find new ways to suck. But the DP is the worst because in addition to the barrage of ads, it also doesn't function.

Hopefully there are usable news sources in Denver. An informed, participating populace is important, and the Denver Post is probably damaging the city.

Why don't you use Adblock or Adblock Plus. I just use Adblock for Chrome and had it when I used Mozilla Firefox. For Chrome, it's listed as an extension under tools. Only site it won't work on for me is MarketWatch which blocks other functions if used so I disabled it for that site.

the other thing I do when I want local news is to use the tee vee sites by searching "Denver News" for example.

[bunt_q]

Denver post app works fine.

Good election night. Always enjoy being reminded that we do have a savvy, discerning electorate here.

And by the way, Colorado Springs overwhelmingly approved a tax hike for road repairs. Who'd'a'thunk it possible.

[bunt_q]

Originally Posted by Scottk

Meh.

I suppose Denver's skyline is not as beautiful as the cities you list


1114 15th street will change things.

Translation - Matt likes commercial office towers built in the last 20 years. We don't really have any of those. But this isn't new, Matt has been on here saying he wanted new, better commercial office towers in Denver for at least 15 years. Matt's been decrying Denver's skyscraper architecture for as long as I've been riding a bicycle.