DENVER | Main Development Thread #6

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by Scottk

Ehhh I don't know if it is as bad as you say.

You do have the cities tallest residential tower right across the street.

Plus tons of apartments coming online in Union Station and Lodo

I wholeheartedly agree. Office space at that site is fine and dandy with me. More office space means more jobs that didn't go to the burbs, and more demand for residential and more retail shoppers for downtown so any site means office is the likely "highest and best use."

I'd love to see 999 17th Street get built. Perhaps they're waiting to see if the state doesn't get something done about condo liability after the election. In any case there's still plenty of opportunity for more residential as DownhomeDenver eloquently stated. More residential "up the hill" would be just as sweet also.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by DenverInfill

There's this too: http://denverinfill.com/blog/2014/09/central-downtown-1401-lawrence-update-2.html

I was sitting on the news of the Oct. 1 groundbreaking for over a month.

The building there now was just a temporary sales office put there before the recession when the project was originally slated for condos. Its demolition won't take more than an afternoon.

(She's getting up there)

Hooray, Another Groundbreaking.


Compliments of pixable.com

[rds70]

Originally Posted by denconyny

So this is a GO for tomorrow? Will there be a separate announcement as to confirm this, or is this article all that's really needed?

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/blog/r...ice-tower-coming-to-downtown-denver.html

I'm assuming since the announcement of the groundbreaking and the time to break ground are so close together, along with an anchor tenant for the building, that this is REAL? I have to question, because after all this is Denver after all...... and there are a lot of cancelled projects........

At any rate......... good space for a new tower, I think that it has good height (although some 7 stories are dedicated parking) and since this site is mostly a surface parking lot anyways - another surface parking lot bites the dust..... I do believe though there is a single story building on about a third of the site will easily be removed since it's not historically designated or such?

So I'm going to be assuming that this groundbreaking will actually happen, so then all the best for all shareholders involved with this.

Here is an official announcement:

http://www.polsinelli.com/newsevents/press-release-new-denver-building

At a groundbreaking event today, developer First Gulf announced that national law firm Polsinelli has signed a 15-year lease as the anchor tenant in a new 22-story, 306,000-square-foot building at 1401 Lawrence in Denver. Polsinelli will initially occupy 86,664 square feet of office space on the top four floors of the building, with an option to lease two additional floors for a total of 130,000 square feet.

Located at the intersection of 14th Street and Lawrence Street, the Class AA office building will be situated between Denver’s central business district and the popular Larimer Square corridor. Construction will begin this month, with occupancy expected to start in early 2016.

[denconyny]

Originally Posted by rds70

Here is an official announcement:

http://www.polsinelli.com/newsevents/press-release-new-denver-building

Thank you for this.......

I have to say now that this is an official GO!

[rds70]

Originally Posted by taylor23

New Westin next to the Arapahoe Light Rail station announced.

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/corporate/about/investor/news.html

Seems I remember this being rumored for a while so nice to see its official. Now we have enough Westin’s and Aloft’s, do a W already..

[mr1138]

So it looks like they've value engineered most of the good urban design out of the east side of the Arapahoe Village Station TOD?

(image posted on your website about a year ago)


Or was it always going to have that enormous plaza (that nobody will ever use)? It looks like that's the parking garage on the left side of the image too. Are they no longer planning to add a strip of retail to the side of it as in the earlier site plan? And that loading dock and ridiculous landscape buffer on the north sidewalk of the hotel?? I suppose its appropriate for the tech center; I just wish these TOD developers would stick to their guns on good urban design a bit more when they are that close to a light rail station.

[bunt_q]

Let's be realistic, they are across I-25 from a light rail station, next to a giant parking garage, in the middle of an office park? Retail? Not a chance. Okay fine maybe you could support some apartments. But there is nothing urbam about this site no matter how it's designed. If you want transit ORIENTED development, you need to build transit that lends itself to TOD. And that's not what we have. This is perfectly appropriate for transit ADJACENT development.

[mr1138]

I suppose that's true if you only ever plan for what is there today, but planning for what could be there as part of a master plan is different. At least in theory, this location isn't always going to be strictly an "office park." The overall Village Center counting everything from the east side of the freeway across to Fiddlers Green is nearly the size of LoDo. If it is planned to a similar density, then someday it could absolutely support its own neighborhood retail.

I'm not saying they need to build that retail today, I agree they likely wouldn't find any tenants until the rest of the plan including the multi-family apartments are built out. But it looks like they're throwing the baby out with the bathwater with that ridiculous plaza, which will prevent the street realignment needed to make the original site plan work someday. As for the loading dock; eliminate the plaza, push the hotel a few yards to the east, and they would create room for an alley for loading dock and parking garage access, and perhaps another building site behind the hotel. It's as though they are wasting square feet of land simply because they can.

I know that you're convinced that these TOD's will never work, and you certainly have some valid points on that. But I'm curious why you say that this is "transit adjacent" and not "transit oriented." What exactly is the difference in your opinion? There is a perfectly good and well designed pedestrian bridge crossing the freeway in that location. The front door of the hotel will be aprox .1 mile from the light rail platforms. How is this solution any different from the Highland Bridge across I-25 and the amazing pedestrian access it has provided for Lower Highland?

Good design is good design no matter where it is located. To say that the 'burbs can't support good urbanism simply because of the location, is a bit the Chinese government saying that Chinese people can't handle democracy... in my opinion its just unexamined rhetoric aimed at maintaining the status-quo. Just look at the layout of European suburbs or what the DC area is doing with suburban TODs. There's no reason Denver suburbs can't begin to practice good land-use too, even if it takes a few decades to build the critical mass needed for neighborhood scale retail.

[TakeFive]

magazine.wcu.com

Story HERE.

[DenvertoLA]

Why no ground breaking photos? I have needs!

[DownhomeDenver]

Originally Posted by DenvertoLA

Why no ground breaking photos? I have needs!

I thought the same thing. Peeps are slacking.

[RyanD]

Sorry I've had a lot going on...

[DenverInfill]

FYI the sales center at 1401 Lawrence is gone.

[Denver]

New tower crane coming to denver!!! the base of the crane for the apts at 6th and speer we put in place sometime over the past couple of days. How do we still not have a rendering for this place yet????

[RyanD]

It's for-real-Ryan's-going-to-use-his-toy-for-a-real-purpose aerial day! I'm going to cover 1401 Lawrence, Triangle, and 1601 Wewatta!

[King DenCity]

Yes Ryan! Bring us some goodies!

[RyanD]

Well it was way too windy today. So no drone-ing unfortunately.

[cona]

a great photo retrospective at the Von Tornow Gallery - thought this crowd might be interested...



Denver Retrospective 1985-1995 - Photographs by Kim Allen

Opening Reception: Friday, Sept. 12, 5-9pm; Exhibiting September 9 –27, 2014

[seventwenty]

Originally Posted by cona

a great photo retrospective at the Von Tornow Gallery - thought this crowd might be interested...



Denver Retrospective 1985-1995 - Photographs by Kim Allen

Opening Reception: Friday, Sept. 12, 5-9pm; Exhibiting September 9 –27, 2014

Good thing Kim Allen's got a great website.

[EngiNerd]

This is why DTC is still the greatest threat to commercial development downtown....1.8 million sq. ft.! Though they say transit oriented, this is definitely just transit adjacent, there is zero orientation toward the transit.

Jones unveils biggest development in Centennial

Highlights:

Cable TV pioneer Glenn Jones unveils The Jones District in Centennial.
The 42-acre mixed-use development will have 1.8 million square feet.
Opus is the developer and Michael Barber is the architect.

....
When completed, it will have 11 buildings with a total of 1.866 million square feet of mixed-use “Class A” developments including offices, residences, ground floor retail and restaurants. It will include buildings as tall as 15 stories.
.....
Coakley said it could take 20 to 25 years to build out the development.

“As we break ground, we will be driven by a common vision to create a destination center – for businesses, residents and visitors alike,” Coakley said.
.....

http://insiderealestatenews.com/2014/10/...st-development-in-centennial/#more-33841