Denver Magazine / Denver Magazine October 2008 / Raising the Roof

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Raising the Roof

Denver's biggest building boom in two decades is changing the city's profile in more ways than one.

When the cranes currently arching over the city like scattered scaffolding are removed, Denver will be elevated not only in terms of altitude, but also in its status as a city. In addition to adding gleaming new landmarks to the Mile High profile, the current construction boom will net the widest array of residences in the city's history and office space to meet single-digit vacancy rates.

It's been more than two decades since the flurry of construction that resulted in 21 of the city's 27 tallest buildings, including Republic Plaza at 370 17th Street and the Wells Fargo Center (sometimes known as the cash register building because of its stand-out sillouette). "There's a lot of construction right now, but it's controlled and diversified," says Brian Phetteplace, manager of residential and retail development for the Downtown Denver Partnership. "We've been planning and waiting for the right time, and now our time has arrived."

Following the mid-"˜70s to mid-"˜80s boom, there were no new skyscrapers built until the 38-floor, 489-foot sliver of the Hyatt Regency Denver at the Colorado Convention Center cut through the city's skyline in 2005. "We're happy with the construction, both big and small projects, filling the holes in the grid, completing the fabric of downtown and making Denver feel more and more like a city," Phetteplace says. "Of course, it's the tall buildings that will really define the city because they're what people notice first."

Living at a Mile High Plus

The first new building likely to be noticed is the 45-story Four Seasons Hotel and Tower. When it is completed in 2010, the 626-foot building at 14th and Arapahoe will be the fourth-tallest building in Denver and the tallest residential tower. Inspired by neoclassical skyscrapers, the building will be topped by a sky-scratching needle.

Construction hadn't even begun when the project's two penthouse suites sold, the first for the highest amount ever recorded for a condo in the Denver metro area: $10 million for 6,100 square feet. In all, there will be 102 private residences on the upper floors, ranging from 965 to 6,100 square feet. Would-be residents can check out the view from their balcony-to-be at the sales center thanks to a helicopter that recorded the scene from the elevation of each future floor. The bottom 16 floors will house 240 guest rooms and the amenities of the Four Seasons Hotel. At the end of July, construction had reached the seventh floor, and the project's general contractor, Swinerton, was starting a floor-a-week pace. "Now that the floors are repetitive, the players can get into a rhythm," says Jared Peterson, Swinerton's project manager at the job site. "There are so many [subcontractors] that we have to schedule things to the minute. It's really a dance."

At the peak of construction, when they are building the top floors and finishing the bottom ones, there could be as many as 400 construction workers on the site at a time, many of whom came to the Four Seasons from the builder's 32-story, $140-million One Lincoln Park at East 20th Avenue and Lincoln. Residents moving into these 186 condos this fall will find their view framed by floor-to-ceiling, curved-glass walls. Across from the 20th Street light-rail station, It's one of the city's largest transit-oriented developments.

However, it's not the luxury projects Phetteplace is most excited about. "We're really looking forward to the opening of the Spire," he says, "because it will offer the most moderately priced residences in the history of downtown." This 41-story building at Champa and 14th will feature homes from the $270,000s to the low $300,000s. "Offering a price point that's accessible will make this a vibrant city 24/7," Phetteplace says.

"The building has all the amenities people expect when they move into downtown living," says Tania Salgado, a design principal with

RNL, the architect on the project. "The key to keeping it affordable is to make the living spaces smaller."

New Office Space "” Finally

The current construction boom marks the first addition of major high-rise office space to Denver's central business district in two decades. "When I came [to Denver] in the early "˜80s, there were a dozen cranes over town," says Brit Probst, a principal at Davis Partnership. "I had no idea a wave like that would hit and then completely stop for basically 25 years."

The reality is it's taken the market those 20 years to recover from the surplus of office space. "In the late "˜70s, we overbuilt and ended up with a lot of buildings you could see through because they didn't have any occupants," says Phetteplace. "Twenty years later, we're getting down to 10 to 12 percent vacancy rates. These projects will come on line right when we drop into the single digit vacancy rates "” a perfect time."

Taking the largest chunk out of that rate, which is as low as three percent for Class AA "” most modern, best equipped, most desirable location "” office space, will be the 22-story building at 1800 Larimer. The future home of Xcel Energy (which has agreed to lease nearly 70 percent of the 500,000-square-foot development) will be one of America's first platinum LEED-CS (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Core and Shell development) high-rise office buildings, the highest available rating for energy efficiency and sustainability.

"LEED certification has become standard in the industry," says Salgado, who worked on the building. "Silver is standard, most are starting to strive for gold and a few are reaching for this highest level [platinum], which shows the developer's commitment to sustainability." The building expects to achieve a 21 percent cost savings and will feature a green roof, a 17,000-square-foot landscaped roof terrace that will reduce the heat island effect, which occurs when urban areas contain an abundance of dark surfaces, such as asphalt, that absorb sunlight and elevate the ambient temperature by about six to eight degrees.

Building a Landmark

Keat Tan, the Klipp principal who was the lead project designer for the Hyatt at the convention center and is now lead project designer for the courthouse at the Justice Center complex, isn't daunted by the task of designing a landmark. "We don't just reinterpret what a landmark building used to look like," says Tan, who serves as Klipp's director of design. "Each project is a work of intentional design "” design with meaning and function. Each building has to have its own big idea."

Tan's big idea for the courthouse, which is under construction, along with a detention center and post office, between West Colfax and West 14th avenues, is the "stratification of justice." The first layer, which serves the public, includes the halls behind a 92-foot-tall folding wall of glass known as the Lantern of Justice.

Each new day will bring the sun rising on this wall, flooding it with light as prospective jurors assemble in the morning. The light will filter through the glass curtain, lighting the five levels that house the 35 courtrooms. At noon, when activity on the public side of the building quiets, the sun will pass to the offices to the west and finally to the judges' chambers.

In the evening, the lantern will glow across the plaza connecting the courthouse with the detention facility. Visible at the end of the Tremont Street axis, the lantern's light will connect the building to the city. "The building is very transparent, which is what justice should be," Tan says. "When you're building a public space like this, it needs to serve the public, not only in terms of function but also in the visual element it adds to the community."

An End in Sight?

All the activity on the skyline doesn't mean the city has been completely insulated from the current economic downturn. Last summer, WPM Construction, developers of the Embassy Suites at 14th and Stout, tore down a parking structure but were unable to proceed because of what WPM vice president Richard Parks called a "sharp rise in construction costs."

"The costs are escalating due to the global demand for commodities," Probst says. "That really reduces the margin for commercial construction and makes it more difficult to have a profitable result."

This summer, prices, although still elevated, are at a level that has allowed WPM to proceed with completion of the 20-story hotel, set for 2010. In addition to 250 rooms, the project will feature underground parking and retail and restaurant space at the ground level.

Other projects in the planning stages might not be so fortunate. "I think we've yet to see the full impact of the current financial crises," says Probst. "It's going to take some period of time until investors are back on their feet. I think we'll fill the buildings currently under construction, but if every project that is in planning were to be built, I think we'd see another surplus of office space. Some of my own projects are caught in this market."

In April, Shea Properties revealed plans for a major office building and named Davis as the architect. The project, 999 17th Street, would include two 350,000-square-foot towers, according to plans presented at the DDP's Annual Development Forum. While the tower at 17th and Curtis would comprise office space, the sister tower at 18th and Curtis would possibly be used for residential or hotel purposes, according to Denverinfill.com.

Another major office project, Two Tabor, is planned for 17th and Larimer. The site got caught in the end of Denver's last office-building boom. The foundation was started in 1984 and halted when the market bottomed out. Callahan Capital Partners purchased the site last year and have planned a 43-story building with 830,000 square feet of Class AA office space to be completed in 2010.

While developers of these two major office projects are keeping their plans quiet, one proposed residential project is commanding center stage. Curt Fentress, the architect behind DIA and the Colorado Convention Center, was aiming to make an impact when he designed the Bell Tower, and by all measures, he succeeded. "The client came to us asking for a dramatic icon that redefines urban living," Fentress says. The 33-story tower, planned for the triangle of land between Larimer, Speer and Cherry Creek, is still in planning. To be built of green and white glass, the $300-million building will "glisten and sparkle as the sun moves around it," Fentress says. The slender building will feature angular shards at every level, "sky terraces" for the 33 luxury homes. Priced from $1,000 to $2,000 per square foot, they will average 7,500 square feet.

"This is the chance to live in an icon," Fentress says. "It will put downtown among some of the neighborhoods of the country's great cities. Denver is ready for a project like this."