Downtown living can be chic and the Residences at The Ritz-Carlton is proving that with 25 private units offering the luxe amenities and services of the premier hotel.

There's staying a night or two at the Ritz, but there also is living at the Ritz.

Denver joins that elite class with the expected January opening of the Residences at The Ritz-Carlton at 1881 Curtis St.

The downtown hotel, built on the former site of the Embassy Suites hotel in the two-tower Denver Place structure, will include 25 private residences on floors 15 to 19. The residences range in size from 1,143 square feet to 5,561 square feet for one of the two penthouse units. The other penthouse is 4,495 square feet, according to Alicia Waldheim, residential coordinator for the Denver project and ReMax Classic new homes sales residential coordinator.

The owner and developer of the project is CJS Denver Holdings, LLC, whose principals are Charlie Biederman, Steven A. Roitman and James T. Cobb Jr.

The Residences at the Ritz – construction began in June 2006 -- is the first of three planned projects to open in downtown Denver. A Four Seasons hotel at 14th Street between Arapahoe and Lawrence streets will house 102 private residences and the W hotel, with 56 residences planned, will be built on the Office Depot site on the 16th Street Mall. Both projects are expected to be completed in the next three years.

"In addition to the beauty of each home design, what makes the residences so unique are the amenities and services offered to our clients," says Lindsey Knoten, Director of The Residences. "The residences is the only full-time property in the city offering 24-hour Ritz-Carlton services and a dedicated residences staff to service every need. This is truly a home experience you won't find anywhere else in Denver."

The luxury amenities include 24-hour Ritz-Carlton hotel services (doorman, housekeeping, concierge, room service), access to the spa and the 52,000–square-feet Forza Fitness and Performance Club, an exclusive residents' lounge, boardroom and activity room, all on the 15th floor. Residents also will have a private lobby entrance and elevator, reserved underground parking and in-home dining privileges at Elway's Downtown. The second steak house built by the Pro Football Hall of Fame Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway and his partners is in the Ritz-Carlton hotel.

Among the design amenities of each residence: Sub-Zero refrigerator-freezer; Wolf gas range-oven; slab granite and marble countertops in kitchens and baths; ASKO dishwasher and washer-dryer and Berloni Italian custom cabinets.

Daniel Tseng, architect and design manager of Mandil, Inc. of Denver, headed the interior design of the two-bedroom model and later the residential lounge and "finishing to some degree the balance of the other units," he says.

"I think we are trying to bring some special qualities to each (residence) and trying to get different touches to each unit," Tseng adds. "Ritz-Carlton has a pretty strict standard with the look of their units and certain things are dictated to us. Where we can, we are trying to bring something unique and as urban a feel as we can."

After all, this is the Ritz, not a dilapidated warehouse converted into several lofts.

The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton is designed for "successful working couples (40 and older), empty nesters, retired CEOs, many from the suburbs tired of big house upkeep," Waldheim answers via e-mail. "Many are Ritz-Carlton Hotel loyalists; they will only stay at a Ritz and they want to live with these pleasures full time."

Priced from $843,000 to $4.5 million, these residences are sure to provide plenty of pleasure to their owners. Though he has not worked on Ritz-Carlton residential properties before, Tseng knew what to expect.

"We're trying to bring a certain level of sophistication. The buyer is not your average buyer, they're a sophisticated buyer," Tseng says. "We don't want to make them too trendy, but we were trying to achieve a sophisticated look. It's a matter of making them distinctive."

But Tseng notes there were challenges, especially working with the existing structure from the Embassy Suites hotel. "Retrofitting the rooms into an already existing structure was one of the main challenges," Tseng says.

"I would say aside from the additional bathrooms and the additional foyers the units are fairly consistent in the spaces. Most of the units have comparable kitchens and bathrooms. The challenge was to get them to feel a little different, but there's a common thread that makes them a Ritz-Carlton (product)."