210 St. Paul Development

Denver, Colorado

2010

 

The Cherry Creek neighborhood in Central Denver was a low scale retail/office district with surrounding residential neighborhoods. In the last several years the district has experienced explosive growth in both density and scale.

 

We were approached by a landowner with a 25,000sf parcel In the center of the district with a brief to develop a project that would successfully use the site for a mixed use housing/retail project.

 

The existing building was typical of the district. Built in the 1970’s, the building has 18,000sf of space on two levels. The existing slab on grade/steel frame structure also had an adjacent parking deck that accommodated 70 automobiles.

 

There were specific requirements to be met. The project was to be phased retaining the existing building (and retail tenant) in place. The zoning allowed for a 60 foot height envelope with setbacks on the upper levels of the 2 street elevations. The structure had to remain within the envelope.

 

To be successful the project had to be constructed to create minimal disruption for the first level tenant. To achieve that requirement all construction access was extremely limited to points as far away as possible from the tenant.

 

A scheme was developed that has the bulk of the overbuild resting on structure outside of the existing building footprint. This could be accomplished  in a 20 foot zone along the back of the building along with a much larger platform constructed over a new parking structure at one side. The entire project was rationalized as a series of components and systems.

 

The 19 residential units would be built using modular systems (wall/ceiling/floor panels) and component assemblies (kitchens, bathrooms) to minimize disruption. To complete the podium new green roof would be constructed as a unitized element that over spans the building with structure placed exterior to the existing building and clad with a privacy screen element.

 

The residential units are then broken into 3 separate blocks with privacy, daylight, ventilation and views being the formal determinant. Access is by walkways and bridges between these blocks passing through a narrow landscaped  light and ventilation court covered by an energy gathering roof.