On June 24, The Nichols Partnership, a Denver-based real estate development company, and architecture firm Shears Adkins Rockmore filed concept plans for a newly constructed 8-story hotel at 1709 Blake St. in LoDo, as well as the re-use of the adjacent office building at 1725 Blake and single-family residence at 1702 Wazee.
The 166,878-square-foot hotel will include 127 rooms and two below-ground parking levels with 88 parking spaces. Concept plans detail retail along 17th Street, with the hotel’s lobby and main entrance located along Blake Street.
The design aims to infill and activate one of the most prominent empty remaining lots in Lower Downtown, further improving the streetscape, and pedestrian experience, while simultaneously reinvigorating and linking existing buildings for new public use to create a one-of-a-kind hospitality experience that is designed to seamlessly fit within the urban context of LoDo.
According to concept plans, the existing properties will be linked to the new building and serve as amenities to the hotel. Plans propose renovating the adjacent office building by keeping both the front and rear facades of the building but getting rid of the interior mezzanine. The office building would become an event space on the main floor, with a fitness center and spa on the upper levels. This newly renovated building would have access to the hotel through the ground level as well as through the hotel’s fourth level.
Plans also call for converting the single-family residence at 1702 Wazee St. into a restaurant and “flexible hotel amenities.” A glass bridge would connect the hotel to this building on the second level across the alley, leaving a 15-foot vehicle clearance below.
Together, the culmination of the new and existing structures is envisioned to transform the corner by physically linking all three buildings and providing an improved urban streetscape at the corner of 17th and Blake. It will also re-activate existing street frontages and reflect both the industrial and modern history of Lower Downtown, and add to its urban fabric for future use and experience.
