Constructed in 1892 as the most modern office building west of the Mississippi, downtown Denver’s Equitable office building, located at 730 17th Street, is once again providing the framework for office buildings to modernize via engineering ingenuity and lower operating costs. Like many other downtown office buildings, the Equitable—which is owned by individual office users and managed by Elevate Real Estate Services, Inc.—was confronted with escalating energy costs, along with city pressure to convert to electricity as an energy source, and needed to make a change.
For the past 133 years, the building has been using steam heating, with rates that have become more than 50 percent of the building’s annual utility cost, something that is unsustainable. The Equitable needed to find a way to convert off the city steam loop. Elevate began to look for modern options that would meet building code requirements, lower operating costs and maintain the historic elegance and significance of The Equitable.
Working with Braconier, a Colorado-based design-build mechanical engineering firm founded in 1906, the team turned its attention to natural gas as the solution. Not only will it reduce energy costs by 40 percent, but it was also found to provide more favorable economics with the lowest cost of installation and lowest operating cost.
The historic landmark status of The Equitable demanded that the team find an innovative solution for placing the 22,000-pound boiler plant. They knew there wouldn’t be enough space inside the building for a boiler plant to meet modern code compliance. Braconier came up with an innovative solution to prefab the boiler plant and crane it onto the building’s roof. The plan was ultimately approved by Historic Denver to ensure the historic facade easement they hold isn’t impacted.
“The Equitable building has a long history of ingenuity and looking towards the future, ever since it introduced the first-ever elevators in an office building anywhere west of the Mississippi,” said Dan Meitus, president and CEO of Elevate. “The team navigated the external pressures to electrify and the internal complications of working on a historic landmark, and ended up with a totally one-of-a-kind engineered solution that meets all the requirements. We’ll be more energy efficient while keeping the historical facade and maintaining the registered historic landmark status of the building. The Equitable is once again at the forefront of positive change and helping to revitalize the downtown office market.”
Elevate is managing this important conversion along with additional capital projects at The Equitable. The improvements include elevator modernization, facade restoration and fire alarm system replacement, a total of $5.5 million in infrastructure renovations. The Tiffany Glass, installed in 1896, and the grandeur of the Italian marble and French Onyx-laden lobby interior will also be maintained and as beautiful as ever. All the work falls in line with the city’s push to renovate and re-energize downtown.
More information about the Equitable Building and its rich downtown Denver history is available at www.equitabledenver.com.
