Back in January we took a look at the Denver City Center project located between 17th & 18th and California & Stout Streets. The two buildings on the property, John’s Manville Plaza and 707 17th Street, have a shared plaza which is undergoing a serious renovation.

First up let’s take a look at 707 17th Street. This is a dual use hotel / office building. On the 18th Street side of the building, renovations are continuing for the office entrance; the hotel entrance is around the corner down California Street. At street level, 707 17th Street has a very modern look and feel with the opaque glass awnings along with the stainless steel arched entryways.

Heading around the corner you can clearly see huge improvements have been made on the plaza. New pavers have been installed along with modern lamps.

The canopies for the fire escapes have been completely redone with the same opaque glass we saw on 707 17th Street. They have also been scaled down from the original which used to have large black arches with glass in-between the supports.

Next we are going to swing around to the other side of the John’s Manville Plaza building and take a look at the improvements along Stout Street. Because of a nicely placed parking garage, I was able to stitch together a high-resolution picture highlighting all the improvements, which we will also look at up close. Make sure you click to embiggen!

The retail space has been opened up along the building with new signs above each pad. There used be large bars in front of the retail store windows which have also been taken out making it a more seamless building to street transition.

             

Along Stout Street, new benches have been installed along with the same type of glass bordering the ramp to the underground parking. The new pavers are almost all installed with just little bit left to go.

Here is what the new signage looks like with the ‘Denver City Center’ branding at the top. The theme is very consistent all around the plaza with the opaque glass and beige granite.

Last but not least, the structures for the bus shelters have started to go up. They are unlike anything else in the city so it will be interesting to see how these turn out!

This is a huge reinvestment project giving an old retro plaza and building complex a new life. We are seeing a lot of these outdated buildings and plazas get converted to support our present-day pedestrian needs which includes opening up the street level for retail along with giving the buildings a more inviting feel when passing by. Projects like this give our downtown a more vibrant feel and greatly enhance the pedestrian experience.