Two-tower condo complex rising at edge of downtown Denver

A two-tower project along Broadway that will add 461 condominium units to downtown Denver is now under construction.

Vancouver, Canada-based Amacon quietly broke ground last week on the project that up to this point has been known as Block 176, regional manager Mark Sheldon told BusinessDen.

The project will have an eight-story shared parking podium and two underground parking levels with 522 spaces total, and about 12,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. The ninth floor will feature an amenity deck as well as the start of the residential units, which will stretch upwards in two towers — one topping out at 38 stories, the other at 32.

It will be Denver’s second-largest condo building, trailing only the 42-story, 493-unit Spire building at 891 14th St. completed in late 2009.

Amacon purchased the 0.68-acre site along Broadway, Glenarm Place and 18th Street in March 2018 for $8.8 million. The bulk of the site was previously a parking lot, although there was also a single-story structure home to Shelby’s Bar and Grill. Shelby’s closed in June 2019 and the building was demolished.

Block 176, as the project has been known, is a reference to the legal description of the property. It’s the same for Block 162, a skyscraper completed last year on the other side of downtown. But Sheldon said Amacon plans to introduce a new name before the project is completed.

“Block 176 is a city designation,” he said. “It was easy as reference for everyone on the municipal side. Since we’ve gotten through that process, we look forward to moving into the next phase of the project branding.”

Both towers will be constructed simultaneously, Sheldon said. The company hopes to complete the project in the third quarter of 2024.

“As the year progresses, there will be more information on the sales process,” he said.

The project is slated to be 400 feet tall, which will rank it among the city’s tallest 20 buildings when completed. Amacon is serving as its own general contractor on the project. Davis Partnership Architects is the project architect.

All the other condo projects that Amacon has developed are in Canada, according to the firm’s website. But the company has purchased some existing buildings in the Denver area in recent years, including some industrial space in Golden and the Ghost building at 800 18th St. in downtown Denver.

Amacon’s project isn’t the only big thing getting underway downtown. Chicago-based Riverside Investment & Development will hold a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday afternoon for 1900 Lawrence, the 30-story office building slated to rise along 19th Street between Arapahoe and Lawrence streets. The firm is developing it with Convexity Properties and Canyon Real Estate.