One Lincoln Park

Uptown neighborhood graced by its first major transit-oriented development project

The $100-million, 32-story One Lincoln Park residential development in downtown Denver features 186 luxury residential units and a unique design that has changed the skyline at the eastern edge of Denver’s central business district.

A fresh new addition to Denver’s skyline also brings with it an air of sophisticated Chicago architecture that dresses up an otherwise mundane neighborhood.

(Photo by Jackie Shumaker)

One Lincoln Park opened this spring as one of downtown Denver’s largest transit-oriented developments. It offers approximately 321,000 gross sq ft of mixed-use residential space located directly across the street from the Regional Transportation District’s 20th Street light rail station.

The 32-story tower on the east side of Denver’s central business district features 177 for-sale luxury residential units, including 38 customizable penthouses. The residences rise above street-level retail and six levels of enclosed parking on a triangular site bounded by 20th, Welton and Lincoln streets.

“The unusual shape of this property required a completely unique architectural design,” says Brad Buchanan, principal at Denver’s Buchanan Yonushewski Group, the design-builder and architect of the project. The five-sided building was designed to step back as it goes up to reduce the scale and allow residents more access to outdoor spaces.

“Most urban sites are predictable in that they are rectilinear with service alleys and a one-way street at the front door,” says BYG principal John Yonushewski. “The triangular site with four intersecting streets demanded a creative response to the building’s form, which translated into diverse unit types, great unobstructed views, generous outdoor spaces and unique opportunities for buyers to customize their homes.”

advertisement

BYG also designed the condominiums, which range from 800 sq ft to full-floor, 7,500-sq-ft units, with prices from the low $300,000s to $3 million. Each unit has its own private terrace, ranging in size from 100 to 2,500 sq ft.

All of the kitchens have slab stone countertops, hardwood floors, 10-ft ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows. The building’s amenities include valet services, a guest suite and the Owner’s Club, which includes a gourmet kitchen, boardroom, terrace, infinity pool, fitness center and Pilates studio on the seventh floor.

(Photo by Jackie Shumaker)

The first temporary certificate of occupancy was approved on Sept. 30, 2008, for residential units on floors seven through 12, followed soon after by floors 15 through 17. “Juggling joint occupancy with a still-aggressive construction schedule was challenging but critical to manage in order to meet the demanding schedule on the building,” says project engineer John Witt of Swinerton Inc. of Arvada, the contractor for the building’s core and shell.

The building is comprised of post-tensioned concrete, with a stone-and-masonry exterior on the lower seven levels and patented window and metal panel system for the upper levels developed by Denver’s A1 Glass Inc, says Kevin Ott, vice president and division manager for Swinerton.

“The very complex and unique design of the building was not without its challenges,” says Ott, referring to the minimal sidewalk space on all sides of the property, the awkwardly shaped site surrounded by Broadway and Lincoln streets and the light rail track running almost through it, which made materials storage difficult during construction.

But the site is also one of the reasons One Lincoln Park is so important for the development of Denver’s Uptown neighborhood.

(Photo by Jackie Shumaker)

“This part of the city has always been seen as a void of surface-parking areas that create a disconnect from the core of downtown to Denver’s Uptown neighborhood,” Yonushewski says. “We hope this is the first of many TOD-residential projects to activate this area, redefining a new urban edge that provides future opportunities for sustainable, mixed-use, urban housing.”

Buchanan adds: “One Lincoln Park dramatically changes Denver’s skyline and sets the standard for future high-rise residential development.”

One Lincoln Park
$100 million
Owner Wells Partnership
Contractor Swinerton Builders
Design-Builder/Architect/Tenant Finish Buchanan Yonushewski Group
Engineers KRFF, Olsson Associates,  r2h Engineers, AE Associates
Start May 2006
Completion March 2009