denver skyscraper will be record-breaker

Preliminary plans have been submitted for what could turn out to be not only the tallest building in Denver, but also in most of the West.

The real estate development and investment firm Greenwich Realty Capital has proposed the construction of an 81-story skyscraper that would go up in downtown Denver on the .72-acre site of what is now a parking lot.

A concept for the project that has already been sent to the City of Denver’s Community Planning and Development department describes it as a “mixed-use development including retail, hotel, and residential.”

Expected to cost $371 million to build, the 1,000 foot-tall structure would also include a restaurant and bar, and a garage with parking space for 778 vehicles.

In total, the building will measure 1.1 million square feet.

Officially called 650 17th Street, the skyscraper upon completion would be significantly taller than the last two Denver record-breakers: the Republic Plaza, with 56 floors, built in 1984; and 1801 California, with 53 floors, which went up in 1983.
Its only skyscraper competition in surrounding states would be the Stratosphere Tower of Las Vegas, which was built two decades ago and has 112 floors.

Although the project still needs to go through several layers of city approval before it can be built, the New York-based Greenwich Realty Capital is targeting June 2019 as the month it would like to begin construction on the skyscraper, with a mid-2020 completion date.

Even though everything about the project is big, it is still somewhat scaled down from Greenwich Realty Capital’s original plans announced last fall, which called for a 90-story structure with a $400 million price tag.

By Garry Boulard

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