A weak housing market pushed the Lower Downtown Design Review Board to defer development of residences on a site that kidney-dialysis giant DaVita is interested in for its corporate headquarters.
The board approved a conceptual plan, allowing California-based Grand American Inc. to build an office building at 19th and Wazee streets now and residences in a later phase. It’s a switch from LoDo’s design guidelines, which require residential development in conjunction with commercial projects.
Just one of the board’s seven members voted against the concept.
“It’s important we not be seduced by the prospect, which as far as I know is no more than that,” Tee Cowperthwaite said. “We can’t think of this as an economic-development plan for LoDo.”
The development team for the property along Wazee Street between 18th and 19th streets asked the board to allow the project to be built in phases, with residential likely to be the final component to be constructed.
“We can’t just build an empty residential building for the sake of satisfying the requirement of another building,” said Bruce Phillips, president of Grand American. “If we could, we’d just do residential right now.”
Though the development team and board members referred to the prospective tenant as “Company X,” the team’s submittal referred to a Fortune 500 company. DaVita, which is relocating from California to metro Denver, ranks No. 433 on the Fortune list.
DaVita’s initial requirement was for 150,000 square feet of office space. However, it’s likely that the company’s requirement will increase, Chris Shears of ShearsAdkins Architects said.
Other conditions set for the approval of the developer’s concept include eliminating surface parking along Wazee with the exception of spaces that can be accessed by the alley; and eliminating a proposed public plaza and minimizing office space at street level in favor of improving the pedestrian experience.
Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com
