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03 16 TAVERN UPTOWN BUILDING MAY BE SAVED, DEVELOPER SIGNED PRESERVATION AGREEMENT
Historic Denver created a petition asking for the Tavern Uptown building to be saved, collecting 1,700 signatures. PHOTO BY JEFF HERSCH
By Rory Seeber Last year the Southern Land Company purchased the 1.5-acre site on the west of Pearl St. at 17th Ave., current site of the Tavern Uptown, from the Tavern Hospitality Group. Southern planned to demolish all of the buildings on the 500 block of E. 17th Ave. at Pearl and construct a multi-family housing project. Southern had already secured permission to raze the Tavern structure, built as a grocery store at the turn of the last century, after the city deemed it non-historic.
REDEVELOPMENT IN WORKS AT 20TH & EMERSON
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Historic Denver has a signed preservation agreement with Southern. While not the developer, as part of the agreement Tavern Uptown would get a space in the new complex to expand, complete with a rooftop deck to replace the popular patio. According to the original schedule, Tavern Uptown would have closed last month while construction got under way. However, when neighbors complained about plans for the new development, Historic Denver created a petition
By J. Patrick O’Leary GHC Housing Partners is gearing up to renovate its existing affordable housing properties at 20th & Emerson, according to its Vice President, R.J. Miller. “We hope to build 60 units or so, depending on zoning” and other factors, he said but cautioned the process was in the early stages and “we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.” “We’re proposing a project and seeking competitive funding,” he continued. “But until we win those funds, I can’t get into detail as to what it’s going to look like.” GHC is an affordable housing developer and acquirer, owning and operating affordable housing across the country. “In the last few years, we’ve acquired a lot of existing affordable housing in the Front Range,” said Miller. “Our game plan is to renovate and preserve the housing stock we own.” The site is part of a larger portfolio containing other land and uses, he explained, and is “underutilized”. Not only are the housing stock old and limiting, with no modern amenities,
@DenverLifeNews facebook.com/ asking for#NeighborhoodLens the corner building to beneighborhoodlife saved, collecting 1,700 signatures. Historic Denver also contacted the Southern Land Company (SLC) and they were amenable to potentially saving the Tavern building. Historic Denver proposed a solution, which SLC is considering: pulling the new structure back from 17th, retaining the Tavern building and the most significant aspects of the adjacent one-story building to its west, as well as the traditional scale of 17th. The Tavern building and the one-story building are part of a series of streetcar commercial buildings that line this section of 17th. To preserve the exterior of the buildings and honor the existing street pattern and pedestrian experience, SLC has agreed to explore in good faith a site plan that would shift some of the planned units that would have been built along 17th by adjusting the zoning to allow for two more floor plates. Even with the additional floor plates the project will not exceed the current height limit set by the existing zoning, which is 110' (approximately ten floors) at the northern portion of the site and 70' (five floors) at the southern, 16th Ave. edge. Southern has applied for PUD (Planned Unit Development) zoning. A zoning change is only required to allow for the additional floor-plates, and would not result in additional maximum height. According to Historic Denver, this means that what could have been an eight-story, 110' building at 17th will now likely be a ten-story, 110' building pulled back from 17th, stepping down to a six-story, 70' building at 16th. The appearance of the Tavern building will be unchanged. SLC and Historic Denver have also agreed to execute a second, even more detailed Preservation Agreement that will protect the Tavern building in the future. The Prescontinued on page 2
the existing two-story building and mix of single-family and attached homes and offices are in an area zoned for mixed use, up to five stories. Surrounding properties include four- and five-story apartment buildings, as well as parking lots and green space. He said GHC plans to add office amenities and community space that currently doesn’t exist for residents. Representatives of GHC and Davis Partnership Architects presented the proposal to Capitol Hill United Neighborhood’s Zoning, Transportation, Land Use & License Committee on Feb. 3. Miller said the meeting was part of required community outreach for the funding, and included “conceptuals of what could be there but nothing remotely close” to a presentable design. Miller revealed it would be early April before GHC has a better idea of funding available, and June before they know it’s a “real project.”
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