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/ BUILDING DIALOGUE / SEPTEMBER 2015
Kovach. “They’ve been very good coming up with solutions.
They brought these smaller units to life. ‘Living large’ was Ke-
phart’s term.”
“It was a design-build relationship where the architect and
the contractor were a team,” says Binder. “In some ways, the
contractor is calling the shots. We were constantly redesign-
ing.”
The process also helped maximize the parcel’s density.
“With Kephart, we sat down and said, ‘How can we increase
the number of units,’” he explains. “We were able to add 30
units to the 245 in the original bridging documents.”
Another challenge was “maintaining an operating light-
rail station during construction,” Kovach says. “RTD is a major
stakeholder and so it the city and county of Denver.”
The particulars of the public-private partnership “required
building out Cherokee Street here for connectivity,” adds Ko-
vach. It also necessitated D4 to establish a new metropolitan
district to install wastewater infrastructure stretching from
Interstate 25 to Broadway – an $18 million project. PCL also
built a new transit plaza for the Alameda stop as part of the
project. “It was all an integral design to tie the plaza with the
roadway with the apartments.”
It all adds up to a very sustainable development: transporta-
tion options, energy efficiency and materials that are notably
green. “This will be the first LEED Platinummultifamily proj-
ect in the state of Colorado,” predicts Kovach.
Binder is similarly bullish on LEED Platinum certification,
but says he’s looking at an even bigger picture. “What can we
do to promote a green lifestyle? Is it easy to recycle? Is it easy
to use alternate methods of transportation?”
The entire project represents a paradigm shift in land use
in the Mile High City. Today, the light-industrial area that sur-
rounds Denizen abuts big-box stores, the Denver Design Dis-
trict and plenty of parking lots. Expect that to changemarked-
ly in the coming decades, with mixed-use residential taking
over this area, formerly home to a minor league ballpark and
an old Montgomery Ward that was demolished in the 1990s.
With a hopping nightlife district just around the corner on
Broadway and easy access to all points in the city, Denizen will
serve as a “catalyst” for change in the immediate area, predicts
Kovach, adding, “The writing’s on the wall.”
D4 is already looking at a similar, even larger complex on
the former bus barn site across the train tracks from Denizen,
a project Kovach says PCL hopes to work on if it comes to pass.
There’s also plenty of potential for redevelopment at the adja-
cent Broadway Marketplace retail area and the Denver Design
District.
“What’s it going to be like to live there in five years?” asks
Binder. “It’s going to be very different.” Expect upscale grocers,
boutiques, and funky pubs. “Dakota [Avenue] is going to be a
wonderful street to walk on,” he adds. “It’s not there right now,
but in two or three years it will be.”
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/ Urban Living Reimagined: Denizen /
Photo courtesy Michelle Meunier Photography
Denizen is “20 feet” from the front door to the light-rail platform, says Steve Kovach, PCL Construction.
