Residential/Hospitality Award of Merit: Dairy Block Development &amp; The Maven Hotel

Residential/Hospitality Award of Merit: Dairy Block Development & The Maven Hotel

With completion of the 260,000-sq-ft project, Denver’s Lower Downtown neighborhood is home to a new boutique hotel, along with restaurants, shops and offices.

Photo courtesy of Saunders Construction

Dairy Block Development & the Maven Hotel
Denver
Award of Merit

Owner: McWhinney
Lead Design Firm: Shears Adkins Rockmore Architects
General Contractor: Saunders Construction
Civil Engineer: JVA Consulting Engineering
Structural Engineer: S.A. Miro Inc.
MEP Engineer: Able Consulting Group Inc.; MDP Engineering Group PC
Architect: Johnson Nathan Strohe

Numerous challenges arose in building this complex hospitality, retail and office development on the historic Windsor Dairy Block in Denver’s Lower Downtown. One of the most complex was demolition of several 19th-century structures on the site. As the buildings came down, workers discovered cobblestone streets, storage tanks and other relics. The team was literally digging up Denver’s past. And the excavation wasn’t easy. The bedrock soils were hard to dig through, requiring special equipment from Texas. In addition, the structures slated to be torn down were built in the late 1800s and their demolition was potentially dangerous. To lessen the risk, the team made sure the buildings were separated structurally before they came down. The contractor used all demolished brick for temporary infill, and other bricks were recycled off site.

With completion of the 260,000-sq-ft project, Denver’s LoDo neighborhood is home to a new boutique hotel, along with restaurants, shops and offices. LEED Gold certification is anticipated.