Blake Street Corridor

The Upper Larimer/North Ball Park neighborhood, with a long history of industrial uses and many buildings shuttered, is one of the areas of change identified in Blueprint Denver. The revitalization of LoDo, the opening of nearby Coors Field, and new mixed-use zoning mechanisms combined to create interest in transforming the Blake Street Corridor into a mixed-use live-work neighborhood. New projects have drawn professionals, artists, and “cultural-creative” people who were seeking affordable, community-oriented, and somewhat edgier urban living.1

Silver Square at 33rd and Blake streets was an early example of adaptively reusing industrial buildings for housing. Built in the mid-1980s as a catalyst for a new inner-city live-work loft market, the project transformed five abandoned buildings into stacked lofts that fit inside a historic 40-foot clearspan metal building.2

Located on Blake Street between 30th and 32nd streets, Fire Clay Lofts introduced mixed-use and mixed-income residential development to the area. The project was named for the Fire Clay Brick Company, which manufactured bricks on the site for more than 100 years. It features the adaptive reuse of a 19th century warehouse and new construction to house 166 townhouses, flats, lofts, and live-work units, 20 percent of which are affordable and deed restricted. Fourteen buildings are connected by walkways and courtyards. The four-acre site is a “secure” block, with buildings along the east/streetfront and west perimeters, and fenced and gated parking for 202 cars on the north and south perimeters. The first three phases, designed by Van Meter Williams Pollack in Denver, were constructed between 2000 and 2004. A fourth phase, designed by Studio Completiva in Denver, was completed in 2008.3

The neighboring Rail Yard Lofts, completed in 2005, celebrates the rediscovery of ‘enveloped’ or hidden architectural space in its design for 29 townhouses. The site was conceived as a secure, hardened-edge block of small, clustered buildings with front doors leading to landscaped courtyards and shared passages. The design by Van Meter Williams Pollack required revealing the ‘bones’ of five century-old brick structures and constructing modern residential spaces around them. Utilitarian-simple detailing and materials draw from the neighborhood’s industrial history. The project has won several design awards.4

The Blake Street Corridor continues east to 38th Street with the future 38th & Blake Station Area transit station and adjacent development. The future East Corridor transit line, which will be anchored by the region’s two main transit hubs, Denver Union Station and Denver International Airport, likely will bring another surge of development to the corridor. The station area is designated as a major urban center, with buildings five stories and higher. It will offer a park-n-ride and a focus on jobs, with more than 250,000 square feet of office space and 50,000 square feet of retail space. Housing is envisioned primarily as multifamily and townhomes.5

• 1. Tim Van Meter. Colorado Urbanizing: Experiencing New Urbanism. Colorado Chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism. CNU 17.
• 2. Ibid.
• 3. Ibid.
• 4. Ibid.
• 5. Ibid.