Originally constructed in 1901 by the Sisters of Mercy of Omaha as the Mercy Sanitarium, the medical facility at the corner of 17th Street and Fillmore served Central Denver residents for almost 100 years. The original facility provided accommodations for approximately 40 female patients, but as growth brought residents to the City Park area, the facility expanded into a campus developed around the 10-story, 350-bed Mercy Hospital.
Two decades later however, in response to declining occupancy rates and rising expenses, Mercy Hospital merged with St. Anthony Hospital Systems to become Provenant Mercy Hospital. Despite the merger, the hospital’s situation did not improve, and in 1995 the facility closed. Various other investors and physician groups operated within portions of the site in subsequent years, but these efforts too eventually failed, and by 2000 the campus was completely vacant and the buildings abandoned.
Located within an established neighborhood, the vacant hospital campus was a major concern for area residents. With direct access to Denver’s 330-acre City Park and close proximity to downtown and Cherry Creek, it was evident that the site had good development potential; however, the high cost of remediating and demolishing the hospital structures and a lack of city infrastructure significantly limited redevelopment options.
City Park South Investments, LLC (CPS) acquired the site in March 2001. At the time, the approximately 8.3-acre site included three commercial buildings with a combined 410,000 square feet, a 274-space parking structure, and three surface parking lots.
CPS abated and demolished most of the structures, constructed much needed streets and public infrastructure, and rehabilitated the existing parking structure to enable redevelopment of the site into a mix of single family attached residences and apartment units. To help facilitate redevelopment of the blighted property, DURA provided funds to assist with environmental remediation and construction of public infrastructure.
CPS sold the redeveloped parcels to a variety of vertical developers and today the site includes the 27-story Pinnacle Tower I with 142 for-sale residences (developed by Opus NW), the 22-story Pinnacle Tower II with 111 for-sale residences (Opus NW), 18 for-sale row homes (Buchanan Yonushewski Group), a 244-unit apartment project (Allied Realty), 31 market-rate and three affordable for-sale units (Wonderland Homes), and 33 affordable for-sale units developed by Mercy Housing whose namesake was the original owner and developer of the site.
Today the redeveloped site fulfills stated goals within the Denver Comprehensive Plan including redevelopment of underutilized and environmentally compromised land, and land conservation through infill development.