Renovation of the historic Rio Grande Building into affordable and market-rate rental units, plus ground floor retail space and basement office space.
Constructed in 1917 as an annex to the A. T. Lewis & Sons Dry Goods Company at the corner of 16th and Stout Streets, the Rio Grande Building featured terra cotta detailing reminiscent of the work of Chicago architect Louis Sullivan. Designed by Denver architect Frank Edbrooke as retail space, the building was later remodeled to accommodate offices for the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, providing the name that continues to this day.
Like many historic downtown commercial properties, the building suffered from deferred maintenance over the years and by the end of the century was both outdated and underutilized. But in 1994 the Volker Building Partnership Limited and Mickey Zeppelin responded to a DURA request for proposals to help meet Denver’s on-going goal of creating housing opportunities downtown. The original development team ultimately transferred the project to BCORP Rio Grande LLC who redeveloped the Rio Grande Building into 31 affordable and 38 market-rate rental units, along with 6,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 5,000 square-feet of office space in the basement.
The Rio Grande Lofts opened in January 1996. DURA provided $1.5 million in TIF assistance for the $6.4 million project. In a unique arrangement, the developer reimbursement obligation is repaid from property and sales taxes generated by the project and from the California Street Parking Garage project (also developed by BCORP) once that obligation is repaid.
Located in the heart of downtown’s mid-mall district, the redevelopment of the Rio Grande brought mixed-use housing and much needed retail, as well as preserving a unique piece of Denver’s history. Today the Rio Grande is on the National Register of Historic Places and part of the Downtown Historic District.