Historic designation battle brewing

Highlights:

• Trammell Crow Residential plans 5-story apartment building at 38th and Lowell.
• Buildings on site may qualify for historic designation.
• Buildings designed by architect William Muchow.

Another battle to save what is being described as “historic” buildings is brewing in Northwest Denver.

A notice of intent to file a historic preservation application has been submitted to Denver Community and Planning’s Landmark designation staff for two buildings at West 38th and Lowell Boulevard in West Highland.

That is where Trammell Crow Residential plans to develop a luxury, 5-story, 322-unit apartment community with 31,000 square feet of retail called Alexan West Highlands. Alexan West Highlands would be designed byShears Adkins Rockmore Architects.

Records show that Trammell Crow Residential earlier this summer paid $11.29 million, or  $89.35  per square foot, foot for the 126,369-square-foot site.

The developer sees the action as a move to stop a development, not an effort to save truly historic buildings.

Sasha Hernandez, with Friends of West Highlands Landmark filed the notice, according to the city.

The grassroots group earlier led the charge to successfully get a historic Landmark designation for the formerBeth Eden Baptist church building near West 32nd Avenue and Lowell Boulevard, about six blocks to the south.

The Denver City Council must approve Landmark status, which is permanent and prevents a building from being razed.

Because of the notice by Hernandez, who lives on West Clyde Place, near the Trammell Crow Residential project, CPD has set a 28-day posting period that expires at 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 2.

If the posting period elapses, and an application for historic designation is not received, a demolition permit will be issued on Sept. 3.

Hernandez could not be reached for comment on Tuesday afternoon.

Trammell Crow Residential has been working on Alexan at West Highlands for about two years.

“We voluntarily reached out to neighbors on three separate occasions during the course of this planned development, and not once during the course of those meetings was any concern raised over the quality of these buildings or their contribution to the fabric of the neighborhood,” said Matthew Schildt, managing director of development for Trammell Crow Residential.

“Never was that concern expressed,” Schildt added.

“We believe that this is really people in the neighborhood utilizing a tool for historic designation to impede a development, rather than as a genuine desire to preserve these buildings,” Schildt said.

The buildings on the site were designed by a prominent Denver architect, William Muchow.

Muchow and his team designed 853 buildings in Denver from 1950 to 1991. He designed the Federal Reserve building at 1010 16th St. in downtown Denver in 1968, for example. According to a CPD research report, the buildings at 3460 and 3480 W. 38th Ave. are “Meisian in style, following the design aesthetics established by Meise Van de Rohe…Mesian style architecture is characterized by the use of steel, curtain walls, glass, horizontal expression and simplified ornamentation,” according to the report.

“They are distinctive and rare structures, making a special contribution to Denver’s unique character,” according to the report.

They have the potential for designation, according to the CPD report, based on:

• Having direct and substantial association with a person or group of persons who have had influence on society;
• Embody distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style or type;
• Be a significant example of the work of a recognized architect or master builder;
• And make a special contribution to Denver’s distinctive character.

While those may sound like compelling reasons for historic designation, Trammell Crow Residential is expected to make an equally compelling case that they do not qualify for historic designation.

“While an application for historic designation has not yet officially been filed, we have been doing some research into these buildings,” Schildt said.

“Based on the criteria required by the city for historic designation, these buildings will not qualify,” he said.

Asked if the City Council approves a historic status for the building, if it would stop the development of Alexan at West Highlands,  Schildt said: “I am confident that under no scenario that this will impede our ability to move forward with this development as planned.”

Northwest Denver is no stranger to controversial historic designation battles. In addition to the Beth Eden Church, more recently, District 1 Councilman Rafael Espinoza has been both pilloried and praised for his efforts to save the so-called Anderson home in Jefferson Park.

Interested in buying a home in West Highland? Please visit COhomefinder.com.

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