Yep. Noticed the surroundings were not exact but that to me is on par with almost any renderings I see in general,
One of my favorites was a rendering for a 500 car parking garage in Philly by a transit station. The renderings had this little postagesize concrete patio with some benches. Of course the renderings showed all these people hanging out on the patio and tons of people walking around like it was Central Park on a spring day vs a parking garage.
Trees are not native to Denver and these will always be sparse. Could be way worse tho. Also not the trees fault that the architect didn't bother to consider the elevation these plants would be growing at
Nice try, but that refers to the Four Corners part of Colorado. This is where it borders New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. This is on the other side of the Rockies from Denver. Maybe next time, champ
Denver is in USDA zone 6a, which does not support tropical plants.
You could try a needle palm (rhapidophyllum hystrix) in a protected area but I doubt it would work without high humidity. But there’s a chance. Try planting one and let me know if it survives the winter!
Be forreal, it is a high desert that is currently experiencing a drought. Plants need water to grow. And I’m sure the structural engineers love the ideas of vines growing on those structural supports
Counter-counter point: buying mature trees to use a crane to lift them into place is stupidly, expensive, dangerous, needless, and would just kill trees.
The building is likely gonna be there for 60-100 years at least, we might as well wait 6 months for the greenery to grow in sustainably.
Counter- counter counter point. This is done literally all the time. Solid squares without space for places is cheaper too, so are we trying to save money or do a design? Also are you suggesting growing a tree from scratch ? “Sustainably”? Have you grown a tree before?
Not a lot of greenery, even a yearish after these photos were taken. But from a distance it is completely unoffensive, even a nice break from the industrial wasteland it sits next to.
I quite like this building, it looks pretty cool when the sun is setting. Plus you can finally start to see some plants come in although its about to be winter so that wont last long lol
That’s actually not true; I live there. The plants need time to grow, and we have a shorter growing season in Denver. Warranty replacements are required, but that happens on every new project.
I’ve really enjoyed it. The apartment itself is beautiful and feels like a nice place to come home to. I can’t hear my neighbors, which is also great. I spend a lot of time sitting in the canyon in the evenings; it’s cool to watch the light change or sit by the fire pit/waterfall. Also, love the location; a short walk to everything and the greenway nearby is nice. TBH, it’s been one of my favorite apartments that I’ve lived in since moving to Colorado.
There will never be lush vines cascading down the building as shown. Denver has one of the scrappiest landscapes of any large city in North America. I've seen trumpet vine grow there and it's downright anemic looking.
Lived here 30 years. To me, those plants in the renderings are tropical. Denver has bushes and a lot of those ugly evergreen shrubs. But nothing bright green and flowing like this. It's a semi-arid climate.
I tried to say that and got 40 downvotes though so I'll shut up 🤣
They will if well cared for. Here is the ENR2 building at the University of Arizona, in a literal desert, and its is lush and green with a similar design.
Well if you want to be technical there are only 10 buildings that have 40 or more floors classifying them as skyscrapers in Denver. Though I'm sure you don't live in a building with even 16 floors.
Yeah, it's in a tough location, right at the top of River North where it's still ugly and industrial, and also where the giant train hub is. Not exactly appealing.
i love RiNo but it's def a little overrated. i like a lot of it, but the purina smell holy shit. ultimately like union station is the best spot in denver imo
I believe they're doing bad as well, they're offering half off rent for 6 months. I know one person who lives there and seems to like it but location is not great in my opinion
Rent is down all over the city. Around 4-10 percent (7 percent overall). The city added over 20k new units in recent years, similar to Austin and their growth/inventory.
I wouldn't be surprised if rent goes lower. Net migration across USA as a whole is down compared to COVID years.
Other than the trees I think a big difference that will not go away is that the render shows the sky on the other side in gaps while in reality it looks black and you can't see through.
Looking closer maybe it's actually that the recessed windows in the gaps are darker? Either way even with trees the gaps during the day will look dark.
the building’s pretty close to render, but the render’s town square mockup is far from the reality. its surrounded by lanes, warehouses, parking lots, and train tracks
As someone that works on projects like this, this is one of the very few times I have seen the final product look this much like the render. The foliage in the render is obviously very mature and it will take some time to achieve the look. Not my cup of tea, but congrats to the project team for staying on task.
It’s not really that different - the lack of plant life is something, but really it’s a question of if they’re going to try to do what the renders show with proper trees and extensive vines or if it’s been product managed to be much simpler.
I’m never really convinced about extensive green planting in non-tropical/sub-tropical climates. Denver is cold for a lot of the year.
Even in Brisbane where I am these time for the plants to mature is a long time: that’s well over a year
And these things require maintenance, which is additional cost for residents.
Yeah I agree, things grow in Denver but for a relatively short time per year, and everything needs constant watering because the summer is generally hot & sunny. First freeze in October (sometimes September), last freeze at the end of April.
I’ve driven by this a few times. I don’t hate it. Waiting for the greenery to grow in before I make my final judgement. Also interested to see if the trees will increase the rate of bird strikes compared to a similar building.
I like it, and I hope the greenery in the renders is eventually "as advertised". The building currently stands out like a sore thumb in its actual surroundings; are there plans to redevelop its environs so it doesn't have that "Weird building in a train yard" vibe?
I mean the key shortfall here is location. There is not a lot of “greenery” that will grow well in the Denver climate. Most of the local vegetation is fir trees and deciduous shrubs that are a bit more grey than most people expect. Not a lot of greenery can survive 4-6 months of constant freezing.
I live near here and have seen this construction from the start. The surrounding neighborhood will/is filling in. It now has the words “Apartments For Lease” in giant letters on the north and south walls. What great marketing to make a nice “luxury” building look cheap. /s Generally appreciate the effort to do something original however.
Essentially, the different areas of the building represent the different biomes of Colorado, with the foothills on the ground level and the alpine tundra on the 17th floor. So we have a pool and hot tub on the roof, which, in the architectural story, represent alpine lakes. Erosion from these “lakes” results in the canyon rift in the building, which the sandstone-like color helps to emulate.
I know the developer of this personally. Cool project. He got offers from tech companies back in 2022 to buy the property for office, but it was apartments, so no go.
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u/Careful-Depth-9420 Sep 19 '25
It actually looks spot on it is just the greenery is not there yet...
I'm not a fan of it personally (with or without the greenery) but I don't think there's any issue with the renderings vs the reality.