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PUBLIC MEETING RE: 300' SKYSCRAPER ON NEVADA AVE

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Contributed by: Brian L A Wess on 10/29/2007

PUBLIC MEETING REGARDING A PROPOSED 300 FOOT, 26 STORY TALL SKYSCRAPER ON THE CORNER OF KIOWA & NEVADA AVE

DATE & TIME: 5:30 pm, MONDAY, NOV 5, 2007

LOCATION: CITY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING (ROOM 102), 30 SOUTH NEVADA AVE

There will be a public meeting to discuss the development application plans and request by Guman and Associates on behalf of Cooper Holdings, LLC for "A conditional use to allow a 26-story (298' 6" in height) mixed use building located at the southeast corner of Nevada Avenue and Kiowa Street. The uses include commercial, hotel, office and residential." In the near future they will also be seeking at least 3 variances to the City zoning code and master plan.

As some may remember, For over a year now I have been warning about attempts by some in our community to clutter the downtown skyline with taller and taller skyscrapers (See Protest Against the "DENVERIZATION" of Downtown! and Petition to Oppose Skyscrapers in Downtown )

During this time the plans for the approximately 20 story building at the corner of Pikes Peak and Nevada immediately adjacent from the Historic Downtown Post Office have been put on hold. Unfortunately, the Cooper Tower Project has marched on and even increased in size from the 24 stories originally identified in preliminary information to a massive 26 stories and 300 feet tall.

Sadly, during the same time frame, the look of the project has not improved but degenerated. While the original artists rendering released in both the Colorado Springs Business Journal and the Gazette clearly showed that the proposed building was just too massive for the location it was proposed for, that rendering at least had a bold, attractive, and imaginative design (See Picture). The currently proposed building appears to have none of these elements (See Pictures) and it's unimaginative and nonconforming design will only serve to make it a blight on an area of the city currently home to our Historic City Hall (See Picture), The Historic City Auditorium, the Historic First Baptist Church, the Historic Downtown Post Office (See Picture), and the 6 Story building on the Northwest corner of Kiowa and Nevada that houses, among other things, the Underground Night Club (See Picture). Unless you count the church spire, none of the other buildings mentioned are over 3 stories tall .

Currently the TALLEST building in Colorado Springs is the Wells Fargo Tower (264 Feet Tall) on the North West corner of Cascade and Colorado next to the rectangle brick box that replaced the old Antlers Hotel (See Pictures). The Cooper Tower building proposes to be almost 35 feet taller and will tower over the Historic City Hall leaving it in an almost permanent sunless shadow. In addition, the plans for the streetscape show that pedestrian traffic attempting to get from the city garage to the Historic Auditorium will be choked off by the entrance of the building on Kiowa. Of course this building will only serve to exacerbate an already existing traffic flow problem on Nevada, not to mention the fact that it will be located only 2 blocks from a residential neighborhood.

Vertical mixed use buildings are the current trend in downtowns and when well designed can be a boon to the areas they are located in. Unfortunately it appears the Cooper Tower takes neither the size, scale nor the classic architectural design of the surrounding buildings or area in which it is proposed to be located into consideration. The building that will be located in this area needs to be much less massive, more architecturally stimulating and innovative. The project as proposed is simply the wrong building for that location.

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