Solera Apartments is now fully topped out! When a building is topped out all floors have been completed including the building roof. The final Solera concrete pour was in late December marking this important step in the construction process. Now that concrete work is finished, interior work is fast underway. Heating and cooling units are being installed, interior framing continues on the top floors while bath tubs are being installed on lower floors.
With festive decorations lining the streets, generous sales at every shop, and can’t-miss parties happening all around the city, downtown dwellers needn’t travel far to reach the hub of holiday celebration during the winter season.
Denver holiday events begin as early as November and last well into the New Year. And with a downtown apartment, you can take advantage of all the festivities Denver has to offer right outside your doorstep. Here are some of the annual events to enjoy in the Mile High City:
Downtown Denver’s Grand Illumination
On the last Friday of November, Downtown Denver’s Grand Illumination lights up the city with an exquisite lighting display of some of the Mile Hi City’s most prominent buildings and landmarks. Visit the City & County Building, Union Station, Denver Pavilions, Skyline Park, the 16th Street Mall and the historic D&F Tower to see the holiday spirit come to life in the form of brightly colored (and magnificently orchestrated) lights. Attendees can expect an entertaining evening, with live musical performances, children’s activities, special guest appearances, and treats from local Denver restaurants. Festivities begin around 6:00pm with main events taking place at Union Station and the City & County Building for 9News Light the Lights.
LoDo Aglow
This year marked the beginning of the LoDo District, Inc.’s new window design contest called LoDo Aglow, in which local businesses, designers and students were encouraged to decorate window fronts with holiday and winter scenes. Volunteers helped create a winter wonderland for the contest, which kicked off the same night as the Grand Illumination. The 2009 winners were: Dixons Downtown Grill in the student category, Organixx in the business category and The Oxford Hotel in the professional category. The beautiful and creative designs will continue to light the streets of Lower Downtown until late January.
Christkindl Market
The Christkindl Market is another fabulous holiday treat showcasing handcrafted gift items by European vendors and traditional German food, candy, and of course beer. Located on the corner of 16th and Arapahoe Streets in Skyline Park, this market opens in late November and continues through the December 24th. Stop by between 11am and 7pm Sunday through Wednesday or 11am and 9pm Thursday through Saturday.
9NEWS Parade of Lights
The 9NEWS Parade of Lights is a seasonal favorite for many Denverites, drawing thousands of spectators every year. Beginning at the City & County building at 14th and Bannock Street, the parade continues (bands, balloons and floats in all) for two miles down the streets of Downtown Denver, spreading cheer to the onlookers. Happening over two nights, the Friday event begins at 8:00pm and the Saturday event starts at 6:00pm.
TubaChristmas
The TubaChristmas Concert is a unique holiday tradition. This year the event celebrated its 35th anniversary. Three hundred tuba players gather from all over the region to play a special concert at Skyline Park. It’s surely a sight to see, but it’s really the sound that warms your heart.
Denver Performing Arts
Winter is a great time to catch a show at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Years past have showcased fine acts such as the Colorado Ballet’s Nutcracker, Colorado Symphony, and the Colorado Children’s Chorale. This holiday catch Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carole, open from November 27th through December 26th.
New Years Denver
Downtown Denver Events, Inc. and VISIT Denver have joined forces for the 2009/2010 New Year’s Eve Fireworks on the 16th Street Mall. Two shows—one at 9pm and one at midnight—will ring in the New Year with style.
Just out of curiosity, the Solera team decided to calculate the distance between our location at 1956 Lawrence Street and all the incredible downtown activities during the holiday season. Here’s what we found:
Convention Center: 0.9 miles
16th Street Mall: 0.5 miles
Skyline Park: 0.5 miles
Lodo: 0.6 miles
Larimer Square: 0.6 miles
City & County Building: 1.2 miles
Union Station: 0.7 miles
DCPA: 0.7 miles
We figure that’s something ‘yule’ appreciate.
As has been described in an earlier Solera blog post, the LEED scorecard devotes a portion of the available credits to issues related to a project’s location. These credits are part of the Sustainable Sites category and deal with topics such as proximity to transit, stormwater management and the heat island effect of the project. Also in this category is the amount of bicycle parking the project provides. The LEED scorecard awards a point when a project provides covered bike parking for at least 15% of the building residents (for a commercial buildings other standards apply).
To meet this credit (Sustainable Site Credit 4.2) the Solera project would need to provide at least 40 bike parking spaces. In actuality, the Solera project is more than doubling the bike storage requirement by providing 106 total bicycle racks located within the building parking garages. All bike racks include an integrated security cable and will be individually assigned to residential units. Because Solera will also have ground-floor retail space, USGBC requires that the project meet the commercial standard of this credit as well. To do this, Solera will provide bike parking for 5% of the retail occupants; occupancy is determined by calculating one occupant per 550 square feet of space. These bicycle parking spots will be located in the retail parking space and be assigned to retail staff.
As a complement to the bike storage, Solera is including a bike maintenance room for resident and retail occupant use. This space will be outfitted with bike maintenance supplies and will provide additional bike parking space for residents.
Beyond LEED requirements, the Solera location is particularly suitable for bicycle commuting and enjoyment. The building is located on one of Denver’s main urban bicycle lanes, Lawrence Street. This dedicated bike lane connects the downtown core with Denver’s two main bike path arteries that run along local rivers: the South Platte River bike trail and the Cherry Creek bike path. These paths are highly utilized for both recreational and bike-commute purposes and connect the urban core with surrounding Denver communities. Living at Solera could make bike commuting to many surrounding employment locations a real possibility - and with the ample bike parking and bike maintenance room onsite there’s no reason not to.
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