A rendering of the proposed development along the South Platte. The building to the left would be a hotel, with the middle and right buildings serving as apartments connected by a pedestrian bridge. (Courtesy Weins Development Group)
Eric and Evelyn Weins are looking to make waves with their plans for a riverfront parking lot just south of Meow Wolf.
“It’s going to be the biggest development we have ever done,” said Eric Weins, co-founder of Denver-based firm Weins Development Group.
The husband and wife’s firm submitted plans last week for three new buildings at 2060 W. Colfax Ave., a 2.5-acre site at the edge of Denver’s Sun Valley and Lincoln Park neighborhoods.
They want to develop an eight-story hotel, as well as eight-story and 10-story connected apartment buildings.
“I think the future of Denver is going to be next to the river,” he said.
The land is a parking lot between Raíces Brewing Co. and the Steam on the Platte office building. The property is owned by Denver-based Urban Ventures, which also owns the Raíces property and developed Steam on the Platte before selling it in 2021.
The drawings show the proposed 114-unit hotel going on the north edge of the lot. It would be intended to be for extended stays, and have a restaurant and bar on its top floor.
To the south would be the larger residential building, which would hold 186 units and 2,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, plans show. The smaller structure would have 54 apartments, connected by pedestrian bridges to the other apartment building on the fifth through eighth floors. It would have parking and amenities for both structures, such as a fitness center and rooftop pool.
The site is just south of the planned River Mile project, which will eventually replace Elitch Gardens, and Empower Field at Mile High Stadium, whose future is uncertain as Denver Broncos ownership mull a new stadium. Wood Partners and Mortenson have apartments in the works nearby.
“The idea is to work together with other developers that are working on the river in the area and the city, you know, to make a really cool space for everybody,” Evelyn said.
Evelyn and Eric Weins
The Weins came from Argentina to Denver in the early 2000s and launched their company a few years later, doing fix-and-flips and renting out homes. About a decade ago, one house they were repairing had a weak foundation that needed to be replaced, so the duo decided then to do their first ground-up build.
From there, the company took off, constructing duplexes, quadplexes and small apartment buildings around town. It converted an old mortuary at the intersection of Logan Street and Alameda Avenue in Wash Park into commercial and retail space.
Around that time, the company’s lawyer connected them to another of his clients, Urban Ventures founder Susan Powers. She was working on a project by Regis University at 52nd and Federal.
The two teamed up there, because Urban Ventures doesn’t typically build apartments. But Eric said what he really wanted was the land by the Platte.
“I was trying to buy the land from her for the last five years, and asking, you know, every month about this piece of land. And finally she said yes, so now we have this under contract,” he said.
Urban Ventures specializes in redeveloping old and outdated urban structures. The firm and White Construction Group bought the site a decade ago, long before Meow Wolf and The River Mile were even announced.
The firms completed Steam on the Platte — fashioned from a century-old, three-story rag baling facility — in 2017, and the nearby Raíces Brewing building in 2019.
Powers said she envisioned condos between the two projects ever since her firm and White Construction Group bought the site a decade ago. But her firm is busy with other projects and the Weins were a natural fit to develop apartments instead.
“We were part of converting a portion of that neighborhood from its vacant industrial past to its new life … I’m always going to be connected to it. I don’t look at it as only the land-ownership part,” Powers said.
A rendering of the proposed development along the South Platte. The building to the left would be a hotel, with the middle and right buildings serving as apartments connected by a pedestrian bridge. (Courtesy Weins Development Group)
Eric and Evelyn Weins are looking to make waves with their plans for a riverfront parking lot just south of Meow Wolf.
“It’s going to be the biggest development we have ever done,” said Eric Weins, co-founder of Denver-based firm Weins Development Group.
The husband and wife’s firm submitted plans last week for three new buildings at 2060 W. Colfax Ave., a 2.5-acre site at the edge of Denver’s Sun Valley and Lincoln Park neighborhoods.
They want to develop an eight-story hotel, as well as eight-story and 10-story connected apartment buildings.
“I think the future of Denver is going to be next to the river,” he said.
The land is a parking lot between Raíces Brewing Co. and the Steam on the Platte office building. The property is owned by Denver-based Urban Ventures, which also owns the Raíces property and developed Steam on the Platte before selling it in 2021.
The drawings show the proposed 114-unit hotel going on the north edge of the lot. It would be intended to be for extended stays, and have a restaurant and bar on its top floor.
To the south would be the larger residential building, which would hold 186 units and 2,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, plans show. The smaller structure would have 54 apartments, connected by pedestrian bridges to the other apartment building on the fifth through eighth floors. It would have parking and amenities for both structures, such as a fitness center and rooftop pool.
The site is just south of the planned River Mile project, which will eventually replace Elitch Gardens, and Empower Field at Mile High Stadium, whose future is uncertain as Denver Broncos ownership mull a new stadium. Wood Partners and Mortenson have apartments in the works nearby.
“The idea is to work together with other developers that are working on the river in the area and the city, you know, to make a really cool space for everybody,” Evelyn said.
Evelyn and Eric Weins
The Weins came from Argentina to Denver in the early 2000s and launched their company a few years later, doing fix-and-flips and renting out homes. About a decade ago, one house they were repairing had a weak foundation that needed to be replaced, so the duo decided then to do their first ground-up build.
From there, the company took off, constructing duplexes, quadplexes and small apartment buildings around town. It converted an old mortuary at the intersection of Logan Street and Alameda Avenue in Wash Park into commercial and retail space.
Around that time, the company’s lawyer connected them to another of his clients, Urban Ventures founder Susan Powers. She was working on a project by Regis University at 52nd and Federal.
The two teamed up there, because Urban Ventures doesn’t typically build apartments. But Eric said what he really wanted was the land by the Platte.
“I was trying to buy the land from her for the last five years, and asking, you know, every month about this piece of land. And finally she said yes, so now we have this under contract,” he said.
Urban Ventures specializes in redeveloping old and outdated urban structures. The firm and White Construction Group bought the site a decade ago, long before Meow Wolf and The River Mile were even announced.
The firms completed Steam on the Platte — fashioned from a century-old, three-story rag baling facility — in 2017, and the nearby Raíces Brewing building in 2019.
Powers said she envisioned condos between the two projects ever since her firm and White Construction Group bought the site a decade ago. But her firm is busy with other projects and the Weins were a natural fit to develop apartments instead.
“We were part of converting a portion of that neighborhood from its vacant industrial past to its new life … I’m always going to be connected to it. I don’t look at it as only the land-ownership part,” Powers said.
