It is now time again for another Denver construction and development update. The spring and early summer in Denver were unusually rainy and cool, but now typical summer weather is here. It has been oddly difficult this year to find days that were not overcast and dreary. However, August's construction update is full of blue sky. One thing is for sure, the construction sites around town are not the muddy messes that they were earlier in the year. If you are to assign this update a theme, it would have to be
cranes. The first stop on our tour is the
31-story Country Club Towers project that is underway near Downing Street and Speer Boulevard. The Broe Group is developing this project. Below grade work is currently taking place and a large amount of excavation has taken occurred since our last visit to this construction site.
Below is a photo of the Speer Boulevard Apartments at Speer and Grant Street. This project is being developed by Gables Residential who recently announced plans for a
12-story project in Cherry Creek.
Walking to the north we find the
7|S Denver Haus apartment project at 7th Avenue and Sherman Street. This building will reach 8 floors once completed.
Over at 8th Avenue and Sherman Street in Denver's Capital Hill neighborhood is the MOTO apartment project. MOTO will also have space for ground floor retail.
Strolling to the west we find the 8th Avenue and Broadway apartments. From the looks of new marketing signage on the property, this development has been branded as
Via Denver. 
The next stop on our tour is the Joule residential project at Speer Boulevard and Cherokee Street. This project is being developed by Texas-based The Lynd Company who recently announced plans for a
277-unit apartment project at 30th and Brighton Boulevard.
While day dreaming on my way towards the Eviva Cherokee site, I noticed that a crane was being assembled. Once I put two and two together I turned my camera back on and began taking photos of this exciting event (nerd alert). Cherokee Street between 12th and 13th Avenue was temporarily closed to automobile traffic where the sections of the crane were placed waiting to be hoisted into place. Luckily the sidewalk opposite the construction site was open to pedestrians. The sections of the crane were staged on Cherokee Street.
Workers safely secure this section of the crane to be hoisted into place.
A mobile crane was brought was to assemble the crane.
The exterior work on the dual-brand Hyatt House/Hyatt Place hotel is just about wrapped up. Here is a photo of the hotel from Glenarm Place looking towards 14th Street.
At 15th between Arapahoe and Lawrence Streets is the construction site of 1144 Fifteenth Street. Once completed in about two and a half years, this project will reach 40 stories. Although this development has a long ways to go, a great amount of below grade work has been completed in the last month. The base of a red crane can be seen on the lefthand side of the below photo.
In the background and on the righthand side of the above photo you can see the crane of the 22-story 1401 Lawrence project. Let's take a closer look.
Work is now taking place on the second office floor of 1401 Lawrence.
As I walked towards Riverfront Park, I noticed that another crane has been installed at the site of the 34-story The Confluence luxury apartment project.
The final touches are being applied to the exterior of the Triangle Building at 1550 Wewatta. It was announced this week that WeWork, a firm that specializes in services for entrepreneurs and small business,
will lease 72,000 square feet in the Triangle Building.
Adjacent to the train platform at Denver's Union Station is the Kimpton Hotel project. This development will also feature an office component.
Below are a couple of pictures of
Pivot Denver. This project was originally named 17W, but it has been rebranded. A Whole Foods is slated to occupy space in this building. This project is taking shape at 17th and Wewatta.
Across the street are two projects underway on the same block. An affordable housing project began last week and dirt is now being moved on the property at 18th and Chestnut Place.
Another crane has recently been installed at the
Union Tower West site. This project will include office and hotel components housed in a 12-story building. Below the Union Tower West construction site can be seen from the Union Station pedestrian bridge.
Strolling over to LoDo we find the
Z Block project at 19th Street and Wazee. This project will feature a hotel managed by Sage Hospitality and 200,000 square feet of office space. Prologis announced that they will be leasing space in this building. In this picture, the base for two red cranes can be seen.
Over in Denver's Uptown neighborhood we find ourselves taking a look at the Alexan Uptown project that will feature 372 apartments in a 12-story building.
The last stop on our tour is the 26-story
SkyHouse Denver development that appears to be going up faster than any other project in town. This project does not have below grade parking and a parking structure will be located behind the apartment tower. This development is located at 18th and Broadway.
That concludes the August construction update. Cranes cranes and more cranes. Have a great rest of your week everyone, Justin
Faint flashes of lighting soon became bright bursts of electric bolts. In a moment, I went from killing time until the Colorado Rockies game ended to frantically getting the camera set to capture a lightning bolt. I fired off as many photos as I could. Most of the lightning was cloud to cloud and at times appeared to be directly overhead. I did not take anytime to look to see what I was capturing. I just kept hitting the shutter button as many times as possible before the rain fell or the thunder chased me off. The rain did begin to fall, and my gut kept telling me the keep snapping photos while also telling me that standing out in the open during one of the craziest rock and roll shows that mother nature can produce was not a good idea. I just needed someone to play Jimi Hendrix's version of All Along the Watch Tower for the perfect soundtrack to the storm. 
While I had the shutter open a bolt hit in the distance behind the Four Seasons. I took a couple more photos like a fly fisherman on a Colorado rocky mountain stream who says it's his last cast and ends up doing ten more. I did not push my luck and grabbed my gear and headed for cover. I thought it was funny because there was a few other photographers and spectators there to see the Rockies' fireworks, and as soon as I scampered for cover they all did too. . . I guess they thought I knew something they didn't. The storm moved off to the east just as fast as it had arrived and after a half hour it was safe to get set up to snap some pictures of the fireworks. 
I suppose the ironic thing about Friday night was, I have gone down there a few time before to capture some lightning bolts with the Denver skyline in the frame. Those attempts were not fruitful. On Friday I went down there to get pictures of fireworks and I come back with some pretty cool lightning photos. . . go figure.
I happened to be in the right place at the right time when the conductor of Amtrak's California Zephyr was walking down the platform. It caught my eye and I snapped a few photos. This was during one of those chilly and rainy days this spring. 
I have attempted to take a photo from Speer looking towards the Four Seasons on a couple of occasions. The below image is my favorite from that spot. 
The composition of the above image and the one proceeding it will change greatly in the months to come. You can see 
A few weeks back I was taking pictures of the Alexan Uptown project and turned around and really liked the way the church steeple was framed right in between the Cash Register building and the Denver Financial Center. 
The above photos were taken at 15th street in LoDo. The old brick buildings of LoDo have just as much character at night as they do during the day. Thank goodness these buildings were not lost to the wrecking ball. The other night I was taking pictures in the Golden Triangle. There are many unique and photogenic structures in this part of town such as the Denver Library, and the Frederic C. Hamilton building of the Denver Art Museum that was designed by Daniel Libeskind. 
Denver's Union Station neighborhood is rapidly evolving. In the next few weeks the view from the 18th Street pedestrian bridge will change as the 
