1600 17th St

1600 17th St is a 7-story building in Greater Downtown Denver with 91% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 178 homes and scores it 95 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.

CO-1 · Screened 2026-10-04 · Strong candidate

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Also addressed as 1612 17th St, 1616 17th St, 1660 17th St, 1617 Wazee St, 1625 Wazee St, 1631 Wazee St, 1637 Wazee St and 1659 Wazee St: Denver’s address records place all 9 on this one footprint.

Where 1600 17th St is

Its block in Greater Downtown Denver, drawn from Denver's own building outlines and street centerlines.

Suitability score

0–29

30–49

50–69

70–100

Already housing
Not screened
1600 17th St

1600 17th St and the 1,000 ft of Greater Downtown Denver around it. The streets are drawn at the width of the right-of-way they run down, sidewalks included, and named, and every building on these blocks is drawn. What is left open and stippled is neither: a surface lot, a plaza or a vacant parcel. The screened buildings are colored by the ramp above, the same one the district map uses, carry their score, and each is a link to its own page. Each casts a shadow as long as its measured height lets it, so towers stand out from the low buildings around them; the unscreened buildings have no measured height and cast none. 1600 17th St is outlined in its own score color at the outline it covers at ground level. Dashed inside it is the typical floor, the one the floor-plate figure below draws, because this building steps back as it rises. Its windowless core is hatched. The inset places it among every building the screen covers.

Typical floor plan: 91% of the building’s floor area sits within daylight reach of a facade; the drawing shows its typical floor, where the share is 99%. The shading is daylight, darkest at the windows and gone 35 ft in. The hatched area is windowless core: 345 sq ft per typical floor that must be renovated but can never be rented as an apartment. The dimension marks the deepest interior point, 37 ft from the nearest window. A–A is where the section beside it is cut.

Section A–A: cut across the depth of the plate, through the middle of the core. Daylight reaches 35 ft in from every facade, fading as it goes, and the hatched stripe left between the lit edges is floor that gets converted and can never be rented: 345 sq ft on the floor the screen scores, and 15,676 sq ft over 6 residential floors. The steps are where the building sets back as it rises. The shaded ground floor is converted like the rest and counted as no homes.

This building does not pencil at default assumptions, even with a modeled RESIDE Act grant.

Across its 6 residential floors this building carries 15,676 sq ft of windowless core — area that must be gutted, re-plumbed and sprinklered but can never be rented as an apartment.

Modeled conversion metrics for 1600 17th St, 2026-10-04.

Suitability scoreStrong candidate	95 / 100
Storiesfrom 83 ft aerial-survey height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor	7
Height bandsfloor plate by floor range, from the city's roof outlines	Floors 1–2: 51,118 sq ft · Floor 3: 50,215 sq ft · Floors 4–5: 35,191 sq ft · Floor 6: 11,435 sq ft · Floor 7: 303 sq ft
Floor platetypical floor, from the city outlines	35,191 sq ft
Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade	91%
Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft	37 ft
Windowless coretypical floor; the building-wide total is in the text above	345 sq ft
Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average	178
Conversion cost$360/sq ft all-in on 183,452 sq ft	$66.0M
Gap before grantshortfall against completed value	$24.0M
Modeled RESIDE grantat the statutory per-award cap	$10.0M
BuiltDenver does not publish a construction year with this data	—
ZoningUnion Station	D-LD
Opportunity Zonenot in a 2018 designated tract	No

The plan: window line, shape and floor rhythm

46 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.

The typical floor has 1,756 ft of exterior wall, and across 6 residential floors the building carries 8,156 ft of it in total, divided among the 178 homes this screen estimates.

Its plate is highly articulated at 0.14: a long, notched or wing-shaped outline with far more facade than its area needs — wasteful as an office envelope, and close to ideal for apartments. How window line and plate shape are measured.

At the model’s 750 sq ft average, the plan works out at about 29.7 homes per floor. Its floors are not alike, though: the typical floor's deepest interior point is 37 ft from a facade, while its worst floor reaches 62 ft. The score follows the typical floor, so a podium that could not hold a bedroom does not by itself sink a slim tower above it — but it is there, and it is part of what would have to be drawn around.

Why 1600 17th St scores 95 out of 100

Daylight efficiency 100, Interior depth 100, Scale 100, Finance 65 — each out of 100, then weighted.

Score components for 1600 17th St. Points are the subscore times its weight.

Component	Subscore	Weight	Points
Daylight efficiency91% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90%	100	45%	45.0
Interior depthdeepest interior point 37 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft	100	25%	25.0
Scale178 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150	100	15%	15.0
Financeremaining gap is 21% of conversion cost, scored from 60% down to 0%	65	15%	9.7

Most of what it earns comes from daylight efficiency, and what holds it back most is finance, at 65 out of 100: remaining gap is 21% of conversion cost, scored from 60% down to 0%.

What the conversion would cost

$360 per square foot all-in across 183,452 sq ft of converted floor, or $66.0M in total — about $371K for each of the 178 homes.

All-in cost per square foot for 1600 17th St: base cost plus the code work a change of use triggers.

Base conversion cost	$260/sq ft
Plumbing risers to every unit	$40/sq ft
Operable windows and glazing	$30/sq ft
Additional egress stair	$18/sq ft
Fire sprinklers (NFPA 13R)	$12/sq ft
All-in	$360/sq ft

That cost is charged across every converted square foot, including the 15,676 sq ft of windowless core, which has to be gutted, re-plumbed and sprinklered like the rest of the building and then earns nothing. Against it the model sets a completed value of $236K a home, which for 178 homes is $42.0M.

What would have to be true

A $24.0M gap before any grant, $14.0M after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: average unit size 25% down.

The shortfall before any grant is $24.0M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 178 homes finishing at $371K rather than the $236K the model assumes — 57% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $360 to $229 per square foot.

A modeled RESIDE grant of $10.0M moves that threshold to $315K a home. That is still above the $236K assumed, leaving $14.0M uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.

Nor do all four levers have to move. For 1600 17th St, one alone would close the gap at:

Single-assumption flip points for 1600 17th St, each holding the other three at their defaults.

Average unit sizethe binding constraint — the least this building would need	25% downto 564 sq ft
Conversion cost per square foot	29% downto $183/sq ft
Completed value per home	33% upto $315K

All four are sliders in the survey, where 1600 17th St re-scores against your own numbers.

How it compares in Greater Downtown Denver

1600 17th St ranks 7th of the 208 buildings screened here, against a median score of 73.

Its floor plate is better lit than 79% of them, and shallower than 86% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 114th largest by estimated homes. The full survey of all 208 buildings ranks and maps every one of them, and the list by address links each to its own page.

Within Union Station and the D-LD zone

1st of 52 in Union Station, 1st of 26 zoned D-LD — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.

Denver places 52 of the screened buildings in Union Station. 1600 17th St ranks 1st of them against a median score of 68, the top score in the group. 23 score 70 or more, their median deepest interior point is 61 ft from a facade against this building’s 37 ft, and together they would hold an estimated 13,108 homes.

26 of the screened buildings are zoned D-LD. 1600 17th St ranks 1st of them against a median score of 67, the top score in the group. 10 score 70 or more, their median deepest interior point is 62 ft from a facade against this building’s 37 ft, and together they would hold an estimated 5,013 homes.

Its nearest match in size: 480 E 20th Ave

The screened building closest to 1600 17th St in converted floor area is 480 E 20th Ave: 187,566 sq ft over 6 stories, against 183,452 sq ft over 7 here.

The two land within a few points of each other — 95 here, 93 there — so at this size the screen reads them as much the same prospect. On the money they sit in the same place: each falls short even with the modeled grant. The two stand about 5,400 ft apart.

Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?

The model awards 1600 17th St $10.0M, on the assumption it qualifies. Whether it does, no published dataset can say.

That figure assumes the building meets the Act’s vacant-and-abandoned test, which turns on code-enforcement and receivership records no city publishes.

It does not sit in a 2018 designated Opportunity Zone, so it would not draw that Section 201 priority.

Other buildings screened near 1600 17th St

The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 190 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.

1600 Wynkoop St
12 stories · 76% daylit · 165 estimated homes · scores 65/100 (Worth a feasibility study)
about 190 ft away
1550 17th St
8 stories · 73% daylit · 147 estimated homes · scores 61/100 (Worth a feasibility study)
about 250 ft away
1510 17th St
6 stories · 100% daylit · already an apartment building
about 400 ft away
1635 17th St
7 stories · 82% daylit · already a condominium building
about 410 ft away

A screen, not a feasibility study, from outlines and heights rather than plans: the method and how to correct a figure. If you know this building’s interior, you know what this model cannot see.