535 16th St

535 16th St is a 13-story building in Greater Downtown Denver with 88% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 224 homes and scores it 84 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.

CO-1 · Screened 2026-09-19 · Strong candidate

Build a conversion planCheck its numbers, lay out its homes and get a two-page PDF. Free.

Also addressed as 1614 Welton St, 1616 Welton St, 1620 Welton St and 1630 Welton St: Denver’s address records place all 5 on this one footprint.

Where 535 16th 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
535 16th St

535 16th 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. 535 16th 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: 88% of the building’s floor area sits within daylight reach of a facade; the drawing shows its typical floor, where the share is 86%. The shading is daylight, darkest at the windows and gone 35 ft in. The hatched area is windowless core: 3,349 sq ft per typical floor that must be renovated but can never be rented as an apartment. The dimension marks the deepest interior point, 52 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: 3,349 sq ft on the floor the screen scores, and 29,503 sq ft over 12 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 12 residential floors this building carries 29,503 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 535 16th St, 2026-09-19.

Suitability scoreStrong candidate	84 / 100
Storiesfrom 152 ft aerial-survey height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor	13
Height bandsfloor plate by floor range, from the city's roof outlines	Floors 1–7: 24,171 sq ft · Floors 8–9: 21,942 sq ft · Floor 10: 16,481 sq ft · Floor 11: 12,444 sq ft · Floor 12: 11,745 sq ft · Floor 13: 10,140 sq ft
Floor platetypical floor, from the city outlines	24,171 sq ft
Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade	88%
Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft	52 ft
Windowless coretypical floor; the building-wide total is in the text above	3,349 sq ft
Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average	224
Conversion cost$360/sq ft all-in on 239,722 sq ft	$86.3M
Gap before grantshortfall against completed value	$33.4M
Modeled RESIDE grantat the statutory per-award cap	$10.0M
BuiltDenver does not publish a construction year with this data	—
ZoningCBD	D-C
Opportunity Zonenot in a 2018 designated tract	No

The plan: window line, shape and floor rhythm

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

The typical floor has 766 ft of exterior wall, and across 12 residential floors the building carries 8,068 ft of it in total, divided among the 224 homes this screen estimates.

Its plate is moderately compact at 0.52: a squarish plan, with enough perimeter for a conventional double-loaded corridor. How window line and plate shape are measured.

At the model’s 750 sq ft average, the plan works out at about 18.7 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.

Why 535 16th St scores 84 out of 100

Daylight efficiency 95, Interior depth 71, Scale 100, Finance 55 — each out of 100, then weighted.

Score components for 535 16th St. Points are the subscore times its weight.

Component	Subscore	Weight	Points
Daylight efficiency88% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90%	95	45%	42.9
Interior depthdeepest interior point 52 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft	71	25%	17.7
Scale224 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150	100	15%	15.0
Financeremaining gap is 27% of conversion cost, scored from 60% down to 0%	55	15%	8.2

Most of what it earns comes from daylight efficiency, and what holds it back most is finance, at 55 out of 100: remaining gap is 27% of conversion cost, scored from 60% down to 0%.

What the conversion would cost

$360 per square foot all-in across 239,722 sq ft of converted floor, or $86.3M in total — about $385K for each of the 224 homes.

All-in cost per square foot for 535 16th 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 29,503 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 224 homes is $52.9M.

What would have to be true

A $33.4M gap before any grant, $23.4M after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: average unit size 31% down.

The shortfall before any grant is $33.4M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 224 homes finishing at $385K rather than the $236K the model assumes — 63% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $360 to $221 per square foot.

A modeled RESIDE grant of $10.0M moves that threshold to $341K a home. That is still above the $236K assumed, leaving $23.4M uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.

Nor do all four levers have to move. For 535 16th St, one alone would close the gap at:

Single-assumption flip points for 535 16th St, each holding the other three at their defaults.

Average unit sizethe binding constraint — the least this building would need	31% downto 519 sq ft
Conversion cost per square foot	38% downto $162/sq ft
Completed value per home	44% upto $341K

All four are sliders in the survey, where 535 16th St re-scores against your own numbers.

How it compares in Greater Downtown Denver

535 16th St ranks 62nd of the 214 buildings screened here, against a median score of 72.

Its floor plate is better lit than 65% of them, and shallower than 60% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 100th largest by estimated homes. The full survey of all 214 buildings ranks and maps every one of them, and the list by address links each to its own page.

Within CBD and the D-C zone

20th of 75 in CBD, 18th of 72 zoned D-C — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.

Denver places 75 of the screened buildings in CBD. 535 16th St ranks 20th of them against a median score of 71. 40 score 70 or more, their median deepest interior point is 56 ft from a facade against this building’s 52 ft, and together they would hold an estimated 33,698 homes. The group’s top scorer is 918 17th St, at 97.

72 of the screened buildings are zoned D-C. 535 16th St ranks 18th of them against a median score of 73. 39 score 70 or more, their median deepest interior point is 57 ft from a facade against this building’s 52 ft, and together they would hold an estimated 32,881 homes. The group’s top scorer is 721 19th St, at 95.

Its nearest match in size: 1351 16th St

The screened building closest to 535 16th St in converted floor area is 1351 16th St: 247,546 sq ft over 12 stories, against 239,722 sq ft over 13 here.

535 16th St scores 84 to its 77, and with the size held roughly equal most of that lead comes from interior depth: 71 out of 100 here, 54 there (deepest interior point 58 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft). On the money they sit in the same place: each falls short even with the modeled grant. The two stand about 2,800 ft apart.

Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?

The model awards 535 16th 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 535 16th St

The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 170 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.

501 16th St
23 stories · 81% daylit · 406 estimated homes · scores 69/100 (Worth a feasibility study)
about 170 ft away
600 17th St
34 stories · 82% daylit · 651 estimated homes · scores 73/100 (Strong candidate)
about 260 ft away
600 16th St
6 stories · 87% daylit · 51 estimated homes · scores 74/100 (Strong candidate)
about 300 ft away
1600 Glenarm Pl
32 stories · 86% daylit · already an apartment building
about 340 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.