The University Building on the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver is the closest thing the metro area has to a diamond district like New York City’s fabled 47th Street.
The century-old, 140,000-square-foot structure with Old World brass and marble accents at 910 16th St. houses several floors of retail jewelry stores, jewelry repair shops and diamond wholesalers. Many of the businesses have been there for decades.
“It’s kind of a throwback building,” said Toni Mathews, vice president and retail broker at CB Richard Ellis Inc. in Denver. “Years ago it was the jewelry district in Denver, and it’s remained that way.”
Bob Kortz, president of Kortz Jewelry Co. on the building’s street level, doesn’t recall exactly how long his family has operated that store, but he thinks it’s 80plus years. Kortz remembers clearly, though, when he went to Vail to sell a black diamond to rock ‘n’ roll legend Elvis Presley.
“That’s part of our history,” Kortz said.
Jay Feder jewelers has been in the University Building 25 years, and in that time, Jay and Celia Feder have welcomed their son Marc into the business. Jay also hasmaintained a side job as a mohel; he had a bris in Boulder just the other week.
“The air conditioning here is not working perfectly, but at my age, I’m not working perfectly,” Jay Feder said. “There’s just something nice about a vintage building.”
Mayer Jewelers on the 10th floor came to the building only 16 or 17 years ago, according to part-owner Lawanda Woodard. But the store is celebrating its 124th anniversary this year, making it one of the Denver area’s oldest jewelry storesif not the oldest.
“I think we’re the oldest,” Woodard said.
Early tenants in the University Building, which opened in 1910, were attracted by its modern design and high technology.
The structure was designed by top Denver architects William E. Fisher and Arthur A. Fisher. The brothers also designed a handful of downtown Denver banks, including Colorado National, in the early 1900s as well as the Denver Country Club clubhouse. They created the precursor of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center – the old University of Colorado School of Medicine and Hospital, which opened in 1925.
When the 12-story University Building opened as the A.C. Foster Building, named after its first owner, it was one of Denver’s first “high rises,” according to manager David Kaufman. Built of steel and concrete, it supposedly was the first “fireproof building west of the Mississippi River.
The property currently is owned by a group of Denver investors called 910 Associates Inc. The group was incorporated in 1991 and acquired the building about the same time.
Its name changed to the University Building in the 1940s, after Foster donated the structure to the University of Denver as an investment property.
Over time, the building became something of a haven for smaller, often new businesses. The late Byron “Whizzer” White – University of Colorado football star, Rhodes Scholar, U.S. Navy officer, U.S. Supreme Court justice and Denver federal courthouse namesake – had an office there when he practiced law.
Jewelry businesses like the University Building especially because of its security system, which includes alarms, surveillance monitors and security guards. Access to upper floors, where many jewelers are located, is limited to elevators and stairs.
Tenants that make and repair jewelry appreciate that the University Building is one of the last Denver office buildings fueled by natural gas, needed for soldering torches. Hanson & Glassman Jewelers on the 16th floor, one of the few places in the area that fixes American Indian jewelry, needs a feature like that.
Perhaps the building’s biggest asset for its jewelry tenants is the synergy of having so many similar businesses in one place.
Among the stores’ biggest customers, for example, are engaged couples in need of engagement and wedding rings. At the University Building, couples can wander from store to store and floor to floor, all under one roof.
“Seventy percent of our business is loose diamonds, and 90 percent of that business is bridal,” said Jay Feder, who hopes to hit $5 million in sales this year.
Other jewelry customers range from visiting professional baseball players and dignitaries attending international meetings such as 1997s Summit of the Eight to downtown Denver business people.
Because of the building’s relatively low rent – $10 to $12 per square foot a month jewelers offer bargain prices to entice customers. Mayer Jewelers sells watch batteries “cheaper than anybody else” and offers its own financing, according to Woodard.
“I think we’re the only jeweler left in town to do that,” Woodard said of the financing.
The recent soft economy actually has been good for some of the building’s jewelers because of their discount prices. During good times, jewelry shoppers often go someplace such as Tiffany’s because of its prestige. But during tough times, they go to the University Building for bargains.
With that synergy comes a sense of community the jewelers value as much as any of the University Building’s other attributes. Even though many tenants compete with each other, they also collaborate.
As neighbors, they can band together for a common purpose, such as solving the problem of indigent street people congregating at the building’s entrance and inhibiting customer traffic. Recently, building occupants met with representatives of the Denver police, City Council, mayor’s office and 16th Street Mall manager Downtown Denver Partnership Inc. to hash out a solution.
One idea that came from the meetings is for the yellow-jacketed “ambassadors” located on the mall to assist visitors to also gently encourage street people not to block the building’s front door. The University Building’s street-level McDonald’s fast-food restaurant, a major magnet for the homeless, hired a security guard as well.
Occupants contend once people get through the front door, they’ll be surprised at what they find in the University Building.
There even are non-jewelry businesses, including a barbershop, hair salon and collectible stamp store. Office tenants include architects, attorneys, accountants and real estate professionals.
“We’re just somewhat of a diamond in the rough,” Kaufman said.
Jewelry stores make old University Building sparkle
The University Building on the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver is the closest thing the metro area has to a diamond district like New York City’s fabled 47th Street.
The century-old, 140,000-square-foot structure with Old World brass and marble accents at 910 16th St. houses several floors of retail jewelry stores, jewelry repair shops and diamond wholesalers. Many of the businesses have been there for decades.
“It’s kind of a throwback building,” said Toni Mathews, vice president and retail broker at CB Richard Ellis Inc. in Denver. “Years ago it was the jewelry district in Denver, and it’s remained that way.”
Bob Kortz, president of Kortz Jewelry Co. on the building’s street level, doesn’t recall exactly how long his family has operated that store, but he thinks it’s 80plus years. Kortz remembers clearly, though, when he went to Vail to sell a black diamond to rock ‘n’ roll legend Elvis Presley.
“That’s part of our history,” Kortz said.
Jay Feder jewelers has been in the University Building 25 years, and in that time, Jay and Celia Feder have welcomed their son Marc into the business. Jay also hasmaintained a side job as a mohel; he had a bris in Boulder just the other week.
“The air conditioning here is not working perfectly, but at my age, I’m not working perfectly,” Jay Feder said. “There’s just something nice about a vintage building.”
Mayer Jewelers on the 10th floor came to the building only 16 or 17 years ago, according to part-owner Lawanda Woodard. But the store is celebrating its 124th anniversary this year, making it one of the Denver area’s oldest jewelry storesif not the oldest.
“I think we’re the oldest,” Woodard said.
Early tenants in the University Building, which opened in 1910, were attracted by its modern design and high technology.
The structure was designed by top Denver architects William E. Fisher and Arthur A. Fisher. The brothers also designed a handful of downtown Denver banks, including Colorado National, in the early 1900s as well as the Denver Country Club clubhouse. They created the precursor of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center – the old University of Colorado School of Medicine and Hospital, which opened in 1925.
When the 12-story University Building opened as the A.C. Foster Building, named after its first owner, it was one of Denver’s first “high rises,” according to manager David Kaufman. Built of steel and concrete, it supposedly was the first “fireproof building west of the Mississippi River.
The property currently is owned by a group of Denver investors called 910 Associates Inc. The group was incorporated in 1991 and acquired the building about the same time.
Its name changed to the University Building in the 1940s, after Foster donated the structure to the University of Denver as an investment property.
Over time, the building became something of a haven for smaller, often new businesses. The late Byron “Whizzer” White – University of Colorado football star, Rhodes Scholar, U.S. Navy officer, U.S. Supreme Court justice and Denver federal courthouse namesake – had an office there when he practiced law.
Jewelry businesses like the University Building especially because of its security system, which includes alarms, surveillance monitors and security guards. Access to upper floors, where many jewelers are located, is limited to elevators and stairs.
Tenants that make and repair jewelry appreciate that the University Building is one of the last Denver office buildings fueled by natural gas, needed for soldering torches. Hanson & Glassman Jewelers on the 16th floor, one of the few places in the area that fixes American Indian jewelry, needs a feature like that.
Perhaps the building’s biggest asset for its jewelry tenants is the synergy of having so many similar businesses in one place.
Among the stores’ biggest customers, for example, are engaged couples in need of engagement and wedding rings. At the University Building, couples can wander from store to store and floor to floor, all under one roof.
“Seventy percent of our business is loose diamonds, and 90 percent of that business is bridal,” said Jay Feder, who hopes to hit $5 million in sales this year.
Other jewelry customers range from visiting professional baseball players and dignitaries attending international meetings such as 1997s Summit of the Eight to downtown Denver business people.
Because of the building’s relatively low rent – $10 to $12 per square foot a month jewelers offer bargain prices to entice customers. Mayer Jewelers sells watch batteries “cheaper than anybody else” and offers its own financing, according to Woodard.
“I think we’re the only jeweler left in town to do that,” Woodard said of the financing.
The recent soft economy actually has been good for some of the building’s jewelers because of their discount prices. During good times, jewelry shoppers often go someplace such as Tiffany’s because of its prestige. But during tough times, they go to the University Building for bargains.
With that synergy comes a sense of community the jewelers value as much as any of the University Building’s other attributes. Even though many tenants compete with each other, they also collaborate.
As neighbors, they can band together for a common purpose, such as solving the problem of indigent street people congregating at the building’s entrance and inhibiting customer traffic. Recently, building occupants met with representatives of the Denver police, City Council, mayor’s office and 16th Street Mall manager Downtown Denver Partnership Inc. to hash out a solution.
One idea that came from the meetings is for the yellow-jacketed “ambassadors” located on the mall to assist visitors to also gently encourage street people not to block the building’s front door. The University Building’s street-level McDonald’s fast-food restaurant, a major magnet for the homeless, hired a security guard as well.
Occupants contend once people get through the front door, they’ll be surprised at what they find in the University Building.
There even are non-jewelry businesses, including a barbershop, hair salon and collectible stamp store. Office tenants include architects, attorneys, accountants and real estate professionals.
“We’re just somewhat of a diamond in the rough,” Kaufman said.