City Center (1983)

City Center

1983

Architect: Denver office of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill

2018 renovation by Ryan Companies

City Center was designed to lure shoppers away from suburban malls and bring (or keep) them downtown. As part of a tax increment financing plan, the developer received the property at no cost with the expectation that the city would be paid back from the future property taxes. The nearly two-block complex contains about 1.5 million square feet of office and retail space and a 687-stall parking garage.

At the same time a hotel, first under the brand name Amfak and now a Marriott, was constructed mid-block with an entrance on 7th street. Nextdoor to the hotel, at street level, is Fhima’s Restaurant, which contains the wonderful 1930 Art Deco interior of the original Forum Cafeteria. Though they are connected by a skyway, the hotel and restaurant are not part of City Center.

City Center originally contained a three-story indoor shopping mall anchored by Donaldson’s Department Store, which moved in from across the street. Target Corporation leased several floors in the adjacent 50-story office tower for their growing administrative and purchasing offices at 33 So. 6th Street.

The building was criticized for its somewhat bland exterior appearance and received a splashy façade renovation in 1993 with attention-grabbing neon signage. The property was sold in 2018. Ryan Companies completed a second major facelift in early 2020, which included reworking the corner entrance at 7th and Nicollet, one of the highest-traffic areas in the city. There, imposing concrete panels that loomed over the entrance were replaced by glass walls at street level and an open-air second-floor balcony — a perfect vantage point for people-watching on Nicollet Mall.