707 17th Street, formerly known as the MCI Building and Arco Tower, and now known as the Jacobs Building is a

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. The building was completed in 1981, and rises 42 floors and in height. The building stands as the seventh-tallest building in Denver . It also stood as the tallest building in the city at the time of its 1981 completion, and held that distinction for two years until it was surpassed by the 1801 California Street in 1983. 707 17th Street was known as MCI Plaza until 2005;

MCI Inc. MCI, Inc. (subsequently Worldcom and MCI WorldCom) was a telecommunications company. For a time, it was the second largest long-distance telephone company in the United States, after AT&T. Worldcom grew largely by acquiring other telecommunic ...

filed for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

in 2002, and the company was subsequently acquired by

Verizon Communications Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas i ...

on February 14, 2005. Prior to its bankruptcy, MCI occupied the uppermost commercial floors of 707 17th Street, and served as the structure's primary tenant. However, even before MCI's acquirement, 707 17th Street stood partially vacant, and was nearing a 50% vacancy rate in 2002. This ended on September 30, 2002, when architectural, engineering and construction management firm Carter & Burgess (acquired in 2007 by

Jacobs Engineering Group Jacobs Solutions Inc. is an American international technical professional services firm. The company provides engineering, technical, professional and construction services, as well as scientific and specialty consulting for a broad range of cli ...

) signed a deal to lease of office space. This deal was one of the largest office transactions in Denver in 2006. Jacobs has merged with CH2M Hill and has since merged into their headquarters in south Denver and no longer have their signage on the building. While the upper 22 floors of the building contain office space, the lowest 20 floors of 707 17th Street contain a hotel that was originally known as the Denver Marriott City Center, but was renamed the Hilton Denver City Center on December 1, 2017. The hotel contains 613 guest rooms and suites. As the building consists of both commercial and

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

space, it is classified as a mixed use skyscraper. 707 17th Street has a somewhat unusual "setfront" design, rather than the usual setback found in other Denver skyscrapers such as 1801 California Street. The building bulges out and becomes wider at its 21st floor, and this widening is described as a "setfront". The narrower region at the bottom of the building is home to the Hilton hotel, whereas the upper, wider floors contain most of the commercial space. The building's

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...

is composed of black glass, and it is an example of

international-style International style may refer to: * International Style (architecture), the early 20th century modern movement in architecture *International style (art), the International Gothic style in medieval art *International Style (dancing), a term used in ...

"black box" architecture.

References

External links

Hilton Denver City Center official site
{{Denver skyscrapers Skyscraper office buildings in Denver Skyscraper hotels in Denver Commercial buildings completed in 1981 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design basic silver certified buildings Hilton Hotels & Resorts hotels 1981 establishments in Colorado

See also

References

External links