Construction crews officially got the green light Thursday on Ave Station House, a 13-story project set to pack 301 apartments and street-level retail onto the sharp triangular block where Walnut, Blake, and 40th intersect in RiNo. The site, once floated for office and hotel towers before the pandemic changed the math, is now firmly in the housing column. City officials and the development team turned dirt at a ceremonial groundbreaking as the project shifts into vertical construction, with opening day targeted for 2028.
Invent Development Partners is steering the venture with partners Halpern Real Estate Ventures, RXR, and Korman Communities. The project is pegged at $103.8 million on roughly 1.2 acres at 1485 40th St., and will feature about 6,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and 301 units, according to BusinessDen. “That’s just what we do in this business,” developer Jon Dwight said at the event, framing the pivot as part of the industry’s new normal.
Design and permits
Fresh renderings from OZ Architecture show a stepped building that wraps a central courtyard, with a clear emphasis on active ground floors and generous bike parking. Those visuals and early design specifics were first detailed by Naked Denver. OZ Architecture says the project has already cleared key early permitting checkpoints, a boost that developers credit with keeping the schedule pointed toward construction rather than more delays.
Contractor and timeline
Brinkmann Constructors has been tapped as the general contractor and is expected to ramp up site mobilization this spring. The developer-backed AVE Living brand lists the project as an AVE community on its roster, with doors set to open in 2028, matching the team’s delivery target.
How this fits in RiNo
Ave Station House continues a broader reset for the block. The Invent Development Partners project page shows the property was once envisioned as “Train,” a mixed-use concept with hotel, office, and entertainment space. As lenders grew more cautious, developers cut roughly four floors from a larger version of the project, a revision the city signed off on last year, according to BusinessDen. The reworked tower drops into a busy pipeline of nearby apartment construction, including Formativ’s 3850 Blake tower and Carmel Partners’ full-block build at 3300 Blake. MileHighCRE has followed Formativ’s project, while Hoodline has chronicled Carmel Partners’ megablock makeover.
Neighbors can expect a multiyear stretch of construction side effects, including equipment staging, steady truck traffic, and rolling lane changes as the site moves through foundation work and framing. Developers say the goal is to stitch more housing and retail into the transit-rich corridor between Union Station and Denver’s northern neighborhoods, even if it means a few years of orange cones to get there.
