Historic D&F Tower's Top Five Floors for Sale

For just the second time in their 115-year history, the top five floors of the D&F Tower are up for sale.

In July, owner Holly Kylberg listed the property for $4.5 million with broker Phil Ruschmeyer. In October, Ruschmeyer enlisted online real-estate marketing firm LFC Group of Companies in an effort to gain a wider audience. Bids will be accepted through Dec. 15.

“We were getting a lot of action, but we wanted to hit the international scene,” Ruschmeyer says.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Daniels & Fisher Tower is one of downtown Denver’s most recognizable icons, with its four lit clock faces rising 250 feet from the street and measuring sixteen feet in diameter.

Built in 1911 as a dry-goods store, the D&F Tower was the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River, with a height of 393 feet. It later became one of Denver’s most prestigious department stores until it was vacated in 1958 after the D&F Company merged with the May Company and relocated to a new store at Courthouse Square.

When urban renewal and redevelopment swept across Denver between the 1950s and 1970s, the tower was in danger of being demolished. But advocates for historic preservation voiced concern over its loss and the tower was spared, though the store was razed.

The Italian Renaissance-style building was turned into condominiums in the early 1980s, with the individual floors of the tower belonging to people who use them as office space. In recent years, the top five floors have been used as event space, hosting everything from weddings to holiday parties to board retreats.

Project: D&F Tower
Address: 1601 Arapahoe Street
Developer: Holly Kylberg and Phil Ruschmeyer

This is the fifth in a series of stories about building projects around town. Read more about development in Denver on our Construction Watch page.