The Upton Residences complex at 1800 Welton St. in downtown Denver on Aug. 21, 2025. (Justin Wingerter/BusinessDen)
A concrete subcontractor has been barred from stepping foot on the jobsite for two high-rise condo towers in downtown Denver after the project’s general contractor accused it of “impulsively and irrationally” removing concrete supports and risking a catastrophic collapse.
“The one time that I think a judge is taught to consider a temporary restraining order is when somebody is saying that a building’s going to fall down,” Denver District Judge Bruce Jones said at a hearing Aug. 19 before ordering GCon Co. to avoid 1800 Welton St.
The Upton Residences will have 461 condos spread between two towers of 38 stories and 32 stories. It is the city’s largest condo development since The Spire in 2009.
As it sells units ahead of a 2026 opening, The Upton has been delayed by an escalating dispute between Amacon Construction, its Canadian general contractor, and GCon, a subcontractor out of Castle Rock, that led the latter to quit working and the former to sue for $10 million.
GCon joined the project soon after it broke ground in mid-2022, under a contract that would pay it $16 million. There is no mention of discord in Amacon’s lawsuit until May of this year, when GCon demanded payments and Amacon complained about the quality of GCon’s work.
Upton Residences seen from a nearby office tower in March. (BusinessDen file)
GCon stopped working May 23 and months of failed negotiations between it and Amacon followed. Then, on Aug. 6, GCon left the project site for good, taking materials with it.
“They were removed not in the dead of night or without notice or an opportunity for Amacon to observe what was happening, but in fact in coordination with Amacon’s local representatives,” Ryan Williams, an attorney for GCon, told Jones at last week’s hearing.
Amacon claims that GCon took the bracing that stabilized an upper floor of one of the towers as well as the reshore, or temporary support system beneath concrete slabs, causing cracking on the level beneath it, about 400 feet above the heart of Denver’s downtown.
“GCon is only thinking of itself, acting out without thought just to make a point,” Amacon wrote in the emergency request for a temporary restraining order that it filed Aug. 15. “GCon has put at risk the lives of all personnel on site at the project as well as the general public.”
While an engineer has determined that the towers are structurally sound for now, Amacon worries that additional removals could have fatal consequences. The developer claims that a GCon executive vowed Aug. 7 to keep removing equipment and, on Aug. 12, a second exec was denied entry to the site. He has been seen in a nearby parking lot since, Amacon claims.
“The concern is that GCon could come in,” Amacon attorney Kirsten Kube told Jones. “It’s a big construction site and they can’t be monitoring every single person that is coming in. GCon has been there since 2022, they know the site, they know the personnel, the trades.”
“This is an emergency,” Kube went on to say. “This is a building that needs to be secure.”
Williams, the attorney for GCon, said “there are no plans, there is no immediate need, for additional material removal or equipment removal.” But his client believes it owns the shoring materials and doesn’t like paying $25,000 per month to rent equipment Amacon uses.
“There is concern that if this project, for whatever reason, takes longer than expected, there continues to be an accruing debt for the equipment rental,” Williams said at the hearing.
Artist renderings of what the completed Upton Residences will look like. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Jones urged Williams and Kube to talk things over, then left his courtroom for 20 minutes while they did. When he returned, the two sides had agreed that GCon would stay away from the jobsite indefinitely. The judge then issued an order barring GCon from being at the site.
Amacon’s lawsuit will move ahead in the meantime. It is suing GCon for breach of contract and seeking what it calls “extraordinary damages totaling at least $10 million,” which includes money it paid GCon, costs to remedy GCon’s work, and delays in completing the project.
At last week’s hearing, Jones warned GCon’s executives to stay away from 1800 Welton St.
“If I say ‘thou shalt not,’ you better not, because then you’re subject to the potential of contempt. Only my spouse gets to ignore my word with impunity,” the judge said with a laugh.
The Upton Residences complex at 1800 Welton St. in downtown Denver on Aug. 21, 2025. (Justin Wingerter/BusinessDen)
A concrete subcontractor has been barred from stepping foot on the jobsite for two high-rise condo towers in downtown Denver after the project’s general contractor accused it of “impulsively and irrationally” removing concrete supports and risking a catastrophic collapse.
“The one time that I think a judge is taught to consider a temporary restraining order is when somebody is saying that a building’s going to fall down,” Denver District Judge Bruce Jones said at a hearing Aug. 19 before ordering GCon Co. to avoid 1800 Welton St.
The Upton Residences will have 461 condos spread between two towers of 38 stories and 32 stories. It is the city’s largest condo development since The Spire in 2009.
As it sells units ahead of a 2026 opening, The Upton has been delayed by an escalating dispute between Amacon Construction, its Canadian general contractor, and GCon, a subcontractor out of Castle Rock, that led the latter to quit working and the former to sue for $10 million.
GCon joined the project soon after it broke ground in mid-2022, under a contract that would pay it $16 million. There is no mention of discord in Amacon’s lawsuit until May of this year, when GCon demanded payments and Amacon complained about the quality of GCon’s work.
Upton Residences seen from a nearby office tower in March. (BusinessDen file)
GCon stopped working May 23 and months of failed negotiations between it and Amacon followed. Then, on Aug. 6, GCon left the project site for good, taking materials with it.
“They were removed not in the dead of night or without notice or an opportunity for Amacon to observe what was happening, but in fact in coordination with Amacon’s local representatives,” Ryan Williams, an attorney for GCon, told Jones at last week’s hearing.
Amacon claims that GCon took the bracing that stabilized an upper floor of one of the towers as well as the reshore, or temporary support system beneath concrete slabs, causing cracking on the level beneath it, about 400 feet above the heart of Denver’s downtown.
“GCon is only thinking of itself, acting out without thought just to make a point,” Amacon wrote in the emergency request for a temporary restraining order that it filed Aug. 15. “GCon has put at risk the lives of all personnel on site at the project as well as the general public.”
While an engineer has determined that the towers are structurally sound for now, Amacon worries that additional removals could have fatal consequences. The developer claims that a GCon executive vowed Aug. 7 to keep removing equipment and, on Aug. 12, a second exec was denied entry to the site. He has been seen in a nearby parking lot since, Amacon claims.
“The concern is that GCon could come in,” Amacon attorney Kirsten Kube told Jones. “It’s a big construction site and they can’t be monitoring every single person that is coming in. GCon has been there since 2022, they know the site, they know the personnel, the trades.”
“This is an emergency,” Kube went on to say. “This is a building that needs to be secure.”
Williams, the attorney for GCon, said “there are no plans, there is no immediate need, for additional material removal or equipment removal.” But his client believes it owns the shoring materials and doesn’t like paying $25,000 per month to rent equipment Amacon uses.
“There is concern that if this project, for whatever reason, takes longer than expected, there continues to be an accruing debt for the equipment rental,” Williams said at the hearing.
Artist renderings of what the completed Upton Residences will look like. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Jones urged Williams and Kube to talk things over, then left his courtroom for 20 minutes while they did. When he returned, the two sides had agreed that GCon would stay away from the jobsite indefinitely. The judge then issued an order barring GCon from being at the site.
Amacon’s lawsuit will move ahead in the meantime. It is suing GCon for breach of contract and seeking what it calls “extraordinary damages totaling at least $10 million,” which includes money it paid GCon, costs to remedy GCon’s work, and delays in completing the project.
At last week’s hearing, Jones warned GCon’s executives to stay away from 1800 Welton St.
“If I say ‘thou shalt not,’ you better not, because then you’re subject to the potential of contempt. Only my spouse gets to ignore my word with impunity,” the judge said with a laugh.
