Imagine hearing a variety of languages as you shop in a department store on the 16th Street Mall devoid of panhandlers. Surface parking lots have given way to office buildings with built-in parking. Condo and apartment towers rise to house the growing population. Service-oriented retailers support the urban lifestyle residents have come to expect.
An underground train runs to Denver International Airport.
An underground city has been built to complement it.
These are a sampling of visions for Denver in the coming years, some of downtown’s denizens tell the Denver Post.
It has been nearly 20 years since Denver developed its first downtown plan. This week, the city will begin the process of selecting a consultant for a second plan. The new plan will shape downtown’s vision for itself for the next 25 years, the city says.
Proposals are due Wednesday. Denver expects to choose a consultant as yearly as next month.
To get a jump on the plan, The Post asked a dozen downtowners and lovers of downtown to share their vision for the city, circa 2030.
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Carl Bourgeois,
business manager of Civil Technology Inc.
“(Denver Underground) could probably be almost as popular as the mall itself.”
While the free 16th Street Mall shuttle is great, it’s time to re-evaluate it, said Bourgeois, business manager of Civil Technology Inc., a contractor. As the city’s light-rail system is developed and more people
start using downtown, “the mall is going to be too congested for safety and efficiency for the free mall shuttle,”
Bourgeois said. He envisions a new underground train that would take
the same route as the mall bus does from Civic Center Station to Union Station. It would stop every two blocks instead
of every block. People would be able to get off at Union Station and board a different train to Denver International
Airport. During the excavation for such a transit system, side
streets off the mall should be examined for their potential for a “Denver underground” of nightclubs, restaurants, delis and shops. “It could probably be almost as popular as
the mall itself.” Get rid of it: The Federal Reserve Bank branch should
be replaced with an upscale market, he said.
Tamara Door,
Downtown Denver Partnership
“I see a downtown where people
live down here, they work down here, their recreation is here.”
The president and chief executive of the Downtown Denver Partnership wants a downtown where owning a car isn’t a necessity. “I see a downtown where people live down here, they work down here, their recreation is here,” she said.
She also believes downtown will become a shopping destination over the
next two decades. “It’s less about attracting one big store than having a host of unique stores that stretch for blocks and blocks,” she said.
David Tryba
architect
“We need to rededicate ourselves to
that vision.” Tryba sees a downtown with 120,000 residences within 10 years. That’s 100 times the number in the original plan. Anew vision for downtown should build on former Mayor Robert Speer’s vision of creating a city within a park, which would include reactivating the numerous fountains throughout downtown, Tryba
said. “We need to rededicate ourselves to that vision.”
Susan Barnes-Gelt
former City Council member
“I have a fantasy that the big blue bear, which I love, will come alive some evening and instead of just leaning into the window, he’ll fall into the window and the Convention Center will collapse.” Denver needs to give developers who own parking lots incentives to replace them with housing, the former Denver City Councilmember
said. “Great downtowns are not places for special events. They’re about variety and diversity where real people live all the time.” Get rid of it: “I have a fantasy that the big blue bear, which I love, will come alive some evening and instead of just leaning into the window, he’ll fall into the window and the Convention Center will collapse.” (The name of Lawrence Argent’s ursine sculpture is “I See What You Mean.”)
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DREAM YOUR DOWNTON
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Kimberly Baltz,
regional vice president and director of First United Bank N.A.
“It would be nice if you could go and pick up something at lunch.” Downtown needs a department store, said Baltz, regional vice president and director of First United Bank N.A. “It would be nice if you could go and pick up something at lunch,” she said. Get rid of it: The La Boheme Cabaret building should be something other than a strip club. “I’m hoping someone will buy that building and put something better in.”
Lucia Guzman
Denver school board
“Because Denver is home to many, many immigrant people, businesses in the downtown area are going to need to be able to communicate with people in a variety of languages.” “We’re a Western city, but I’d like to see downtown
have more of an international flair,” said Guzman, director of human rights/community relations for Denver and a member of the Denver Public Schools Board of Education. “Because Denver is home to many, many immigrant people, businesses in
the downtown area are going to need to be able to communicate with people in a variety of languages Spanish, Russian,
Japanese,” she added. Downtown also needs its own public and private schools, said Guzman. “Particularly elementary and middle schools, because families with small kids always like to have a quality school that is nearby.”
The Rev. Kanya Okamoto
Denver Buddhist Temple
“Each building and business downtown has their own priorities and purpose.” “As Buddhists, we don’t believe in the
past, because it has already happened. And the future is an illusion, because it hasn’t happened yet,” said Okamoto, head minister for the Denver Buddhist Temple in downtown’s Sakura Square. “We try to live in the present moment,
so it’s hard to think 25 years out.” The best thing about downtown is the people, Okamoto said. “They’re friendly,”
he said. “Hopefully, that will stay the same.” Maintaining a wide variety of businesses is key to keeping downtown vibrant, he said. “Each building and business downtown has their own priorities and purpose,” he said. “Across the street from us is an adult bookstore, but that’s not a problem for Buddhists. They’re good neighbors. If adults want to go in there, that’s fine. They have to take responsibility for that.”
Denise Snyder
owner of the boutique Mariel
“I’d love to see a mini-department store like a Jacobson’s or a Macy’s
something we don’t have in any other mall in Denver.” Cleaning up the mall should be a priority, said Snyder, owner of the Larimer Square boutique Mariel. And measures should be taken so that residents and tourists feel safe
riding the mall bus at night. The mall’s tenant mix also needs improvement,
Snyder said. “I’d love to see a mini-department store like a Jacobson’s or a Macy’s something we don’t have in any other mall in Denver,” she said.
Charlie Biederman
developer
“I think there ought to be a total consideration and redesign of the 16th Street Mall so there is a
function of it other than people just walking up and down and buying
T-shirts.” Biederman sees street markets, outdoor dining and climate-controlled spaces that make the 16th Street Mall as appealing in the winter as it is in the summer. Moving sidewalks and enclosed bridges between buildings
would reduce the dependence on cars and give downtown more cohesion. “One of the things I always admired
about a city likeMunich is the small boutique restaurants around the squares, the variety of tastes and smells and the umbrella tables,” Biederman said. “I think there ought to be a total consideration
and redesign of the 16th Street Mall so there is a function of it other than people just walking up and down
and buying T-shirts.”
George Mannion
Lodo Restaurant Group Inc.
“If the Rockies were doing well, it would boost everyone’s business for the entire summer.” A perennially
strong professional baseball team that draws large crowds of hungry and thirsty sports fans to downtown
each summer is the dream of Mannion, managing partner at the Lodo Restaurant Group
Inc., which owns three downtown restaurants Lodo’s Bar and Grill, Mattie’s House of Mirrors and Croc’s Mexican
Grill. “Denver has a tradition of great sports teams the Broncos, the Avalanche, even the Nuggets,” he said. “But the Rockies, it’s just a poor product. Denver loves winners. If the Rockies were doing well, it would boost everyone’s
business for the entire summer.”
Bill Mosher
Mosher Sullivan Development Partners
“There is kind of no-man’s area between downtown and a lot of the adjacent neighborhoods.”
Mosher, president of Mosher Sullivan Development
Partners, has a lofty goal: increase the number of jobs downtown by more than 50 percent. “Downtown has really become a much more diverse place over the past 15 years, but we don’t want to lose our primary function,
which is being the center of commerce.” Mosher would also like to see downtown’snumeroussurface parking lots converted
into residences, offices and retail. “There is kind of no-man’s area between downtown and a lot of the adjacent
neighborhoods. Creating a much stronger pedestrian network is something we ought to focus on.”
Randy Nichols
president of the Nichols Partnership
“There’s not a lot of really good architecture in Denver. You could tear them all down and start over.” The developer, president of the Nichols Partnership, said he’d like to see more and
be part of high-rise residential projects downtown. “Everybody always talks about Vancouver and what a
great downtown they have because everybody lives there,” Nichols said. “Seeing
more of that in downtown Denver would be a good thing.” Get rid of it: Nichols wouldn’t name a
building. “I can’t pick one,” he said. “There’s not a lot of really good architecture in Denver. You could tear them
all down and start over.”
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