Lakewood – A master plan to be completed in a year will serve as a guide for the Denver Federal Center’s reinvention as an urban commercial hub, a General Services Administration official said Thursday night.
The proposed relocation of St. Anthony Central Hospital and creation of a light-rail transit station on the southern edge of the 670-acre federal campus has spurred the long-range review.
“We will continue to serve our Federal Center tenants, but we also want to make it more vibrant,” Lisa Morpurgo, senior project planner for the GSA, told several hundred people at an open house on the master plan.
Under several agreements, about 65 acres of the center, which lies between West Sixth and West Alameda avenues and Kipling Street and Union Boulevard, would be used for the hospital and transit station.
Within the next six months, the plan calls for the federal government to transfer the land under a lease to the city, which would assign the lease rights to the Regional Transportation District and St. Anthony.
The city will annex the entire Federal Center, although it will rezone only the hospital and transit station areas.
The hospital, which has announced it is leaving its cramped quarters at 4231 W. 16th Ave., could break ground late this year or in early 2007, said Lakewood City Manager Mike Rock.
Completion of the 380-bed hospital – the first full-scale hospital in the 144,000-resident city – is expected in 2010.
In return, the Federal Center will retain a secure area for 25 federal agencies while gaining improvements for infrastructure that dates back to the center’s role as a World War II ordnance manufacturer.
The west corridor light-rail system, with a stop planned at the Federal Center, is scheduled to begin operation in 2013.
Traffic flowing out of the redeveloped area is a major concern of Lakewood residents.
“Union already is overcrowded with cars, and the redevelopment will force cars onto Alameda,” said Keith Dameron, a former State Patrol officer. “There needs to be a connection between Kipling and Union.”
Others don’t want a hospital.
“Who wants a hospital with ambulances and low-flying aircraft?” said Claire Gehrett, who has lived near the Federal Center since 1945. “The hospital is being crammed down our throats.”
Staff writer Ann Schrader can be reached at 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
