Treat transit riders who arrive in the city to free trips throughout downtown aboard streetcars, shuttles and circulator buses.
Build retail stores along Auraria’s Speer Boulevard frontage in an effort to connect the campus with downtown.
Creat an incubator to nurture existing small businesses and bring new ones to life.
Open a school to attract families downtown, and a public market that would showcase Colorado foods, products and fresh produce.
For the past 12 months, business and civic leaders have brainstormed these and dozens of other ways to keep downtown Denver vital. Their ideas are being shaped into what will, by spring, become a plan for growth through 2026.
The public will have an opportunity to see a draft of that Downtown Denver Area Plan and give feedback tonight at 5:30 at the Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center, in Capitol Rooms 5 and 6.
Among the priorities are connecting downtown with the rest of the metro area, preserving its economic vitality, supporting residents of all types and age groups, and creating a pleasant sidewalk experience.
“The thing we’ve heard from everybody is to really improve the pedestrian environment and make pedestrian travel a priority,” said Ellen Ittelson, who oversees downtown planning for the city of Denver.
At the same time, the group drawn together by the city and county of Denver and the Downtown Denver Partnership is eager to build on its strengths.
“(The 16th Street Mall) is a major spine and a major focal point. It’s been very successful up to now and is a signature of downtown Denver,” said Daniel Iacofano of Moore Iacofano Goltsman Inc., lead consultant for the plan.
While the plan is aimed at the next 20 years, there are several improvements the city can make now, said Jim Basey, co-chairman of the Downtown Denver Area Plan steering committee.
Connect the Auraria campus with the rest of downtown.
“We can do that before we do anything with Speer Boulevard, even though in the long term Speer needs to be much more of a connecting street than a racetrack going through the outskirts of downtown,” Basey said.
Dress up California Street.
“We’ve got a (convention center) hotel that’s averaging 1,000 rooms a night, and people come out the front door, look up California and say, ‘I don’t want to walk on that street,”‘ Basey said. “It’s poorly lit, and there’s no sign age.”
Broaden the concept of a theater district along 14th Street.
“It’s already got the major foundation,” Basey said. “Maybe there’s a way to push that so there are more amenities.”
The group hasn’t come up with specific recommendations for Civic Center, other than improving the space for public rather than retail or other private uses, Iacofano said.
“It should be the signature area where people gather for events or special occasions,” he said. “It should be a place of public debate or discourse. It should be a tie to the rest of downtown. It can also have a much stronger link to a revitalized Speer Boulevard and Cherry Creek corridor.”
Assistant Business Editor Linda Castrone contributed to this report.
Staff writer Margaret Jackson can be reached at 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com.
