For more than a century, Union Station has been a symbol of mobility. In the early days, Denver residents relied on its
trains to connect them with the rest of the nation. Once highways took over that function, the depot was left to decay in a
tangle of freight lines. Now it comes to life only twice a day when Amtrak’s California Zephyr passes through, the station’s
cavernous waiting room silent otherwise. All that will change, as work starts on a regional transportation project
connecting metro residents to points far beyond.
When it won the contract to redevelop Denver’s historic Union Station and surrounding property six months ago, Union Station Neighborhood Co. moved into a ground-floor office on site.
As contract negotiations continue for the $1 billion, 19.5-acre project, the team has kept busy by polishing its original plan.
The routes of bus lanes that will be buried underground have been shifted, for example, allowing space for a moving sidewalk between the light-rail tracks and the station. And items that block a full view of the building – canopies, steel storefront and mechanical systems on the west side – will be removed.
“We’re focusing on design refinement and details of the transit solution,” said Mike Reininger, the team’s managing partner.
Formed last year during the competition for the project, Union Station Neighborhood Co. is a partnership between Continuum Partners and East West Partners. Both companies have offices just blocks from the century-old station, but they decided in February to open a new office.
“We felt it was important for us to have our feet here on the ground,” Reininger said. “There certainly is a buzz in the neighborhood and the marketplace about what could happen here.”
Spending time in Union Station has given the team an active presence in the community, and it has given them a close-up look at the building’s potential.
An Amtrak ticket counter now stretches along the east wall of the station’s waiting room. The team plans to move it, creating a sense of transparency so that people looking at Union Station from the Wyn koop Street side can see through to the Central Platte Valley, Reininger said.
Once the contract has been signed, the team can start transforming the old station into Denver’s new regional transportation hub. Their work will include burying existing rail lines to the west, building a station for new FasTracks transit lines from throughout the region, and filling the vacant Central Platte Valley with residential, office and retail buildings.
The team will begin by renovating the depot and building the light-rail station, with a target date of 2009. By 2011, it plans to complete the rest of the transportation and street-level improvements, and begin its retail development.
Although plenty still needs to be done at the station, the Regional Transportation District has spent more than $5 million on repairs and renovations during the six years it has owned it, said Richard Rost, manager of facilities engineering for FasTracks.
Revenue generated from the parking lots paid for work that has included elevator modernization, HVAC upgrades, parking-lot renovation, roofing upgrades and window replacements.
Improvements planned for this year have been put on hold as RTD also waits for contract negotiations to conclude, Rost said.
Staff writer Margaret Jackson can be reached at 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com.
