As opposition continues to mount against digging up a corner of Civic Center for the state’s new history museum, a proposed compromise would put the museum into the existing McNichols Building on the northwest corner of Civic Center.
Under the proposal, the Colorado Historical Society would lease the McNichols Building, which houses the city auditor. The society would renovate the run-down, 48,000 -square-foot former Carnegie Library with state money, then build a large vault under the grass for exhibit and storage space.
The plan favored by the society would put a four-story, 48,000-square-foot building at the southwest corner of Civic Center, nearly a mirror image of the McNichols Building. The society also would renovate the 1912 McNichols Building for roughly $15 million in state funds, then set aside 32,000 square feet of it for a proposed cultural center operated by the city.
Opponents want the museum to relocate into the city’s vacant permit center at West 14th Avenue and Bannock Street. Their primary aim is to save the green and open space in Civic Center.
Proponents say the museum and cultural center would “activate” Civic Center.
Financial estimates slightly favor the new building in Civic Center at $103 million, with the permit center estimated to cost $107 million to $115 million. Observers at a City Council committee hearing Wednesday called the two existing proposals “a wash” financially. No figures have been disclosed about using only the McNichols Building.
Project manager Bill Mosher of Trammel Crow estimates the compromise could save between $10 million and $15 million.
The history museum at 13th Avenue and Broadway is being forced to move because of expansion plans by the state judicial center next door.
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper would neither confirm nor deny that the new proposal came out of his office. “We’re looking at a lot of options; nothing has been ruled out,” he said Wednesday through spokeswoman Sue Cobb.
Colorado Historical Society president Ed Nichols said the plan has not been discussed much, but he said it could work.
“It gets down to the issue of what’s best for the historical society,” Nichols said. “I’m very, very intent on the idea of the Colorado History Museum going into the Civic Center, out in the open.
“If that (McNichols Building) becomes the alternative, we could move forward with it.”
Nichols added that a small structure still would have to be built at the south end of the underground spaces for safety issues, including some type of entrance/exit structure.
The legislature has asked the society to propose a site and budget for the project by January.
However, architect David Tryba, who has been doing the design proposals for the society, said he opposes the compromise.
“There’s too much to be lost without having the synergy with the cultural center,” he said. “One without the other is a compromise I think doesn’t benefit the state or the city.”
Erin Trapp, the mayor’s director of cultural affairs, said the cultural center was proposed as a way of “activating” Civic Center. The open space is frequently occupied by the homeless and street people.
“It’s not clear that the Civic Center is the ideal location for the cultural center,” said Trapp, who said her staff could easily continue to operate out of the Webb Municipal Building.
Mike McPhee: 303-954-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com
