Joggers and bikers along Cherry Creek have a new paved, scenic trail to zip down.
Children of low-income parents can clamber over new playground equipment at renovated child-care centers.
And patrons of the Park Hill library branch can access automated checkout stations to take home their books.
Two years after Denver voters approved a $550 million bond infrastructure-improvement program, antiquated facilities throughout the city are getting spruced up while the designs and dimensions of new buildings are firming up.
City officials coordinating the program reported this past month the completion of 83 of the 283 bond projects. The city is behind on only 4 percent of the work schedule.
The progress on the bond program has been a rare bit of good news for a city governance hammered during a steep economic downturn. The construction jobs the program sparked allowed the city to put contractors to work during difficult times. At the same time, the economic decline kept construction costs in line and ensured projects remained within budgeted amounts.
“As far as rollouts are concerned, considering we’re a local government, I’m real pleased with the steady progress,” said Councilman Michael Hancock, who chairs the council committee overseeing the bond program.
Half of the projects are either in construction or completed. Through September, more than $105 million worth of construction work had been completed.
Finished projects include the restoration of the surface at the 20th Street indoor pool, the rehabbing of restrooms at Jefferson and Rude parks, and a complete overhaul of the Phipps special-exhibit gallery at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. The Denver Botanic Gardens also has new piping and irrigation.
Still to come are the bigger projects: three new library branches, a new recreation center in Stapleton, a new fire station in Lowry, a new crime lab and also a new firing range and traffic operations center for Denver police. The city also will build an education wing and collection storage facility for the Museum of Nature & Science and refurbish Boettcher Concert Hall.
Work on Boettcher has been delayed while the Colorado Symphony Orchestra studies just how ambitious a redo of Boettcher is feasible given the slowdown in the economy.
Voters approved $60 million in bond proceeds to renovate Boettcher, with the understanding private sources would contribute another $30 million.
Mayor John Hickenlooper has given the Colorado Symphony Orchestra until the spring to finalize a fundraising plan. The symphony still must raise at least $30 million privately, but it may try to seek more for more extensive renovations.
Fundraising also lagged earlier this year for the Museum of Nature & Science, which pledged it would raise $23 million privately to match $30 million in bond proceeds for the education wing and collection storage facility. Fundraising now has begun to pick up, helped with a $2.61 million federal geothermal stimulus grant that will go toward the heating and cooling system, said Laura Holtman, the museum’s spokeswoman. An engineering and design firm for the project will be hired by January, she said.
In the next three to four years, the city will have to come up with $7 million extra annually to pay for the operating costs of all the new facilities after savings also are calculated, said Ed Scholz, the mayor’s director of budget management. Revenue freed up from the retirement of city debt and extra property taxes expected to come as special development districts come back on line will ease the burden, he said.
Bond implementation manager Don Hunt said that with construction costs at 2007 levels because of the economic downturn, the city has left construction contingency funds virtually untouched. Officials dipped into the contingency funds only once, to pay for upgraded playground equipment, Hunt said.
“We’ve been able to maintain those contingencies,” Hunt said. “To me, that’s unheard of. I’ve never been in a program that I’ve been able to maintain a contingency two years into the program.”
The city also benefited from good timing.
Voters passed the bond infrastructure upgrade before the severe downturn in the economy hit.
Now, officials credit the bond program with providing work to contractors during lean times. It took 13 design firms and 22 construction companies to finish the 83 completed projects.
The last bond program approved in 1998 saw cost overruns exceeding 40 percent and significant delays. Such overruns aren’t occurring this time around.
“The timing has been impeccable,” Councilman Hancock said of the current program. “Some projects will actually come in under budget this time around.”
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
