After years of controversy over the future of the Park Hill Golf Course, city officials say the vast piece of undeveloped land in northeast Denver will open to the public as a park this summer under the terms of a land-swap deal with the developer that owns the site.
The city plans to acquire the 155-acre property from its owner, Westside Investment Partners, by trading the open space for an empty 145-acre, city-owned parcel in Adams County near Denver International Airport. Mayor Mike Johnston announced the deal Wednesday during a late-morning news conference at the former golf course, along with City Councilwoman Shontel Lewis and community leaders.
“This will be the largest acquisition of private property for park space in the city’s history,” Johnston said. “We think this sets us up for great success in this community for a long time to come.”
The park also would be one of the largest in the city and would be managed by Denver Parks and Recreation under the deal. The exchange still needs formal approval from the Adams County commissioners and the Denver City Council.
One of the largest remaining plots of undeveloped land in the city, the former golf course has been the subject of debate for decades as the community has weighed whether affordable housing, a golf course or a park belongs there.
Most recently, voters in 2023 handily rejected a plan to turn the land into a major mixed-use development, including thousands of units of housing and significant acreage dedicated to parks and open space. The site, located north of 35th Avenue and east of Colorado Boulevard, has been closed to the public since then.
In 2021, Denverites that would require a citywide vote for any future attempt to end a conservation easement on the land that mandates its use as a golf course. In the same election, voters rejected a companion measure that would have allowed development of the area.
Earlier, in 2017, Denver abandoned a previous effort to buy the property over legal difficulties.
“It’s not about winning. It’s about what’s right,” said former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, a longtime advocate for keeping the land as open space, during the news conference. “And it’s nice when you can have what’s right and win at the same time, which is what we did.”
The land, which operated as a golf course until 2018, was purchased by Westside for $24 million in 2019.
The land that Westside will receive if the trade wins approval is roughly three miles south of Denver International Airport’s terminal. It is north of East 56th Avenue at Valley Head Street, near newer distribution centers and commercial buildings, according to a map provided by the mayor’s office. It’s part of a 320-acre parcel of open fields owned by the city of Denver.
The Adams County assessor of $26,586 for the larger parcel. If Adams County changes the current airport-adjacent zoning — with limited allowed uses, including farming and ranching — that could increase. So close to DIA, residential development is unlikely.
Penfield Tate, a former state senator and mayoral candidate who advocated for making the site public open space, said at the news conference that the community had been extremely clear about what it wanted from the property.
“Over the past eight years, I never thought this day would come,” he said. “Today is a celebration of what collective action can do, because many of us here have been in this fight together for a long time.”
Lewis, the councilwoman whose district includes the site, called the deal a symbol of hope and equity for the Park Hill neighborhood, a historically Black community.
“This is not just another park, it’s a space that will bring … diverse neighbors together and breathe new life into an area that has been neglected for far too long,” she said.
The city plans to solicit feedback from the community to decide what amenities will be available at the park, potentially including walking trails, sports courts, performance stages and shaded areas. The community will also help name the park, Johnston said. Residents can provide their thoughts at .
While the long-term plan is developed, officials will ask the community for feedback on what kind of lower-cost amenities — such as a dog park, picnic tables or a disc golf course — they should build.
In the meantime, the city will fix broken walkways and trim overgrown areas before opening the site as open space. Some fencing will remain, but entryways will be opened.
The conservation easement, which is owned by the city and maintains the land as a golf course, will dissolve once the city takes ownership, Johnston said.
When he campaigned for office, Johnston supported the plan to develop the land into affordable housing and open space. But when Question 2O failed in 2023, he vowed to turn the land into a park.
Johnston said he would still work to develop affordable housing in the surrounding neighborhoods.
“Historically, the fastest way to gentrify a neighborhood is to add a park,” Johnston said. “We have to make sure that all of the land that surrounds this park continues to be available, affordable and accessible to the folks that have lived in this community historically and continue to make their home here.”
If the land swap wins approval, the former golf course would become the fourth-largest park in the city, behind City Park, Sloan’s Lake and Washington Park.
The city didn’t pay anything for the land but will have to invest some of its budget — from the dedicated to parks, trails and open space — into developing the park’s amenities.
