The Denver Broncos have been busy on multiple fronts the past few weeks: Starting training camp to prepare for the upcoming season, and advancing a new stadium and mixed-use district at Burnham Yard as the organization races to meet a 2031 opening.
On the field, quarterback Bo Nix’s surgically repaired ankle hasn’t slowed him down so far, ramping up expectations for the season.
With Burnham Yard, the Broncos took a significant step this week by acquiring land from SRM Concrete for nearly 10 acres worth of parcels on the northern portion of the proposed district. Last week, the team released new renderings of the project.
Broncos owner and CEO Greg Penner told reporters Tuesday that there are “a lot of moving pieces” to work through before the club can set its sights on a spring 2027 construction start date.
Working with the city and residents on the Burnham Yard small area plan is one of those key pieces.
At a community meeting Wednesday at La Alma Recreation Center in Denver, Broncos officials, residents and city planners gathered at the third public open houseon the plan.
“We still believe Burnham Yard has the possibility to be a vibrant addition to this existing neighborhood,” said Damani Leech, president of the Denver Broncos, to a large crowd gathered inside the center.
Leech said the Broncos’ master plan for Burnham Yard and the stadium district is built around four cornerstones: knitting the new district into surrounding neighborhoods, honoring the site’s long rail and industrial history, making it easy for people to move through and gather in the area, and creating a place where residents, businesses and visitors can “grow and prosper for the next seven generations,” a framework the Broncos say is based on feedback from both the community and city staff.
Leech also addressed parking, which has been one of the top concerns expressed in the community meetings.
Initial parking will include structured parking on developed parcels and surface parking elsewhere. As parcels develop, surface parking will transition into structured parking that is integrated into the buildings.
In the initial phase, Leech said the area would have roughly the as the current setup at Empower Field at Mile High.
“Then we’ll get later into Phases 2 and 3, many years later,” Leech said.
“You’ll start to see more buildout. Some of that surface parking — becomes structured parking. And then you get to full buildout, and that’s the image you all saw publicly,” he said, referring to the recently released renderings.
Even after the final phase, Leech said, the area will have more than 1,000 surface parking spaces north and south of the stadium, designed for tailgating.
After a brief presentation by city staff and Leech, community members had the opportunity to explore a series of interactive stations at their own pace and provide input on neighborhood priorities, concerns and their vision for the future. The stations addressed topics including affordable housing, industrial land-use regulations, retail development, public art, quality of life and mobility.
Attendees used colorful dot stickers to indicate whether they considered various strategies a low, medium, or high priority. Most boards were covered with high-priority stickers, including those highlighting quality-of-life infrastructure, such as more trees and vegetation in the area. Sticky notes also captured attendees’ concerns, questions, and other thoughts.
One note called for improving pedestrian access at Eighth and 13th avenues, while another urged planners to “capture/collect” elements of the railyard’s history.
“Itap great to see this land being activated,” said Ben Trepp, a LoHi resident who frequently visits the Burnham Yard area, which he currently describes as a “barren wasteland.” He said he hopes it will eventually become “a really cool neighborhood that adds a lot to the city,” with new housing and businesses.
However, Trepp said he is not convinced a new stadium is necessary, arguing that the current stadium is adequate. He left a note under a meeting board about the 13th Avenue and RTD underpass improvements, expressing concerns that new light-rail grade crossings south of 10th Avenue could pose safety risks because trains travel quickly through the area.
Resident Laura Haygood, alongside her husband Marc, said they have been closely following the projectap development since moving from Texas to the neighborhood in May.
Haygood said the couple wanted to move closer to family but were initially shocked to learn about the project, which they hadn’t been aware of before moving. Living just a few blocks from Burnham Yard, she raised concerns about construction and parking in front of their new home, but not the stadium itself.
Still, Haygood praised the plans presented to the community Wednesday.
“I enjoyed that they gave us a way to interact and comment on our priorities,” Haygood said.
“As long as they do what they’re saying and really continue to work with the community, I think it will be great. I just hope that greed doesn’t get in the way and they look at the dollar over how they’re treating the community.” Small area plans are policy documents that guide future development decisions within specific geographic areas. The city in partnership with community members, gathering public input to shape a draft that will ultimately be reviewed and voted on by Denver’s Planning Board and City Council.
City planners expect to release a public review draft of the Burnham Yard Small Area Plan in October, with final adoption to follow near the end of this year after community feedback and revisions.
Representatives of Burnham Yard Community Action, a coalition of neighborhood residents, businesses, workers, artists and service providers, told The Post on Wednesday that discussions with the Broncos over a Community Benefits Agreement remain ongoing.
Leech said the team’s application to the Denver Urban Renewal Authority for assistance with the redevelopment through tax-increment financing is expected to be submitted in late August or early September, followed by a rezoning application after the draft Small Area Plan is published. City council approval is anticipated in 2027.
“Ultimately, all of that is getting up to a really critical timeline for us to deliver a stadium in the first phase of this district by 2031. We need to be beginning construction by early 2027, so that’s driving a lot of our timeline, but also is driving the benefit for this community and others,” Leech said.
Initial construction will focus on the stadium, infrastructure and key elements including the reimagined Locomotive Shop, Turntable Green and other mixed-use elements.
Leech also said the neighborhood is expected to have fewer heavy-rail crossings while adding more light-rail crossing locations.
Given the size of the proposed redevelopment, the site also must go through the city’s large development review process before construction can begin. The city said the club has already begun this process by submitting a pre-application, including a “high-level concept plan” for the site.
Burnham Yard is a 58-acre decommissioned railyard that closed in 2016. For nearly 150 years, the site served as a repair, refueling, maintenance, manufacturing and storage facility for railroad operations.
The property is in City Council District 3, between 4th and 13th Avenues to the south and north, and bordered by Seminole Road and Osage Street to the west and east. It sits in the La Alma-Lincoln Park neighborhood and borders the Baker neighborhood at the south end.
This story has been updated to include more comments and details from the community meeting.
