Another huge milestone in the Denver Union Station redevelopment has been reached: the fountains on Wynkoop Plaza are up and running! The weather was great today and pedestrians were already enjoying the newly opened section of Wynkoop Plaza; including children playing in the fountains! Here are a couple of pictures, thanks to our very own Ken Schroeppel.
This is a very exciting stage in the redevelopment as July 26th, the grand opening date of both the plaza and historic station, nears! We will see you there in 31 days!
My favorite things so far. It’s the spaces between the buildings that will make it great! (Also, lots of patios.)
Amazing how kids know what to do with water spraying on smooth stone. Oblivious to the scene, the buildings, the history all around. Just spontaneous fun. And after all the big minds, the millions, the planning, children run in barefoot, and it’s magic.
Way cool. The perfect spot for kids and kids-at-heart.
FYI – the grand opening date of July 12 will be a soft opening. The fun and games they have planned has been moved back to July 26.
http://www.9news.com/story/money/business/2014/06/18/denver-union-station-grand-opening/10768577/
Seeing this fountain in person yesterday was quite a surprise. I went on a walk around noon yesterday and it was all fenced off and the workers were still pounding pavers into the sidewalk. Fast forward 6 hours and it’s open the the water is on! It looks better in person than the renderings in my opinion, and it was awesome to see people were already playing in it and enjoying the surrounding newly-opened plaza area. Can’t wait for the (soft) opening.
Been working in this area the past several years and have seen everything from the bus terminal excavation and did many walk-throughs of the pre-closure Union Station building to get a better up-close view of the bus terminal work. Great to be able to go into the Amtrak area and out onto the platform, but will be great to see the upgraded whole building.
Still curious if 16 Chestnut is actually going to be built – it’s been in the works for a while. Wondering how the renovated Millennium Bridge might impact that project since the workers are digging a trench on that side of the bridge.
Hey Chris at EWP, what can you tell us?
16 Chestnut is still in design. It takes a long time to design a building.
Went by today around 11:15 and the fountains weren’t on–our 3-year-old was pretty disappointed. It would be great if they could publish the schedule that they should be running on (or let us know if they’re not in fact on until the soft opening/grand opening).
Last week the fountains were on at 3 different times of day when I walked by (early morning, mid-day, and early evening) on different days. Then they were off the rest of the week that I could tell. There still are some pavers that needed to be cut to fit the spaces to be laid surrounding the fountain, so maybe they have turned it off until they are completely done with the plaza, or as you said until the 12th or 26th.
I still find it awesome that the general public can wander around in the train hall. There was a non-Amtrak train parked there last week and I was able to walk right up to it and check out the old-style cars. Hopefully they don’t ever restrict this access!
I love the idea of this fountain, but agree with an earlier post that a schedule would be great. I’ve taken my three kids there twice (both mid-day weekend days). You guessed it, the fountain was not on either time. We’ve given up till we see a schedule. If it’s not running on a beautiful weekend afternoon in July, not sure when it would be.
Scott,
It turns out the fountain isn’t officially open yet. The day I was there they had it on for the Clinton Global Initiative thing. I believe it will be turned on permanently either July 12 when the Crawford Hotel opens or July 26 with the public grand opening or maybe sometime in between.
I was there yesterday and it was FINALLY on but still blocked off. Second, it’s kinda loud. I hope the other side gets something cool like that. Right now it’s just a big open space.
What do you expect, it’s a fountain and they do make noise!