The light rail plaza officially opened to the public around 10AM on Friday, May 18^th. Here are some pictures of the celebration Kiewit threw at noon to mark to occasion – which included comments from Councilwoman Judy Montero, music from the band Electric Avenue, and dance performances from a women’s Zumba troop.

The most noticeable change to the plaza over the last couple of weeks has been the completion of the detail work of the pavers and the final landscaping of the plaza, planters, and benches.  Below are close-ups of a couple of planters:

Here are close-ups of the landscaping surrounding the benches adjacent to Chestnut Pavilion

But to truly appreciate the scale and design of the plaza – I took the following pictures from the 8^th floor pool area of the Glass House.  I’m sure you will agree…the plaza is truly stunning!  But I can’t tell if the plaza looks better in the daytime or at night?  What do you think?

Finally, I saved my favorite photo for last. To me, what makes a public space great is not just how it looks, but if the public actually uses it. We have a little while until the plaza will be fully utilized, but for now though, check out this photo of the plaza full of Rockies fans heading to the game on Friday night!

First of all, the station itself is historic. Yeah, it’s 131 years old, but I think the more important part of its age is the people who have traveled through the old building. Of the millions of Union Station’s travelers, I’m sure that the vast majority was ordinary people simply going from Point A to Point B. Many others were soldiers and sailors going to wars, sadly fewer coming home. Still others were going off to and coming home from college, weddings, vacations, meetings, you name it. In the early days, I bet many were get-rich-quick schemers, gunslingers, gamblers, plus those who hoped to tame the schemers, gunslingers and gamblers. Through it all, Union Station welcomed them: the good, the great, and the bad.

Second, it’s big: hundreds of millions of dollars, hundreds of workers, years of work.

Third, it’s nice. The complete project will fill in the only remaining space that was once, well, you know … pretty ugly. A bustling bus station, and shiny, new buildings will be a dramatic improvement.

Fourth, we can see a glorious future. I think it’s fascinating that the old, great station can come back to life with even more ordinary, famous, and infamous characters. The prognosticators predict that 220,000 passengers a day will travel through the station complex within a few years. By comparison, last year, 147,000 passenger a day traveled through DIA which was the eleventh busiest airport in the world.

Fifth, there is probably a personal connection for you. There is for me, and I’m the new kid in town. When Ken Schroeppel and I discussed this milestone posting, he suggested that I had become an “accidental celebrity-blogger.” That put a smile on my face and caused me to think about how it happened. My wife Cini and I traveled to Denver about 15 years ago when we lived in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We were searching for a big-city downtown to which we could retire when the time came several years later. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt on Welton Street for several days, during which we strolled around downtown. When we came upon Union Station, we wandered in, sat on one of the big benches, and gawked around the train room which was occupied only by a couple of Amtrak employees. We pondered the day when we could live here and ride the train.

Fast forwarded to about 2005 when my retirement was approaching. We chose Denver as the place to live, having rejecting places like Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, Phoenix, and many other big cities. In anticipation of our move, I wanted to learned more about the city that would become home. I don’t remember how it happened, but I found DenverInfill. After watching the blog for several months, I contacted Ken via email, and he responded. A year or so later, we moved to the 19th floor of Glass House. We had a bird’s eye view of the station and an intense interest in the goings-on in our new hometown. When I joined the board of Union Station Advocates, I finally met Ken.  One thing led to another, and I accepted his offer to write the Union Station blog.

And lastly, I think we like this project because of our collective personal involvement. I am impressed with the rigorous process through which dreamers go to get big things done, and done right. Among the long list of tasks, they seek input from anyone willing to provide it, and they negotiate differences of opinion. In the end, we all become owners of the result, even if it’s a tiny piece of ownership. The process isn’t easy, and it isn’t quick. But when it’s done, it can be magnificent.

So, there you have it. According to your resident blogger, that’s why we like this bus station.

The Community Coordinating District (CCD No.1) is a unique metropolitan district (metro district) established to facilitate public improvement and development initiatives throughout the Denver metro area. They’ve recently engaged “virtual town hall” technology through Mind Mixer and are making a push through the attached Mini-Contest to raise awareness of their own website.

CCD No.1 was created to address a familiar hurdle in community development projects. The challenge, as with most collaborative efforts, is aligning multiple stakeholders to work together toward a common goal. This requires a clear and actionable strategy, the right funding resources, and positive action from everyone involved

With many of these issues especially prevalent in Northeast Downtown neighborhoods, CCD No. 1 was established with cooperation from Councilwoman Judy Montero, the Ballpark Neighborhood Association, and Urban Market Partners to help with placemaking efforts and other goals of the Northeast Downtown Neighborhoods – specifically in and around the Triangle Parks area. We’ve all seen the Triangle Parks along Broadway near shelters at Lawrence and know there’s work to be done.

It’s important to highlight that this metro or “Special District” is the first of its kind in that it has no Service Area Plan Boundaries. In fact, the District has no geographical boundaries and provides an “Opt-in” structure so that other groups or community development efforts can someday use this as a vehicle to more efficiently partner with their respective City.

For their pilot project, CCD No. 1 has chosen Eddie Maestas Park at Park Avenue and Lawrence Street, across from the Denver Rescue Mission. The conversation has since expanded and is now addressing issues and opportunities at Sonny Lawson Park and along the entire 24th Street corridor. It’s clear that the issues surrounding the Triangle Parks are just as much about the social infrastructure as they are the physical design or infrastructure. Further, what happens at Eddie Maestas affects Curtis Park and Sonny Lawson Park, so a more global, holistic approach to the programming of the neighborhood wide public realm is needed.

You can learn more about CCD No. 1 by visiting their website or find them on Facebook.

This coming Monday (21^st) at 5:30PM, CCD No. 1 will be hosting its Monthly Public Work Session Meeting at Redline at 24th and Arapahoe.  This meeting is especially important because ALL temporary design plans for Triangle Parks will be presented. The goal is to collect all public and stakeholder feedback and select a concept to advance. The CCD No. 1 Creative Working Group meets every Monday at 10AM at 450 E. 17th Ave #400. This group exists to focus on the temporary and long term vision surrounding Eddie Maestas. The Long Term Vision Group meets every Monday at 11AM at Redline. This group focuses on the entire Northeast Downtown neighborhood area and the many possibilities for revitalization. Any and all are welcome and encouraged to attend both the monthly work session next Monday and the Creative Working Group meetings!

Both photos below show progress of the newest section of the bus terminal.  I took the first one from inside Union Station. Atop the shorter columns with lower beams will be tracks commuter rail and Amtrak.  The taller columns with higher beams are the bases for passenger platforms. As you may recall from earlier posts, there will be eight sets of tracks: one Amtrak, five commuter rail, and two spares.

The next photo is looking down the entrance/exit ramp.  Buses will access this ramp from 18th Street and from the I-25 HOV lane. Recall that there is another ramp at the other end of the terminal with access to 20th Street and 15th Street via another section of 18th Street and Chestnut Place.

Andy posed for the photo below to give scale to the height of the structure. He is standing next to one of the bus terminal walls. From every angle, this bus terminal is big.

In related news, the public plaza surrounding the Chestnut Pavilion will open on May 18. Trees are being planted and lighting is being installed. It will be impressive, especially at night, with lights under the edges of the planter seats, lights shining up through the trees, spot lights on the three ventilation towers, and decorative lighting throughout the area. Andy plans to cover the opening event on the 18th.

Backfilling on the south side of the terminal is nearly complete.  The huge pile dirt is still pretty huge so there may be enough on-site dirt to finish the job.

Andy Vuong and I got an inside look at the project last week. I will provide details of the tour over the next couple of days before I leave on another extended trip.

Today, we’ll start with a peek inside the bus terminal. Here is a series of photos taken of the covered portion of the terminal. The first photo was taken from the end of the terminal looking down one of the two bus lanes toward Union Station.  The bright light at the end of the tunnel is the uncovered, newest section of the terminal. The second photo was taken of the passenger waiting area looking in the opposite direction.  The overhead, natural light comes from the five skylights.

The first photo below is looking up through the air intake tower.  The second is one of three mechanical rooms.

I’ve uploaded 18 photos of the tour to our Denver Union Station page at JobSiteVistor.com.  I will write more about them in this blog tomorrow.

First, the project has a new name: One City Block—kind of appropriate since the project will cover one full city block. Currently, that one city block is covered by one ugly sea of asphalt. Here’s a GoogleEarth aerial where I’ve outlined this project’s location (click to embiggen, of course):

As you can see, this part of Uptown needs a parkinglotectomy, so One City Block is just what the doctor ordered.

The project consists of four buildings named after some of Denver’s urban parks: The Benedict, the Congress, the Washington, and the Commons. Here are some updated renderings (thanks to Davis Partnership Architects) of this 300-unit residential development that’s aiming for LEED-Silver certification.

This first image shows the block’s north side along E. 19th Avenue, with The Congress on the left and The Benedict on the right. It’s along this side of the project where the approximately 9,000 square feet of retail will be located.

Moving around the block in a clockwise direction, here’s the northeast corner, E. 19th Avenue and Pennsylvania Street, looking southwest at The Congress:

This is a view looking northwest at The Washington, located on the block’s southeast corner of E. 18th Avenue and Pennsylvania:

Next, this is the block’s southwest corner, with E. 18th Avenue in the foreground and Logan Street off to the left. The building on the right is The Washington, and on the left, The Commons:

Finally, here’s a rendering showing the pool in the center courtyard, looking southwest. On the left is the western end of The Washington, followed by The Commons in the corner and then on the right, The Benedict, which wraps all the way around the block’s northwest corner to bring us back to where we started in the first image:

Parking is no longer being permitted on the site. Later this month, site prep work and utility relocations should begin as the first steps in the project’s construction. The entire project should be completed by late 2013.

Earth-moving equipment has been moved onto the property and site prep and utility work will begin later this week. Here’s the rendering we showed you last time:

Also, here’s a GoogleEarth aerial image where I’ve marked the project location:

Cadence will be a LEED-Gold certified building and is scheduled to be completed by Fall 2013.

16 Wewatta will occupy the “triangle” parcel at 16th and Wewatta, across the street from the Gates HQ building. For the past several years, the grassy property has served as a temporary sculpture garden/dog-walking park, but its long-term fate has always been as a development site. That time has arrived, with East West currently marketing an 11-story office building for the parcel. Here’s a GoogleEarth aerial image with the site outlined, and a street-level view:

16 Wewatta would include underground parking, ground-floor lobby and retail spaces facing 16th Street, two levels of parking, and eight floors of office space totaling roughly 200,000 square feet. Like its cousin at 16th and Chestnut, 16 Wewatta is currently in the concept design stage. Consequently, the following images, provided courtesy of East-West Partners and their design partner klipp architecture, are very preliminary in nature and subject to change.

The first image is the ground-floor site plan and the second image is the view of the 16th and Wewatta corner of the building:

East West Partners will continue to refine the building program and design while marketing the project to prospective tenants. We’ll post more on this project as it develops.

We’ve had some great turnouts lately! Thank you to everyone for your interest and enthusiasm in this project that will transform Downtown Denver and the region.

Here’s how it works: Head on down to the LoDo side of the historic station at 17th & Wynkoop at about 9:50 AM. Whoever shows up, that will be our tour group. We’ll start promptly at 10:00 AM and conclude around 11:00 AM at the new light rail station by the Millennium Bridge. The suggested donation for the tour is $10 per person and all proceeds go to the non-profit Student Chapter of the American Planning Association at the University of Colorado Denver, but you’re welcome to attend regardless of what you can donate.

On the tour, we’ll see and talk about all four aspects of this major project: the transit elements, the public spaces, the renovation of the historic station, and—as you know from following this blog over the past week or so—lots of private-sector developments!

See you Saturday morning!

Alliance Residential will be breaking ground this summer on Broadstone Blake Street, a 6-story, 164-unit apartment building located at the corner of 22nd and Blake, across from the right-field corner of Coors Field. Here’s a GoogleEarth image where I’ve marked the project site:

Alliance Residential is already very experienced with development on this block. In the late 2000s, Alliance completed 2101 Market, the 226-unit apartment building across the alley that also incorporated the restoration and rooftop expansion of the adjacent Piggly Wiggly Building. This site was going to be a second phase to that project, known as 2120 Blake, but the financial crisis of 2008 intervened, so the Blake phase was put on hold.

Now that the economy is quickly recovering and Denver’s rental market has significant momentum, the Blake street project is back. While still technically a follow-up phase to 2101 Market, Broadstone Blake Street is really a stand-alone development in its own right. Alliance took the opportunity during the delay to redesign the Blake development to align with today’s Downtown market demands, with more studio and one-bedroom units aimed at young professionals. Broadstone Blake Street will be a separate apartment community from its Market Street neighbor, complete with its own line-up of amenities including a WiFi lounge, pool, fitness center, business center, and outdoor spaces. Another neat design feature includes ground-floor units along Blake Street with stoop porches to give the building a more pedestrian-scaled frontage.

Here are two renderings, courtesy of Andy at Alliance Residential. Top, the view of the 22nd and Blake corner; bottom, a view from near 21st and Blake. Click to embiggen.

Construction on the project should begin soon, with completion scheduled for early 2014.

The impact of completing the development of a block like this is profound. Not only will it give us several hundred more Downtown residents, which cannot be overemphasized, but it also represents another big step in restoring the building block urban forms in our city’s core. To quote myself from last week, “great cities are comprised of a tight-knit fabric of pedestrian-friendly buildings that frame public spaces used for mobility, access, and social interaction.” That is why this project is so important.