Congratulations to the Continuum/East West Partners team on their selection as the master developer for Denver’s Union Station! Yesterday, the city’s Union Station executive committee chose the Continuum/East West team to guide the billion dollar buildout of the multi-modal transportation hub at the historic Union Station, part of Denver’s massive FasTracks transit program approved by voters in November, 2004. For the more on the selection, here are artcles from the News (Real Work Can Begin) and the Post (All Aboard at Union Station).
The competition between the final two developer teams and their respective plans was an intense and engaging experience for our city. Both teams put forth intriguing plans that offered enough differences between them to stir inpassioned debate, and left many people, myself included, drawn to elements of both plans. Fortunately, Denver was in the enviable position of having to choose between two outstanding teams and two visions committed to the same goal–a dynamic transit hub for Denver. The Continuum/East West Partners team has a proven record of creating fantastic urban places, and I have no doubt that is exactly what we are going to get from them at Union Station.
This is such an exciting time to be in Denver! Imagine how many cities would love to be in our position: On the eve of the grand opening of a major new light rail corridor, we also have just taken a significant step forward in the process of implementing an approved and funded plan to build an additional 119 miles of rail-based transport, complete with a major Downtown transit facility at a classic historic train station. All this at a time when we have just launched a major convention center expansion and hotel, a new art museum building, and so many Downtown infill projects that we need a website just to keep track of them all.
Now that the master developer selection has been made, it’s imperative that we support the Continuum/East West Partners team and, as a unified community, work with them to create a vibrant urban space and transit facility that will be the pride of Denver for the next century. In the coming weeks, I will explore the Continuum/East West Partners plan for Union Station in greater depth and share with you the details of this exciting chapter in Downtown Denver’s evolution. Now comes the fun part!
