The Rocky Mountain News today reports that the Gart family and ING Clarion Partners have purchased the Denver Pavilions for $94.5 million. They plan about $25 million in upgrades including large video screens and escalators that extend to the edge of the 16th Street Mall. Here the full article by John Rebchook. Also, here’s an artist’s sketch of the new look (image courtesy of Communication Arts):

It’s certainly good news that the Pavilions has been purchased by a local group and that they plan to invest quite a bit of money into the complex. But, if we really want to turn the Pavilions around into a thriving retail center, let’s slap up a couple of 40-story towers with a ground-floor Macy’s on those ugly parking lots behind the Pavilions. That’ll do the trick. Seriously, with Makovsky working on something big for Block 162 and with Brookfield now in control of both of the lots behind the Pavilions, the long-term prospects for that area are exciting. Since one of the biggest barriers to development in Downtown is blocks with fractured ownership by dysfunctional families, having those three large development sites under the ownership of proven developers is a huge accomplishment.