Most of Denver’s Civic Center Park is now closed as the city takes on the first major renovation of its features in a century.
The first phase of the project, estimated to cost $50 million, will make major changes to the Greek Theater and improve accessibility in the park. Some parts of the park, which is located in the heart of downtown, will remain open during construction.
“We’re working hard to pull fences down in a lot of parts of downtown,” Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said during a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday. “When we put them up, it’s because we think we have a chance to accelerate the long-term growth of the city.”
The first phase of the renovation is expected to last until summer 2027.
The biggest change will be a major remodel of the Greek Theater on the south side of the park. The design, from Studio Gang, includes plans to move the stage to the opposite side of the theater and add a giant shade canopy overhead. Construction crews will also make the theater accessible to wheelchair users.
Officials hope the new design can attract new local events to the park.
Renovation crews will also build a plaza dedicated to the “Gang of 19,” a group of disabled activists who, in 1978, blocked two buses as a protest to the lack of wheelchair accessibility in the city’s public transportation. The protesters stayed put for two days until the Regional Transportation District agreed to add lifts to its buses. It was the first public transit agency in the country to do so.
The plans also call for the entire park to add more accessible pathways, new secluded garden spaces, plazas and landscaping.
Civic Center, dreamed up by Mayor Robert Speer in the early 1900s, drew inspiration from the City Beautiful movement. The park was built in the coming years, and the Greek Theater opened in 1919 — more than a decade before the City and County Building was completed west of the park.
Proposals for major changes have spurred debate in recent decades, with planners putting forth ideas to activate the park and draw more people.
Massive crowds have gathered at the park for events like the Women’s March in 2017 and the city’s annual Outside Festival each spring.
Johnston nodded to the city’s interest in hosting a future NFL draft in the park in his comments.
“They did not anticipate what might be required, for instance, to hold the NFL draft in your Civic Center Park,” he said of the park’s original designers.
After some reports that Denver was interested in hosting the NFL draft in 2027, the city never submitted a bid and the league selected Washington, D.C.
The Downtown Development Authority will pay $30 million toward the first phase of the project. Another $20 million will come from Denver Parks and Recreation, the Elevate Denver Bond, grant funding and some private fundraising, said Stephanie Figueroa, a parks spokeswoman.
The Civic Center Conservancy is looking for private philanthropic donations to pay for the rest of the project. The city is still developing the second phase.
The Downtown Development Authority is a voter-approved special taxing district that allows the city to use a portion of tax revenue generated downtown for projects in the area. Besides the $30 million approved to “activate” the park with new lighting, walkways and trees, the authority’s board has earmarked another $7 million to renovate the ground floor of the McNichols Civic Center Building in the northwest corner of the park.
The city plans to add an arts market and a restaurant with an outdoor patio to the building.
Events like the Christkindlmarket, which opens Friday, and the Outside Fest will move to the Auraria Campus during the Civic Center construction.
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