Can Civic Center Change Create Civil Colfax Corner?

As Civic Center’s Next 100 Plan Gets Set To Start, Hope Is Change Will Enliven City Core, Reduce Crime

by Glen Richardson

By creating a civic renaissance of sorts, Denver hopes the makeover of Civic Center Park at the intersection of Colfax Ave. and Broadway — one of the Mile High City’s five crime hotspots — will help bring people back and turn around downtown.

The park is currently little more than a threadbare notion of civic grandeur that few people use besides the homeless and skateboarders. With constant growth of the Golden Triangle neighborhood as the 16th Street Mall renovation nears completion, Civic Center Park will connect the two and optimistically serve as a gathering spot for events and festivals.

In early 2024, Denver Parks & Recreation contracted with Studio Gang to lead the Phase 1 design of the Civic Center “Next 100” plan. Proposed changes include improvements to the Greek Theater, Central Promenade, and South Plaza. The Landmark Preservation Committee approved the initial design plans on January 21 of this year.

Boost Daily Use

Civic Center Park is Denver’s first National Historic Landmark, and city leaders say honoring its history is critical to its future. Furthermore, they believe the park needs to accommodate its traditional uses while also encouraging increased daily use.

Modifications and alterations being proposed include to Bannock Street, the Greek Amphitheater, Central Promenade, plus a new “central gathering” feature th

at has yet to be developed. Parks & Recreation requested and has received comment and suggestions from the public as they get ready to begin the major transformation.

Located at the heart of the city and surrounded by key civic and cultural institutions, Civic Center Park has in the past, and is expected to continue serving as a signi­ficant gathering spot for cultural events, festivals, and First Amendment rallies.

Makeover Features

The makeover will feature good-looking greenspaces, improved pedestrian access, and community event sites to attract increased usage. Direction that the theater’s audience faces will change from south to north. In addition to the direction the audience faces, the stage’s openings change from northward to south. A new stage is being added near the park’s center; thus, the amphitheater bowl will function in reverse of how it does currently.

More importantly, a new food truck promenade is being added. Furthermore, landscapers are creating fresh, innovative garden spaces. Finally, a memori

al to disability activists of the Gang of 19 will be installed.

Civic Center Park’s new designs are being created by Studio Gang, a Chicago-based architecture and urban design practice. Studiotrope Design Collective — the Denver-based architect firm that designed Levitt Pavilion and upgrades to the new Central Library — are assisting with the design project. Landscaping is being done by Philadelphia’s OLIN with assistance from Tina Bishop of Denver’s Mundus Bishop.

Small Crowd Design

Significantly, the new park designs are being created to allow for increased individual, daily use versus the huge events of the past. You’ll recall, the park has hosted every­thing from sports championship parades to the massive Denver PrideFest, and Cinco de Mayo Festival. With the downsize of events, park features are being spread across a broader area of the park.

This time the designers want the space more usable for events that serve 1,000 people or fewer. That will make events more cost-effective for community groups using the space. Moreover, audiovisual infrastru

cture is being added within the park.

Although the structure around the amphitheater bowl is a historic landmark, the bowl of the theater was rebuilt in 2004 and is no longer considered historic, so adding seats and altering its orientation is allowed. The new stage will be opposite the current theater stage, with an arch cover over the stage.

Stage Of Steel

The arch over the new stage will be made mostly of steel, but Studio Gang designers are still deciding on the material to use. The goal is to use material between the steel beams that allows some light to pass through the structure.

The updated design also includes new seats. They will be built in a radial pattern that can be opened or closed based on the size of the event. Visitors will also be able to sit inside the historic colonnade walls of the amphitheater. The seating will also be used by those having lunch at events such as Civic Center EATS. In addition to the seats, people can use the stage area for yoga classes and other activities, not just musical performances.

Another park upgrade is that the amphitheater bowl will be wheelchair accessible, with properly sloped pathways around the outer edge of the amphitheater plus the main seating bowl. Those paths will connect all the way to the southern plaza, something that currently is not possible for those who use wheelchairs.

Southern Plaza Facelift

A facelift is also being given to the southern plaza near East 14th Ave. A memorial is being created to honor the Gang of 19 — disability activists led by Reverend Wade Blank that ditched their wheelchairs and crawled onto then-inaccessible RTD buses at Colfax and Broadway in 1978.

Those demonstrations caused RTD to become the first mass transit system in the nation to be fully wheelchair-accessible.

The memorial will feature a large central feature bearing the words “we will ride,” as well as seating, trees, and other information about the Gang of 19.

Promenade Plans

Aside from the amphitheater and the space directly around it, the north-south promenade across the park will be revamp­ed, as will several other of the park amenities.

The promenade is currently the only active space in the park. That causes crowding in the one area, while much of Civic Center’s 12-acre urban oasis isn’t used nearly enough. Garden rooms on the east and west sides of the promenade will reorient current planting plots which are now only on the west side of the promenade.

Finally, a new public garden walk will be placed on the southwest side of the park between the Greek Theater and the City & County Building. Both spaces will be planted with year-round or perennial foliage. Current gardens are effective, but not accessible to the public from the promenade.