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(rshsdepot) Union Station - Denver, CO

Union Station ideas ready to roll

Erin Johansen   Denver Business Journal

On Sept. 12, the public will get a chance to see - and give feedback about -
what Denver Union Station might look like after it's redeveloped.




The massive project - a partnership between the city of Denver, the Regional
Transportation District and the Denver Regional Council of Governments -
will turn LoDo's Union Station and the adjacent 19.5 acres into a
multi-modal transportation hub and a center of retail, commercial and
residential development in the Central Platte Valley.



Planners are currently working on the master plan and environmental impact
study for the project.



The second town meeting on the redevelopment will be held Sept. 12 at 5:30
p.m. at the Colorado Convention Center. It will be the first time potential
transportation and land use plans will be unveiled to the public. The first
town meeting was held in June.



"It's very conceptual - it's a way to start - kind of a litmus test with the
public," said Eric Anderson, a founder of urban planning firm Civitas Inc.


Civitas has been hired to work on the master plan for the project.



At the Sept. 12 meeting, several plans for how the transportation center and
accompanying developments could fit on the site will be presented.



Five basic transportation concepts will be unveiled. Within each of the five
concepts are a handful of options, for a total of 14 different combinations.



When complete, it's likely that Greyhound buses, city buses, taxis, light
rail, heavy rail, Amtrak, commuter rail and local trains all will be part of
the station's transportation mix. It's also likely that the Market Street
bus station at 16th and Market streets will close.



As an example of the various options, some concepts propose that rail -
including passenger rail, light rail, Amtrak, commuter rail and the Ski
Train - be at grade, while others propose that some portions be elevated and
still others place light rail underground.



Other possibilities include elevating buses or putting them below grade.



All of the designs include "stacking" the various transportation modes -
because this is virtually the only way the plan can work and include
additional development.



"With each one of those [designs], a different amount of ground is taken
because of the transit component. Stacking gives you more developable land,"
Anderson said.



And development, which will bring in revenue, is a key part of making the
project work.



Right now, conceptual development proposals include anywhere from 580,000 to
1.3 million square feet of commercial and residential space, Anderson said.
The difference arises from the various transportation designs.



The development portion, as proposed now, includes office - of both "AA" and
"B" quality - residential space and a hotel. Retail stores also will be part
of the mix.



"Retail would be at grade along 16th, maybe Wynkoop and Wewatta. There's the
possibility of a market like the Pike Street market in Seattle," Anderson
said.



The partners in the project are hoping for as much feedback from the public
as possible.



Two special committees have been formed to help with the master plan
process - the Union Station Advisory Committee and the Technical Advisory
Committee - and both have held several meetings in recent months.



"It's their Union Station. It's our Union Station," said Suzanne Oldham, a
vice president at commercial real estate company Jones Lang LaSalle and
project manager leading the Union Station Alliance team. "It's been there
for 100 years and we need everyone's input and thought. It will be the
transportation hub for the next 100 years."



"This is a general public meeting, not for a specific target group. We have
14 alternatives at this point for transportation and land development
concepts - where it could occur on the site," said David Shelley, manager of
corridor planning for RTD. "We'll explain each of the alternatives and
gather comments from the public."



Oldham said by December the team plans to whittle down the alternatives to
about three that will then be evaluated further.



"We're looking at the full range of input - from citizens, business,
railroads, transit carriers - the whole gamut," said Liz Rao, director of
planning and development for RTD.



Anderson, who will be one of the main presenters at the public meeting, said
it will be an "open house" format.



"We'll get out the drawings and people will look at them and ask questions.
At this level, it's so general, I don't know what the comments will be. This
meeting is more of an updating the public of what's going on," Anderson
said.



When operational - tentatively in 2008 - the transportation hub will be a
critical part of the Denver area's public transportation system. The
significance of this project is part of the reason why public input is so
important now.



"It's a big, important project and it will be built with public dollars,"
said Anderson. "People need to know how they can contribute. There are so
many people that are so interested in this."



According to Rao, the design concepts will be posted on the master plan Web
site at http://www.denverunionstation.org.






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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #466
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org