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(rshsdepot) Denver, CO
From the Denver Business Journal.
Bernie Wagenblast
Transportation Communications Newsletter
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Revival of the fittest
Union Station poised to become transporation hub once more
The Denver Business Journal - April 28, 2006
by _Michael Perrault_
(http://www.bizjournals.com/search/bin/search?t=denver&am=denver&q="Michael%20Perrault"&f=byline&am=120_days&r=20)
Denver Business Journal
Richard Rost points to a diagram of underground tunnels that once ran beneath
Union Station. American presidents and other dignitaries are said to have
used one of the tunnels to quietly cross over to a nearby hotel.
"Apparently at one time there were four tunnels, and three have been filled
in," said Rost, who as the Regional Transportation District's manager of
facilities engineering is helping to spearhead the long-term renovation of
Denver's Union Station.
In recent years, Rost has learned about everything from antique pendant
lights and century-old woodwork to historical tidbits such as the fact that the
depot's police once enforced a "no kissing" rule on platforms because smoochers
were slowing trains.
Rost has spent several years patching up and improving the venerable,
125-year-old station. He's discussed preservation ideas with the Colorado Historic
Society and Denver's Landmark Preservation Commission and has completed 30
projects at a cost of $4.9 million.
Liz Orr, as master developer executive director, heads the more wide-ranging,
master developer selection process for the 19.5-acre redevelopment that has
Union Station as it centerpiece. She's glad to have someone like Rost
carefully eyeing station improvements.
"He has an amazing passion for the building and its history," Orr said.
Orr and Rost are among hundreds of people who've come together on this
high-profile project, which is expected to cost more than $1 billion and includes
separate transportation infrastructure and private development components. It
will take some 15 to 20 years to complete. Neighborhood groups, railroad
buffs, historical organizations, developers and countless others have offered
their input to planners over the past few years.
When the project is completed, as many as a dozen buildings -- some with
towers climbing nearly 18 stories -- will provide up to several million square
feet of office, retail and other commercial space, as well as hotels and
hundreds of new downtown residences. Some 190,000 visitors are expected to pass
daily through the Union Station hub via light rail, commuter rail, passenger
trains, buses and other modes of transportation.
Among Union Station's most notable improvement so far has been restoration of
the "Union Station" and "Travel by Train" neon signs atop the building.
Another two dozen projects are on tap.
"Some are permanent, some are interim," said Rost, adding that "interim"
could mean three, five, even 10 years.
"I consider that we're kind of the Union Station caretaker at this point," he
said.
Although Rost and his RTD division have 14 other buildings to maintain and
continually upgrade, he admits Union Station has a special meaning for him and
countless others across metro Denver.
"We have other buildings that are larger and more mission-critical," Rost
said. "But this will become probably the most mission-critical once FasTracks is
built out and all the transit lines converge and people are using it. The
whole site will be a large focus for our resources."
A collaborative effort
Orr spent 27 years with the City and County of Denver, and during seven of
them she headed the mayor's Office of Project Development. She worked with
Mayors William McNichols, Federico Peña and Wellington Webb, and had a hand in
creating the Pepsi Center and Invesco Field at Mile High stadium, as well as
contracting with Intrawest to operate and develop the Winter Park Resort.
So when she describes the Union Station redevelopment as "intellectually
challenging," it's testament to the complexity of a truly massive project.
Among the first transit endeavors will be to construct a huge tunnel beneath
18th Street in the Central Platte Valley so that in the future light-rail
trains can roll in and out of Denver Union Station beneath new offices, homes,
restaurants and shops.
Orr admits that, after working on projects with little or no initial funding,
she and other planners are grateful that a project with the scope of
FasTracks has been embraced so wholeheartedly by the community.
Such enthusiasm and the long-term promise of Union Station's redevelopment
helped entice Peter Park from Milwaukee, where as planning director he had
helped dismantle large stretches of overhead freeway. Now, as manager of
community planning and development for the city of Denver, he's emboldened that the
city is embracing transit as a smart investment. He views the historic Union
Station landmark as the ideal hub.
"So many cities, unfortunately, have torn down those wonderful landmarks,"
Park said. "Here it will be the functional and symbolic heart of the regional
transportation system, which links all of our communities together as a
region."
The project's key partners include the City and County of Denver, the Denver
Regional Council of Governments, the Colorado Department of Transportation
and RTD, which acquired the 19.5-acre site in 2001. It is funded by federal,
state, city, county and RTD dollars, and eventually it will include money from
private developers.
Voters in November 2004 approved the $4.7 billion FasTracks plan. Funding for
transit improvements at Union Station were included.
FasTracks will include nearly 120 miles of new light rail and commuter rail,
18 miles of bus rapid transit service and expanded bus service, and an
estimated 21,000 new parking spaces at rail and bus stations.
Process unites, not divides
One reason for the broad support behind Union Station's redevelopment is that
it has for decades been considered a gateway to Denver and the West, said
Eric Anderson, senior project manager for Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas
Inc. in Denver.
Union Station has been a focal point since the original station was built in
1881 at a cost of $525,000, 11 years after the first trains steamed into
Denver. During its heyday, as many as 80 trains passed through the depot, so it's
easy to see why its redevelopment has drawn remarkable interest, planners
said.
"What's great is that the plan and process that we've been through keeps
Union Station as a transit hub," said Anderson, who was involved in Denver's
initial light rail project, the new convention center and Elitch's
redevelopment. "It keeps the historic use and moves it forward and brings life back to
it."
Eventually, the station will be a vital connection point for light rail,
passenger trains and the Ski Train, buses, shuttles, taxis and even bicycles. A
commuter rail that will run to Denver International Airport is especially
appealing to many metro Denver travelers, as well as proposed light rail and
commuter train lines to Boulder and communities to the north and west.
Planners envision a Union Station that will unite Lower Downtown, the Central
Platte Valley and downtown with vibrant, pedestrian-friendly plazas rather
than being a barrier between the urban neighborhoods. They've been working
extensively on an environmental impact statement that will clear the way for
$200 million in Phase I Denver Union Station construction. Currently, these
Phase I improvements are at 25 percent design to ensure planners are on target
in terms of funding projections, safety issues and other factors.
The process to create an environmental impact statement and master plan was
created with input from a 96-member advisory committee representing at least
three dozen historical, neighborhood, environmental, and other interest
groups.
"The whole process has been as transparent as it can possibly be," Anderson
said.
Hundreds of people have attended town meetings and "breakout" groups; others
have followed the process through the _www.denverunionstation.org_
(http://www.denverunionstation.org/) Web site, and many have provided input through
various other avenues.
"By having so many different interests represented in the same process, it's
been a great forum for hashing out differences on any particular issue," Orr
said. "They had a whole number of breakout groups."
In general, the process has brought people together in pursuit of a common
goal, rather than alienating special interest groups, planners said.
"We've had everyone on the same page from day one, which has been great,"
Anderson said.
A vibrant station and a promenade
A 100-page master plan that has been painstakingly developed over the past
few years has taken into account 48 alternatives. It will serve as a broad
guideline for a team of developers and builders who are ultimately chosen for
the task. Development teams still in the running include Cherokee Investment
Partners LLC, and Continuum Partners/East West Partners.
A master developer must use the master plan as a guide but can propose
changes believed to deliver a greater net benefit for the project, Orr said.
Significant changes to the master plan infrastructure or the adopted zoning will
require amending those documents, she said.
Although zoning allows for about 4 million square feet of total development,
it's more likely that about 2.5 million to 3 million square feet of space
will actually be built, Orr said.
Zoning also dictates that taller buildings will be to the north of Union
Station in the Central Platte Valley, with a "cascading-down effect" as they
near LoDo.
"One of the most important aspects is a stepping down of the density and
height of the development as you move from the Central Platte Valley through the
site and down into Lower Downtown," Orr said.
Central to the long-term vision is ensuring that historic Union Station won't
be swallowed up and disappear in a sea of new buildings, planners said. They
see Union Station as having "two fronts," and they believe both should be
seen.
"As part of the zoning, we've tried to keep views of the historic building
open," Anderson said.
A 17th Street corridor is envisioned that will include 160-foot rights of
way, and buildings with the lowest heights and greatest setbacks will be
situated along Wynkoop Street.
The final design for Phase I of the transportation portion of the project is
due out next year, along with input from the selected master developer. The
design will strive to have buildings that blend into urban neighborhoods and
create a pedestrian-friendly promenade.
Union Station, with its landmark designation, won't undergo substantial
changes to its façade, except for restoration, planners said. Inside, however, a
mix of new, revenue-generating uses could range from restaurants to markets
and be intertwined with historic preservation efforts. Similar renovations have
occurred in places such as New York's Grand Central terminal, Boston's South
Station and Los Angeles Union Station.
Because Denver Union Station is relatively small, however, its interior isn't
likely to experience the kind of extensive overhaul as, say, Washington,
D.C.'s Union Station, which boasts more than 100 places to shop and dine.
"That's going to happen principally on the balance of the site," Orr said.
Much of the interior renovation that Rost has completed so far at Union
Station has involved reinstalling marble, hunting down antique lighting and
refurbishing millwork and other materials to preserve the building's historical
architectural styles.
"I love to get into the detail and kind of rediscover," Rost said.
While it's too early to tell exactly what Union Station will look like in a
decade, Rost said anyone traveling to Washington, D.C.'s Union Station or to
stations in other big U.S. cities and across Europe would probably be able to
get a pretty good idea.
A future taking shape
It will be 2014 before commuter trains are expected to run from Union Station
to DIA and points north. By then, at least a dozen buildings with a mix of
offices, condos and lofts, shops and hotels will have sprouted up atop a
bustling underground transit system built where old rail yards and platforms once
funneled up to 24,000 passengers a day.
FasTracks' first project, the West Corridor light-rail line from Union
Station to Golden, already appears to have federal funding to cover nearly half
its cost. The U.S. Department of Transportation recommended a $285 million
federal grant for the $593 million West Corridor project.
Teams of developers and contractors will undoubtedly put their own signatures
on Union Station and surrounding projects, but a 17th Street Promenade and a
Union Station Plaza are expected to be part of the mix, providing a vibrant,
pedestrian-friendly hub with access to lower-level trains.
A 67-page vision for Union Station Plaza outlines colorful scenarios and
suggests possible models in places such as Pioneer Courthouse Square in
Portland, Ore., Bryant Park in New York City and Paris Pelage in Paris, France.
Already, the future has begun to take shape in areas surrounding Union
Station.
In the Central Platte Valley, just to the north, the Highland pedestrian
bridge to be completed this fall over I-25 will link downtown to northwest
neighborhoods. Numerous lofts, townhome and brownstone projects are under way, all
near the new translucent Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver. The twin,
23-story Glass House towers are part of the large Riverfront Park portion of the
development.
Near Union Station and the 2-year-old, 10-story Gates Co. world headquarters
at 1551 Wewatta, workers are creating the steel skeleton for the new
250,000-square-foot Environmental Protection Agency regional headquarters at 16th
and Wynkoop streets.
Minneapolis-based Opus Northwest is building the EPA project, and it's
planning a 200,000-square-foot spec office building at 14th and Wewatta streets.
Hines is in the early stages of planning a new office building nearby, and a
new Sugar Building is planned at 16th and Blake streets. Another spec office
building is being planned next to the Sugar Building.
Park believes the Union Station redevelopment will offer a unique opportunity
to create truly interesting places to live, work and shop, all built around
a pivotal transit hub.
"The greatest cities in the world have great transit systems," he said.
=================================
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 #1350
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=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org