September 2, 2010 DUSPA Summary
This was the first Annual Meeting of the DUSPA Board. A block nomination for re-appointment of the current board was moved, seconded and approved unanimously. It was mentioned that Mark Smith’s resignation from the Metro District Board has created a vacancy on that board.
The Finance Committee reported that the Master Development Agreement Amendment that includes meeting the federal requirements for release of funds was approved.
In the Owner Representative Report, Bill Mosher stated that $926,000 has been drawn on the $3 million advance, and $65 million has been spent to date on the project with $57,950,000 paid.
Regarding the construction status, Mike Sullivan of Kiewit stated that the project is on schedule with the Light Rail Terminal 45% complete, the Bus Box 20% complete, the Commuter Rail Terminal 14% complete and street/plaza 15% complete. Overall the transit portion of the project is 21% complete. The time spent on the project to date is 549 work days. The transit design for streets will be 100% complete by mid-October and the CRT design is 90% complete. He also stated that remediation of ground water is going well.
Bill Mosher stated the public realm design is in the 30% to 60% phase, and there will be a public meeting on September 15th to present the latest design refinements. He was followed by Ken Haines of Hargreaves, the landscape architectural firm for the project, who showed slides of the current thinking for aspects of the public realm including the 17th Street Gardens and the LRT tubes. The slide presentation is posted on the official www.denverunionstation.org website. Ken also showed some samples of paving material for the Wynkoop Plaza and several possible stone samples for seating walls and other uses.
Bill Mosher then stated that the public realm design was in the “trade-off” stage where changes (upgrades) in some areas can be funded by scope reductions in other areas. DUSPA’s current priorities are 1.) 16th Street Mall, 2.) Wynkoop Plaza, 3.) 17th Street Gardens, 4.) LRT Plaza, and 5.) 18th Street Pedestrian Bridge. The Wynkoop Plaza is 1/3rd of the budget (~$8.8 Million) with ~$15.7 Million for the west side of the station. The annual maintenance budget for the overall project is $4 Million. The public art budget is 1% of the total budget.
Kris Takacs of SOM showed slides of recent design refinements which are also available for viewing on the official www.denverunionstation.org website.
Bill Sirois of RTD talked about the formation of a DUS Historic Building Task Force comprised of people from RTD, USNC, DUSPA, and Historic Denver. He stated that there is an internal task force at RTD putting together the process to decide what to do with the station building. There is to be a Stakeholder Group that includes Historic Denver as well as Union Station Advocates and other interested organizations/persons. Michael Hughes from the Center for Science & Public Policy of The Keystone Center has been hired by RTD to facilitate the public process for Station Building.
USNC is analyzing the building including ascertaining prospective uses and estimating costs for renovation. The individual who is conducting the analysis of the building for USNC is Martin Willie. That analysis will inform the public process.
The meeting adjourned without moving into Executive Session.
Paver Mock-ups and Sample Fencing Material
Kiewit has constructed mock-ups of three paver options for Wynkoop Plaza outside of their offices in Union Station (South wing outdoor seating area). Each is 10’x10’ with two of mock-ups having 4”x8” pavers and another with 6”x12” pavers. The mock-ups will remain in place into October.
There is also a sample of the wire mesh fence that will border the 18th Street pedestrian bridge.
September 15, 2010 Public Meeting Summary
Bill Mosher opened the meeting with a brief statement of project progress schedule. He stated that the transit architecture was 95% complete, and the public realm (landscaping) architecture was 50% complete. Overall the project is 20% complete. The Light Rail Terminal is 60% complete, and the bus box is 20% complete. The relocation of AMTRAK will be complete by February 2011.
Next Jim Gast of AECOM spoke to the design of the 18th Street pedestrian bridge and the DUS canopy. The 18th Street pedestrian bridge is a 15’ wide straight walkway from the north Wynkoop Plaza to the future B-block building on Wewatta. The L leg of the bridge to Wewatta has been eliminated and replaced with stairs, elevator and bikeway at the site of the B-block building. This will provide pedestrian access to both 17th and 18th streets. Currently the design shows an 8’ stainless steel fabric fence bordering both sides of the bridge. The DUS canopy will provide cover between the historic station and the train shed. It will stand alone and not touch the historic station. To provide clearance for emergency and service vehicles, the design currently has a 12” encroachment into the view plane of the west side of the station. The roof will be made of a non-transparent opaque material.
Mary Margaret Jones and Ken Haines of Hargreaves next addressed the current design of the public realm. Mary Margaret stated that money saved from a shortened 18th Street pedestrian bridge would allow for the use of stone versus precast concrete in certain places on the Wynkoop Plaza. Concrete pavers would still be used in highly trafficked corridors. Granite would be used to define “a room within a room” on both the north plaza (incorporating the bosque area) and the south plaza (incorporating the fountain area). (As stated in the previous article, these stone and paver options are current on display in the south plaza.) She next spoke to a design change proposed by the City for parking on the west side of Wynkoop Street between 16th and 18th streets. This would require an encroachment into the plaza area to accommodate drop-off and vehicle parking for taxies, buses and cars. Another design refinement is that seat walls are to be spaced 15’ apart, instead of 12’, to facilitate pedestrian flow. When asked about event space on the south plaza, Mary Margaret stated that with the fountain off there would be an area of approximately 120’ by 50’ that could accommodate a stage (under the trees) and 1000 chairs.
Ken Haines addressed lighting and vegetation. Regarding lighting, column lights will be used throughout the project except for Wynkoop Plaza. Up-lights will be used on the Wynkoop Plaza trees and for the LRT tubes. The lights on Wynkoop Plaza will be painted metal, probably gray in color. LEDs will be used to highlight certain features such as the fountain and the base of benches. There will be under-lights on the 17th Street Garden seat walls. The trees under consideration for the Wynkoop Plaza include Lace Bark Elms along the street and Ginkgo trees spaced 22’ apart within the plaza. Initial plantings on the plaza will be trees of 4” to 4 ½” caliper.
The meeting ended with Bill Sirois describing RTD’s process to assess uses and governance/management issues for the historic station. (See 9/2/10 DUSPA report).
September 22, 2010 DUS Construction Update from our Roving Reporter
Most of the July and August newsletter updates were devoted to describing the early stages of construction of the bus terminal floor. Only one month later, that floor is nearly complete. At least 16,000 cubic feet of concrete have been poured. As you can see in the photo, there is only one section remaining.
The new story is the construction of the bus terminal walls. So far, ten wall sections have been poured. Each section is 19 feet high, 50 feet long, and two feet thick. It appears that 20-25 more sections will be needed to enclose the current floor space.
Two rows of 40 pillars rise from the center of the floor. Each pillar will be 12 feet high. So far, the pillars are made only of rebar, but they start to define the separation of the passenger area in the center from the bus-travel area around the perimeter of the terminal.
Twenty-eight foundations for the canopy support posts at the new light rail station have been built, and two of the support posts have been installed. Those posts are the first examples of non-concrete construction. Handicap ramps are currently being built at each end of the line of foundations. Dirt is being trucked in to create a base for the light rail tracks. Soon, rails will be welded together on site in preparation for laying the tracks at the station.
Remember to go to Denverinfill.com/blog/ for frequent updates and photos of the project.
September 22, 2010 Inaugural USA Tour of the DUS Project
In a co-sponsored event with LDDI and LoDoNA, Union Station Advocates conducted a birds-eye tour of the Union Station Project from the balcony of the Anstey’s unit in the Glass House. Despite rainy weather, the view of the project was spectacular and the 40+ attendees appreciated the overview presentations and Q&A sessions conducted by Ken Schroeppel and Rick Anstey. Starting in October, DenverInfill, in conjunction with USA, will be conducting semi-monthly tours of the project. More information about upcoming October tours will be available through www.denverinfill.com/blog or the www.unionstationadvocates.org website.
To download this News Summary in PDF format, please click here.
