Happy New Year!
Union Station Advocates (USA) wishes you a prosperous 2010! With the commencement of construction in earnest, 2010 should be an exciting year for the Union Station project. USA will continue to keep you informed monthly of progress on the project, so stay tuned.
The following report concludes our 2009 News Updates. It includes reports on two DUSPA meetings held in the month of December, a link to an article by Jeff Leib of the Denver Post regarding the consideration to remove the moving sidewalks in the bus station, and a report from a USA Roundtable Meeting regarding a possible placement of a replica of the Mizpah Arch.
First up is a recap of some of USA’s major initiatives in 2009.
Major USA Initiatives in 2009
Throughout the Year:
- Monthly Roundtables
- Attendance and reporting on all DUSPA and Public Meetings
- Revamp of USA Website
- Addition of Paula Grey, Liz Orr, Mike LaMair and Gary Taipalus to the USA board
February: Governance Symposium in concert with the Downtown Denver Partnership
- Panel of representatives from five cities with varied model public spaces
- Closed sessions with Union Station project representatives and a session open to the public
- USA-prepared letter to DUSPA summarizing the panel’s recommendations and USA’s comments
April: Celebration of Union Station
- Wine and Hors d’oeuvres on the mezzanine of the Train Room
- Tours of the model trains by Platte Valley and Western Model Railroad Club
- Raised and contributed $5000 for the Havey Production film about Union Station
- Posted a 7-minuted trailer for the film on website and showed it at the Union Station gala in November, 2009
July: Member/Guest Panel Presentation
- Facilitated by Councilwoman Montero
- Welcome by Mayor Hickenlooper
- Update presentations by Tom Gougeon, Jerry Glick and Diane Barrett
- Q&A from audience of over 100 people
November: A Night in Old Union Station
- Over 800 people attended the gala affair
- Over 650 tickets sold
- Generous in-kind contributions from local vendors
- Raised about $70,000 toward Arch Fund
- Launched Buy-a-Light fundraiser
December 3, 2009 DUSPA Meeting
Here is USA’s summary of the December 3 DUSPA meeting:
TIFIA/RRIF Report and Update – Claude Pumilia/Chad Fuller/Alex Brown
Meeting with DOT: Formally presented capital structure of project and began formal negotiations on the loan. It was a productive meeting and the DOT was very complimentary on the quality of the presentation, on the investment grade rating that the project has now attained and the credit enhancement by the City of Denver with its moral obligation piece.
Process and Schedule Going Forward: The package now goes to the credit committee for review. All parties are hopeful for a quick review and closing as soon after the New Year as possible.
Owner’s Representative’s Report
Organizational Budget: There is $650,000 remaining in the original $3M organizational budget.
Construction Schedule: The contractor continues to prepare for mobilization over the next two months in preparation for a full notice to proceed based on a loan closing.
Construction Design/Budget: The design portion of the design/build process continues with November being the most productive month to date in submission of design packages (11 submitted). The contractor is finalizing its study of the 100 year storm design requirements for the project and the results are looking far better than expected in that the scope will likely be scaled down. The budget for the original scope was in the neighborhood of $5M and its looking like that may be reduced to $1.5M. The Design Peer review process continues to be successful with acceptance of the recommendations on the LRT and Commuter Rail platform areas. These new designs are being integrated into the new design build package. Easement and ROW agreements are in the final stages of negotiation. The license agreements with Amtrak are also in final stages with 2 of the 3 agreements completed. The contractor continues to pothole the site to locate all utilities and their depths and also is training workers on how to handle discovery of any environmental contamination.
Design Issues Regarding Moving Walkways – Robin Kniech
Robin gave a thorough analysis of the moving walkways in the bus box to help the board understand the constraints as they move forward with a decision. RTD reminded the board that this decision is really RTD’s to make and they would not take it up until the next FasTracks Monitoring Committee meeting which is on the first Tuesday of the month… next one is January 5th. The City of Denver would also like the council to have the opportunity to comment. Removal of the moving walkways could save the project up to $2M.
Public Outreach Report – Mario Carrera and Roger Sherman
Roger Sherman of CRL outlined the work completed by the PI team since the contract was signed on 11-17 as follows:
PI Plan drafted
DUS website updated to include all DUSPA meeting minutes and public presentations. Work on the website redo underway. They intend to complete and do a soft launch of a revised website. Once kinks are worked out… they will do a press release.
DUSPA logo has been created
They are coordinating with project management team
They are working with the Denver Post and Westword regarding press coverage with the intention of being proactive with media stories
They have secured a Spanish speaking outreach person
They have canvassed the immediate neighborhood within a three block radius of the site and have contacted 400 people and obtained contact info from 300. The response was overwhelmingly positive during the canvassing effort.
They continue to coordinate public meetings.
December 4 Denver Post Article
An article entitled “Moving walkways may be stripped from Union Station plan” is available at the following web address: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_13922616
December 7, 2009 USA Roundtable
Because of the fast-moving design work and potential effects of locating the Welcome/Mizpah Arch, USA held an additional Roundtable with our members in December, including several prominent members of Denver’s community. Through a series of discussions, presentations, and Q&A, we established a preferred site for the Arch (for which funding is well underway). The Arch represents an exciting integration of history with the modern buildings and transit architecture and we feel the location of the Arch within the context of the new buildings is of utmost importance.
The desired location of the Arch was found to be along 17th Street at Wewatta (or slightly further west along the 17th Street axis). It is important that the Arch serve the same symbolical function which it historically served, which was a gateway to the station facility. As such, it seems appropriate that the Arch be placed on the east side of the intersection of 17th and Wewatta, inviting visitors and transit-users to the “great hall” of the new train shed from the new drop-off/pick-up, LRT station and bus facility. Because this location is over the bus facility, we hope the design team will spare no time in considering how this could affect the foundations and structure of the bus facility to allow the Arch to be placed in this location.
Note 1: In a Q&A session following the December 17, 2009 Public Meeting (See 2nd report below), Bill Mosher stated some concerns with the location recommended in the USA Roundtable. They were the structural issue described above, the proximity of the Wewatta canopy to the street, a 21’ height restriction on the west 17th Street view corridor, and a 25’ requirement for a fire lane south of the Wewatta canopy.
Note 2: USA would welcome your thoughts on this issue. Please send them to info@unionstationadvocates.org.
December 17, 2009 DUSPA Meeting
Public Comment: USA presented two letters to the DUSPA board and made comments summarizing them. One letter addressed future management and maintenance of the public spaces, and the other commented on design issues and made a suggestion as to the location of a replica of the Mizpah Arch. Please email USA for the full text of the letters.
TIFIA/RRIF Progress Report: A credit council meeting is expected to occur in January. Prior to that meeting, a working group is expected to convene during the week of the 11th to put final touches on the package that will be submitted to the Credit Council. There may be some site visits by TIFIA and RRIF. Both entities continue to be optimistic that the loans will be approved and closed sometime early in 2010.
Owner Rep’s Report: The owner rep reported that two issues are their primary focus at this time and that they are advancing the design of the site improvements and the Amtrak agreements for both the temporary station and relocation of the permanent station. At this point in the public portion of the meeting, the design team presented their progress. See report of this SOM presentation in the Public Meeting report below. At the end of the meeting it was announced that there will be a presentation to the planning board on January 20th of the site’s architectural and streetscape elements for its review and approval. The Public Information Plan and the Press Protocol Policy were both formally approved by DUSPA at the meeting too.
December 17, 2009 Public Meeting
The meeting was opened by Bill Mosher, DUSPA Owner Representative, and turned over to Kristopher Tacas of SOM. Kristopher stated that the transit architecture and infrastructure design is 70% complete and that 100% construction documents are scheduled for spring 2010. Regarding the public realm and landscape architecture, the design is 15% complete with 100% construction documents scheduled for December 2010.
Current activity on the Wynkoop Plaza includes coordinating with USNC on the wing buildings, and assessing the massing and circulation issues. Regarding the train shed, Kristopher mentioned that there would be vertical circulation to all tracks from the bus concourse. He also mentioned that the Peer Design Group had influenced the change in the support struts so they are now designed to be parallel to the tracks, not across the tracks.
The parking structure planned to be built over the tracks west of the Ice House is still being evaluated. There are 150 spaces for public parking that need to be accommodated for if the structure is not built.
There will be a 25’ wide Emergency Vehicle Access (EVA) right of way directly to the west of the historic station. The paving for this EVA will be the same as the Wynkoop Plaza, which is yet to be determined. There will be a 3-step edge between the EVA and the train platform. The canopy between the station and the train shed will be transparent with a beige tone.
The Kinetic Plaza has been replaced with a bridge that spans from the Wynkoop Plaza to 18th Street west of the tracks. There will be stairway and elevator access to the tracks from the bridge. Access to Wewatta Plaza will be considered when the building on Block B is designed.
The Wewatta Plaza is 160 feet square and will accommodate stair, elevator and escalator access to the bus station below. There will be an 8’ arcade on both sides of the Wewatta Plaza canopy. A 25’ fire lane is required on the south side of the canopy. The plan is for active retail on both the north and south sides of the canopy. There is a 21’ height restriction along the west 17th Street corridor, which may preclude putting a replica of the Mizpah Arch in that location.
The 17th Street Gardens will be characterized by a series of “rooms” that work with the tectonics of the skylights. Game rooms, a water room, activity areas and seasonal garden areas with extensive seating walls are planned for this walkway.
The Light Rail Terminal will have three canopies, one along the LR tracks, one to the north of the terminal and one to the south which will include the waiting area for a shuttle stop.
The bus station is 60% designed. Its overall length is 980’, with the public concourse being 783’. It is 44’ wide and is designed to have a ticketing area half way between Chestnut and Wewatta. It is sized for the passenger capacity load projected for 2030. In comparison, the current RTD Market Street Station is 52’ wide, 366’ overall in length, with the public concourse being 290’.
A major design change is the proposal to remove the moving sidewalks, also known as “travelators”. They are currently designed to be 3’ 4” wide (single file), one in each direction, and are 73’ 9” and 142’6” in length. Together they will take out 11’ of the 44’ concourse width. Another 10’ of clear passage further reduces the pedestrian area. Without the travelators, there will be 16’ 2” of clear passage and more room for disembarking passengers and seating.
The bus station will include glass mosaic tile, terrazzo floors, light scoop below the skylights and both digital and fixed signage.
It is projected that 5% of the LRT passengers will use the bus station, with less than that traversing the concourse to the train shed and station. It is projected that 80 to 90% of people in the bus box will be there for bus transit purposes.
Another change of plans for the bus station is the addition of a layover lane for RTD buses. According to Bill Mosher, this change was precipitated by the fact that staging buses on city streets is not welcome by residents and businesses.
The meeting ended with questions from the attendees.
Membership Renewal Time!
For those of you that joined Union Station Advocates in 2008 it is now time to renew your membership! Please go to the USA membership webpage and renew today: http://www.unionstationadvocates.org/membership.html
Thank you for your continued support!
Union Station Advocates Roundtable
The Roundtables continue to be an effective and engaging meeting allowing our members to have informal discussions on important issues of the Union Station project.
Roundtable meetings are generally held once a month, and are open only to USA members and their guests. Led by
Union Station Advocates Is Now On Facebook!
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