DUSPA Meeting Summary

Below is our summary of the DUSPA meeting April 7:





The meeting opened with the introduction of two new board members and followed with Jim Palmetto of CDOT stating that a Faster grant for improvements to the station related to Amtrak upgrades in the amount of $4,000,000 will be transferred to DUSPA by April 20, 2011.



Bill Mosher then presented the Owner Representative Report, as follows:

• As of the end of March 2011, the overall project is 36 ½ % complete. The LRT is 77% complete, the CRT is 24% complete, the bus box is 36% complete, and the streets and plaza are 21% complete.




• Kiewit is still trucking out asbestos.




• Utility work at Chestnut St. is underway.




• The 18th Street pedestrian bridge is 90% designed.




• The Public Realm Design is scheduled for completion in late May 2011.




• The closings for the USNC purchases of Market Street station is scheduled for end of April and the end of May for the Triangle parcel.




• The public art process is underway.

Bill next addressed USA’s concern related to Public Works intention to vary from the Design Guidelines for crosswalks. The guidelines state that crosswalk should be of paving materials different than the concrete street. Bill agreed that the 17th Street pedestrian crossings at Wynkoop and Wazee should have distinguishing paving, and stated that he would take under consideration the other crossings stated in the guidelines.

The Landmark Commission will meet in mid-May to approve the Wynkoop Plaza design. Prior to that meeting the Peer Review group will give their recommendations on the design. The proposed final design will be presented in a public meeting on April 20, 2011. The proposed bike system will also be presented at that meeting.

Other issues presented included:

• The Wynkoop Plaza will be 100% granite.




• The current plan for accommodating public parking is to locate the 150 spaces in the Lot A building on the southwest side of the train shed.

Frank Cannon of USNC and Mark Falcone of Continuum Partners addressed planned future development and their proposal for the reuse of the historic station (see the USNC plan on their website, http://www.unionstationdenver.com/, to be updated by mid-May). The plan is for a bike station to be located between the EPA building and the triangle parcel. It will include locker rooms with showers, and maintenance and rental facilities. The IMA north-wing building is slated to start construction in the 2nd Quarter of 2012 with move-in by 2013. The planned south-wing building is now planned to be 5 stories, and will include 100,000 square feet. It will break ground in the 2nd quarter on 2012.

USNC is planning to develop two hotels on the triangle parcel lot. Their plan for A Block development includes 3 levels of parking (street level, B1 and B2) and will include 150 spaces for public parking. The B Block building is slated for high-density retail and 350 apartment units.

USNC’s plan for the historic station included:

• The building would function primarily as a train station to include ticketing and baggage storage. The south wing would include a marketplace with spill-out seating on the Wynkoop Plaza, plus retail. The train room would house a café that spans two levels up to the mezzanine, a news stand, and a central information kiosk. The benches would be refurbished and set on carpet to mitigate sound reverberation. Wi Fi would be provided. A more detail description of USNC’s plan appeared in the April 10,2011 Denver Post article by Jeffrey Leib, Ideas for Union Station emerge as redevelopment moves ahead. See http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_17811286




• Mark Falcone stated that the basic renovation costs for the historic station could be funded within the original budget (which according to the current budget is $17,000,000). Tenant improvements for the commercial leasable space would be separately funded by USNC.

Bill Sirois of RTD presented the results of the Expert Panel and the Stakeholder Group process for the reuse of the historic station. See preceding April 5, 2011 RTD board meeting report.
The final presentation at the meeting was by Randy Nichols and Bill Pruter of Nichols Partners who are proposing to develop a building at 20th and Chestnut to include a 42,000 square foot grocery store, 12,000 square feet of in-line retail, and 300 apartment units on the upper four floors. They are looking for a subsidy from the City for the grocery store portion of the development and were hoping for a positive stance by DUSPA for such a project. Several DUSPA board members were reluctant to show support for any private project proposals. The board decided that DUSPA’s Finance Committee would develop a guideline for addressing such requests.