Denver Urbanism: Denver’s Union Station Project Grand Opening Update!
Denver’s big Union Station project (part of RTD’s FasTracks program) has been under construction since Spring 2010. Back then, the light rail station was located right behind the historic train station next to the Amtrak platforms. The station building itself was ghostly quiet day and night, and was long overdue for a makeover. The rest of the land next to and behind Union Station consisted mostly of weedy, vacant parcels or surface parking lots. Fast forward to 2014 and so much has changed! Here’s what has happened in the past four years and the schedule of upcoming openings:
RTD’s Union Station light rail station was moved two blocks to the northwest next to the Millennium Bridge and now services the Southwest, Southeast, and West lines and includes Light Rail Plaza.
The free 16th Street MallRide was extended and now ends at the new light rail station.
All the streets around Union Station have been rebuilt in concrete and nicely streetscaped.
The landscaped 17th Street Promenade between Chestnut and Wewatta is finished and now open to the public.
The eight-platform RTD commuter rail station (including Amtrak) is finished, which features a soaring white canopy that has become a new downtown icon (check out how it glows at night!). Amtrak has been using the new station since March. Opening for service in 2016, RTD’s East, Gold, and Northwest lines will arrive at the new station, followed by the North line in 2018.
Work on RTD’s new 1,000-foot long, 22-gate, underground Union Station Bus Concourse (plus the Chestnut and Wewatta Pavilions) is complete. These new facilities will open for public viewing on Friday, May 9, 2014 with a big street party starting at 11 a.m. RTD buses will begin using the new Union Station Bus Concourse on Sunday, May 11, at which time Market Street Station will close permanently.
Wynkoop Plaza, which will feature a huge fountain and is destined to become downtown’s next great public space, is almost finished. It will open in June 2014.
Restoration of the historic Union Station is nearly complete. Opening on July 12, 2014 with a huge public celebration, it will feature not only a beautifully appointed public waiting area in the Great Hall, but also twelve restaurant and retail spaces and a 112-room boutique hotel.
Nearby, the 13-story Cadence apartment building and the five-story IMA Financial Center have just opened, and the new One Union Station office building at 16th and Wynkoop will be opening in May. All three feature ground-floor restaurant and retail spaces. Within just a few blocks of Union Station, about a dozen more residential, office, and hotel projects are either currently underway or will be breaking ground soon. The construction activity in the area is incredible!
After decades of planning and years of construction, Denver Union Station is about to become the city’s new gateway. For more information, please check out RTD’s Union Station website here.
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