2015 | STATE OF DOWNTOWN DENVER
ENVIRONMENT Downtown Denver offers a healthy green environment and a commitment to sustainability. • Downtown Denver has 152 acres of parks and open space. • RTD’s Union Station Bus Concourse was awarded LEED Gold certification, becoming only the ninth transit building in the United States to earn LEED designation. • The recently formed Denver 2030 District includes 45 buildings representing over 20 million square feet in Downtown Denver. The District aims to dramatically reduce energy consumption, water use, and emissions from transportation. • There are 37 businesses in Downtown Denver that are certified through the City of Denver’s Certifiably Green Denver Program.
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WHEN IT COMES TO GREEN BUILDING AND URBAN SUSTAINABILITY, DOWNTOWN DENVER CONTINUES TO BE A TRAILBLAZER.
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- Sharon Alton U.S. Green Building Council Colorado
Five Largest Parks in Downtown Denver PARK
ACRES
City of Cuernavaca Park
29.1
Commons Park
19.7
Gates Crescent Park
14.2
Civic Center Park
12.5
Centennial Park
6.6
Growing Network of Public Spaces in Downtown Denver Downtown Denver welcomed a brand new public space at Denver Union Station with the completion of Wynkoop Plaza in July 2014. The 40,000 square foot public plaza is surrounded by restaurant patios, entrances to more than a dozen office buildings, stores and restaurants, making the plaza active with pedestrian traffic for a significant portion of the day. During the summer months, the plaza’s southern side offers a fountain that attracts children, as well as the young at heart, to cool-off and play in the water that jets out of the ground. The computer programmed fountain displays a variety of effects, shooting out bursts of water in constantly changing shape and timing patterns. The northern side of the plaza hosts a grove of trees and permanent seating, offering plenty of shade to users of the plaza. Continued investment in urban parks and public spaces is an integral component of propelling Denver forward as a world-class city with an economically healthy and vibrant Downtown. The Downtown Denver Partnership and the City of Denver are working on a cohesive master plan, Denver’s Outdoor Downtown: Turning Urban Spaces into Thriving Places. This plan will outline how Downtown parks and public spaces may be best utilized to serve a rapidly increasing population. Sources: U.S. Green Building Council Colorado, Certifiably Green Denver, Denver 2030 District, City of Denver, Downtown Denver Partnership
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