Is downtown Denver dead? Not according to these inspiring Coloradans. (Editorial)
The Denver Post's three-month-long downtown Denver project made it clear that the city has an uphill battle, but if you haven't visited the city recently, you may have missed some major developments.
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Hating on downtown Denver has become a sport for some, including recent college grads finding Denver’s cost of living to be unsustainable, anyone who has recently navigated Colfax’s construction cones, and yes, our Republican members of Congress who use the city as a political pawn in the debate over Venezuelan refugees.
But Denver is a big, beautiful city with blemishes and flaws just like any other major metropolitan area — and any small town, for that matter.
The Denver Post’s three-month-long downtown Denver project made it clear that the city has an uphill battle as it tries to recover from the COVID shock waves. The city is struggling with vacant buildings, a reduction in tourism, cratering tax revenues and other problems.
But if you haven’t visited the city recently, you may have missed some major developments.
First, the homeless encampments have been completely cleaned up. Certainly, there are still people sleeping on the streets during the day and night between Park Avenue and Speer Boulevard. But that has been an issue for every medium-sized city in this state for more than 50 years.
Gone, however, are the temporary structures with tarps and tents and grocery carts marking the territory of someone who had made a shanty structure on public rights-of-way. Mayor Mike Johnston spent millions of dollars getting people in those encampments into temporary housing, and while it wasn’t cheap, the result has been worth it. The encampments were unsightly, unhealthy, and had drawn criminal elements to the city.
A recent survey of Denver’s homeless population confirmed that while the number of unhoused people has increased, the number of unsheltered people — those sleeping on the street — dropped a dramatic 35% over the last survey in 2024.
Johnston deserves credit for this notable transformation, and he wasn’t shy about taking it.
“We set this crazy, ambitious goal to end street homelessness in (my) first term,” Johnston told The Denver Post. “And to be almost halfway there, almost halfway through term 1, I think reaffirms that’s not an impossible dream.”
Second, while a number of restaurants have closed downtown, the city's old favorites are still thriving, and new gems are opening daily.
The owner of Olive & Finch is giving all Denverites something to believe in.
Mary Nguyen just opened her fourth restaurant in the city.
“There’s a narrative that downtown is dead, that it’s not safe. But I’m here all the time. I see something totally different. There are new restaurants opening, the streets are active, there are interesting people looking for things to do,” Nguyen told The Denver Post. “I’m a Denver native. If I want to see a vibrant, activated downtown, then I’m going to help make that happen. I’m not waiting for someone else to do it."
If you haven't tried Olive and Finch, now is the time to support the budget-friendly downtown staple.
“If you look at the investment the city is making … no other city in America is spending $600 million to revitalize their downtown. Honestly, I think I’ve done a great job coming in at the beginning, because in 10 years – actually, probably just two years, or even one – Denver’s going to come back,” Nguyen said.
Smart entrepreneurs like Nguyen and Ibotta CEO Bryan Leach are betting big on downtown, for both civic and business reasons.
“We’re proud to have signed a 10-year lease in a moment where the city really needs us, where only a third of the occupancy is there,” Ibotta’s founder and CEO, Bryan Leach, told The Denver Post. “I never considered leaving downtown. It is important to have the downtown area of your community be a thriving place where people live and work.”
If you love (or have loved) Denver, now is the time to come back.
Because here's the third and final secret about the city -- the city will come back better than ever. As The Denver Post found, what is hurting the upper-central business district the most are vacant office spaces, cleverly explaining that the city has been "all work and no play" for far too long. But a rebalancing is happening, and the parts of the city where people live and play are vibrant and booming. It will only be a matter of time before that spills from Union Station and the River North neighborhood into the central business district.
The 16th Street Mall construction project is almost complete, bringing to an end a boondoggle of a project that could not have been more poorly timed.
And with any luck, the new owners of the Denver Broncos will be called by the civic duty Nguyen and Leach expressed to stay and invest in our city during its moment of need.
Denver may need a little help, but the city is certainly not dead.
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