With new rules, work on Civic Center can begin

When the Denver Landmark Preservation Commission signed off recently on the long-awaited design guidelines for Civic Center, it set in motion long-awaited plans to restore historic areas in the civic core of Denver. 

As outlined this week to the Denver City Council’s public amenities committee, that includes conducting a structural assessment of the three major historic elements in the park that have bond money for repairs, as well as working on a request for proposals to restore the McNichols Building to its original beauty. 

Repairs or restoration of the McNichols Building, built in 1909 as the city’s Carnegie Library,  is not covered by bond money. At one point, long before the November 2007 bond election, it was in that long list of structures pegged for funds. But it was removed, as the city expected the Colorado Historical Society to take on that chore when it proposed using the McNichols Building as part of a new museum complex in Civic Center. Opposition to that plan led the society to look elsewhere for a site.

Funds from the Better Denver Bond Program earmarked for Civic Center now hover around $9.8 million, with repairs and restoration set for the Voorhies Memorial, the Greek Theater and the Broadway Terrace area. That’s up from the original $9.5 million anticipated, though Civic Center project manager Mark Bernstein said after the meeting that the difference involves the cost of administering the entire Better Denver program.

Bernstein told committee members that the guidelines are not an amendment to the 2005 Civic Center Master Plan. “They are a tool to evaluate future design,” he said, noting that the intent was to remain aware of the park’s historic context.

The memorial and theater are included in the first phase of work, with rehabilitation and safety issues the main concern. Bernstein said he hoped that a contract could be in hand before the end of the year, with a projected nine- to 12-month construction schedule. That includes working around major events in Civic Center, including the Denver Biennial of the Americas next summer.  

The Broadway Terrace area is set for the second phase, though Bernstein added a little surprise to the discussion: that construction of informational kiosks proposed for the Broadway edge of the park might be considered for construction during that phase. It all depends on funding, he said after the meeting, including support by the private groups such as the Civic Center Conservancy. That nonprofit signed an agreement with the city several  years ago to promote and support the area, and again this year will sponsor weekly farmers markets. 

The guidelines allow for the addition of up to three such small buildings to serve up brochures and food: one near the McNichols Building and two along Broadway. Those structures, which have a specific size limit, had not been mentioned in the original bond information. 

Introducing new structures into Civic Center will require a public process, said deputy chief of staff Amy Mueller. That public input could come while work is under way on the memorial and theater. Bernstein said that regardless of how the money is generated for the kiosks — through bond funds or private contributions — the city would contract with a concessionaire for operations. 

The structural assessments have been contracted to Mundus Bishop Design Inc., which has created the master plan and design guidelines for Civic Center. But that landscape architecture firm has subcontracted with Golden-based Andrews & Anderson Architects to do the bulk of the work, studying the theater, the memorial and the balustrades in the Broadway Terrace section. 

No designer has  yet been chosen to work on the three historic elements.  

The design guidelines are key here. They serve as a supplement to the city’s 2005 master plan for work in the center, and were developed over a lengthy, sometimes contentious process. The landmark commission asked for several fixes, in terms of the size and scale of any new elements added to the park as well as a better, more clear definition of what might be allowed in the one remaining major open space, to the south of the McNichols Building. 

What had been termed a “festival garden” and represented by a box-like shape on paper, now is the south garden. In language and image, it is much more amorphous, and is described as a “non-habitable” structure — thus perhaps easing concerns held by many people that an actual building would rise in that spot. That was envisioned in long-ago plans, but since  Civic Center now has its own established character, and since downtown is not exactly awash in green space, protests arose over any future large-scale construction. 

A request for proposals is still being written to find a developer or other party to restore the McNichols Building, said Derek Brown, of the city’s general services department. It is now used as a city office building, and has been drastically changed inside and out. 

To read the Civic Center Design Guidelines: http://cms.denvergov.org/Portals/626/documents/CivicCenterGuidelFinal.pdf