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Cherry Creek/Speer Boulevard, CO - Advisory Services Panel
January 9, 2023
Speer Boulevard and Cherry Creek’s history begins before the origins of the city of Denver. Reimagining what is today a major transportation arterial within the city has the potential to impact many lives and businesses in and around downtown. Because of this, four key entities, the city of Denver, the Downtown Denver Partnership (DDP), the Auraria Campus for Higher Education (AHEC) and University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) worked together to sponsor a ULI Advisory Services panel on this complex and critical topic.
Photo By ULI
The panel was led by chair Marilyn Jordan Taylor, University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and included panelists Ryan Cambridge, FRMWRK Planning + Design, Indianapolis, Indiana; Kelly Nagel, Residy, Bethesda, Maryland; Wellington “Duke” Reiter, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona; Ross Tilghman, Tilghman Group, Seattle, Washington; and Yvonne Yeung, SDG Strategies, Toronto, Canada. ULI staff Lauren McKim Callaghan, Barbra Gustis, and student interns Caelin Johnson and Riley Wines from the University of Colorado Denver, College of Architecture and Planning supported the panel.
Date: July 17-22, 2022
Location: Denver, CO
Sponsor: City & County of Denver, Auraria Higher Education Campus, University of Colorado Denver, Downtown Development Partnership
Panel Chair: Marilyn Jordan Taylor
The sponsor team asked ULI to convene an Advisory Services panel to provide strategic recommendations on reimagining a section of Speer Boulevard between downtown Denver and Auraria as an urban arterial that provides greater safety and accessibility for people using multiple forms of transportation, provide expanded opportunities for recreation and open space along the Cherry Creek trail, and better connect downtown Denver and the Auraria Campus.
Specifically, the panel was asked to address the following:
- Review the proposed solution for Speer Boulevard and confirm, identify improvements, or propose a new solution for reimagining Speer Boulevard
- Propose building development form and typology along Speer Boulevard
- Provide strategies for improving open space along the Creek
- Provide strategies for developing a thriving urban edge along Speer Boulevard for AHEC, which houses three academic institutions including CU Denver
- Propose program management and financing options
Key recommendations from the panel include:
Vision (longer term)
- Embrace the importance of the role of education to Denver’s future economy, workforce, identity, and commitment to equity
- Integrate the Auraria Campus and the downtown
- Create mixed-use communities across Auraria, with priority to affordable housing, transit-oriented development, and technology partners
Action (now)
- Initiate the change now
- Prioritize inclusion of Indigenous peoples and displaced residents and businesses
- Kickstart enhanced safety and connectivity by reconfiguration of Speer Boulevard
- Optimize cross-connections between Auraria and downtown
- Revitalize Cherry Creek to the benefit of Denver’s communities
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