Project: Denver Union Station

Synopsis

The Denver Union Station project is a public-private development venture located on approximately 50 acres in lower downtown Denver, which includes the historic Denver Union Station building, rail lines, vacant parcels, street rights-of-way, and offsite trackage rights. The project consisted of the redevelopment of the project site as an intermodal terminal surrounded by a transit-oriented development district, including a mix of residential, retail, and office space. The transit district serves as a regional multimodal hub connecting commuter rail, light rail and bus rapid transit, regularly scheduled bus service, and other related transportation services. Construction on the $488 million project began in 2010 and finished in 2014, with additional improvements opening in 2016 and 2019. The project resulted in 4,594 direct jobs in the area surrounding the station, $3.5 billion in private development, 2,792 multifamily housing units and 748 hotel rooms.

Location & Transportation Connections

Located in downtown Denver, Union Station integrates regional light rail and commuter rail lines, Amtrak rail service, regional buses, taxis, shuttles, and bicycle and pedestrian access. This includes an eight-track commuter rail station; a 22-bay underground bus facility; and relocation of the Union Station Light Rail Station near the freight rail Consolidated Main Line. Buses from the station include the Free MetroRide and the 16th Street Free MallRide as another way to move people between Union Station and Civic Center for downtown commuters and tourists.

Denver is served by Interstates 70, 25, and 76, as well as US Route 36 that runs between Denver and Boulder, Colorado. The Regional Transportation District (RTD) operates light rail that connects downtown Denver to Golden, Littleton, Lone Tree, and Aroura. RTD also operates a Bus Rapid Transit line that connects Denver to Boulder. Union Station is located 20.1 miles by highway 39 minutes by rail on the A Line from Denver International Airport in Aroura.

Community Character & Project Context

Denver Union Station was built in 1881 to accommodate 10,000 daily passengers and was a major hub for travelers moving across the country by rail. By 2004 when planning for the Denver Union Station redevelopment began, just two Amtrak trains per day passed through the station. From 1990 to 2001, the Downtown population (including Lower Downtown, the Central Platte Valley, and the Golden Triangle) increased from 3,050 to 6,170, or 6.6% per year. In the early 1990s, housing growth mainly resulted from conversion of historic warehouses to lofts and vacant office and department stores to apartments and lofts in the Downtown core.

Bill Mosher, former CEO and Board Chair of the Denver Downtown Partnership, says the Union Station project came to fruition after many years of development in the Lower Downtown and riverfront neighborhoods. Starting in the 1990s, the City negotiated the purchase of railyards west of the station and cleaned them up to open more than 300 acres of developable space.

The city’s investments in a pedestrian mall, convention center, airport, museums, zoo, and park behind Union Station in the 1980s and 1990s began an era of reinvention. Voter-approved sales tax increases funded many of these improvements. Voters approved another increase in November 2004 fund a regional rail and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, FasTracks, that relied on unprecedented inter-governmental cooperation to bring it across the finish line. The FasTracks project included redeveloping Denver Union Station as an intermodal transit hub for the eight county region. RTD improvements to the FasTracks system continue today.

Project Description & Motives

The Denver Union Station project is a public-private partnership development located in downtown Denver, Colorado, which includes the historic Denver Union Station building (excluding renovation of the building itself), rail lines, vacant parcels, street rights-of-way, and offsite trackage rights. A 2004 master plan outlined a vision for redeveloping Union Station as a hub for the new transit system through a public-private partnership.

Denver Union Station Project Authority (DUSPA) is a nonprofit, public benefit corporation formed by the City and County of Denver in July 2008 to finance and implement the $488 million project. In addition to the City and County, DUSPA members include the Regional Transportation District, Colorado Department of Transportation, and Denver Regional Council of Governments.

Project elements have been transferred to the Regional Transportation District (RTD), which operates and maintains them as a complete transportation district. Denver’s Union Station is part of RTD’s 2004 voter-approved FasTracks plan to expand transit service across the Denver metro region. FasTracks was approved after 10 years of Denver area residents voting “no” on the transit investment.

The transit district serves as a regional multimodal hub connecting commuter rail, light rail and bus rapid transit, regularly scheduled bus service, and other related transportation services, including:

Light rail and commuter rail stations:

• A regional bus facility
• Extension of the 16th Street Mall and the Shuttle service
• Accommodation of the Downtown Circulator service
• Pedestrian improvements and improved street, replacement parking and utility infrastructure

The Union Station historic building was renovated into a boutique hotel, restaurants and retail establishments while maintaining the character of the Great Train Hall. Following the opening of the first phase of transit infrastructure in May 2014, the newly rehabilitated historic station building opened in July 2014.

Table 1. Project Timeline

Year: 2001 - Project Milestone: RTD acquires 19.5-acre Union Station site with participation by the City and County of Denver, the Colorado Department of Transportation, and the Denver Regional Council of Governments

Year: 2004 - Project Milestone: Voters approve RTD’s FasTracks plan to expand transit service across the Denver metro region</td>

Year: 2010 - Project Milestone: Construction at Union Station begins</td>

Year: 2011 - Project Milestone: Light rail station opens

Year: 2012 - Project Milestone: RTD awards contract to redevelop the Union Station building

Year: 2014 - Project Milestone: Union Station Bus Concourse opens in May</td>

Year: 2016 - Project Milestone: Commuter rail opens in 2016 with service to Denver International Airport

To understand the example better, we have added borders to the table.

Transportation Impacts

In 2019, the station saw 13,000 daily rail boardings and 12,800 daily bus boardings.

Demographic, Economic & Land Use Impacts

The Denver Union Station impact Area includes roughly 50 acres and is bounded by Wynkoop Street on the east, 16th Street and 15th Street on the south, Little Raven Street on the west, and 20th Street on the north. $488 million in public investment at Union Station has transformed what was once a decommissioned rail-yard into a vibrant, mixed-use area, with more than $3.5 billion in private development projects in the surrounding area as well as more than $2 billion in economic impact annually.

Private development in and around the station has included nearly 1.9 million square feet of office, 250,000 square feet of retail, 3,000 residential units, and 750 hotel rooms. The area is now one of the most attractive locations for office space, lodging, apartments, condos, and restaurants in the Denver Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The development within the DUS Study Area contains approximately 2.0 million square feet of office space, 3.5 million square feet (2,791 units) of multifamily housing, 630,000 square feet of hotel space (725 keys), and more than 150,000 square feet of retail space. Multifamily development makes up half of the total value of development at $1.7 billion followed by office at $1.3 billion (38 percent), hotel at $337 million (10 percent), and retail at nearly $80 million (2 percent). The total value of development surrounding DUS is estimated at over $3.5 billion.

Non-Transportation Factors

Denver’s Union Station is part of RTD’s 2004 voter-approved FasTracks plan to expand transit service across the Denver metro region. .This is a unique financing structure and the first time DOT has combined credit assistance from the TIFIA and RRIF programs.

Additionally, Denver’s history as a hub rail transit set the stage for reinvestment in the Lower Downtown neighborhood. Voter approval and local funding became a major roadblock to implementing the Fastracks program, and the project stalled until the beginning of the 2008 recession.

With the promise of federal loan assistance under the Build America program (TIFIA), local government stakeholders were able to secure 18 different sources of funding for the Denver Union Station project, including RTD FasTracks sales and use tax, federal grants, the tax increment revenues generated by a Downtown Development Authority (DDA) tax increment finance district, and a series of five Metropolitan Districts created through the cooperation of the Master Developer and City and County of Denver. The City was able to repay the TIFIA loan in six years—10 years ahead of its planned 16-year repayment schedule included in the loan application.

Citations

Build America Bureau Project Database, Denver Union Station https://www.transportation.gov/buildamerica/projects/denver-union-station

Denver Union Station: A True Public-Private Partnership, panel presentation, 2017 Rail-Volution Conference https://railvolution.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Bill-Sirois-Denver-Union-Station.pdf

Denver Union Station Economic Impact Analysis Update Memorandum (October, 25, 2019). https://www.rtd-denver.com/sites/default/files/files/2019-12/dus-econ-impact-report_20191025.pdf

Denver Union Station Master Plan, 2004

FRA Rail Program Delivery Meeting presentation, 2017

Jaffe, M. (July 12, 2014 at 2:09 p.m. | UPDATED: April 27, 2016 at 5:45). Denver’s renovated Union Station has been a 30-year barn-raising. The Denver Post. https://www.denverpost.com/2014/07/12/denvers-renovated-union-station-has-been-a-30-year-barn-raising/

Project Profile: Denver Union Station, FHWA Center for Innovative Finance Support, https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ipd/project_profiles/co_union_station.aspx

Union Station Facts & Figures At a Glance (March 2020), RTD website, https://www.rtd-denver.com/reports-and-policies/facts-figures/denver-union-station

Union Station Project Details, Continuum Partners https://continuumpartners.com/project-page/union-station-district/#:~:text=The%20public%20infrastructure%20project%20is,infrastructure%20components%20of%20the%20project

Union Station TOD Project, RTD website, https://www.rtd-denver.com/projects/union-station-tod-project

Interviews

Chessy Brady, Manager, Transit Oriented Development
Regional Transportation District (RTD)

William Sirios, Senior Manager, Transit Oriented Communities
Regional Transportation District (RTD)

William Mosher, Senior Managing Director
Trammell Crowe Company

Footnotes

Case study developed by EBP.