While there isn’t a long list of assets of being old, there is at least one thing on the plus side: perspective. I have a lot of perspective. Case in point is all the hubbub currently exploding about what to do with troubled Downtown Denver.
In Brief:
- Downtown Denver struggles echo 1980s urban decline
- Vacant offices, retail exodus, safety concerns persist
- Revival efforts center on 16th Street rebrand, housing
- Perspective warns against silver bullet solutions
I’ve been reading all the newspaper stories, listening to the proclamations of business and civic leaders, and just basically talking with my friends and acquaintances from around the region, and I am simply amazed and overwhelmed with an undeniable rush of déjà vu.
Downtown Denver is unsafe. The downtown office buildings are outdated, the commercial vacancy rate is historically high, and there is an astronomical amount of commercial loan defaults. There are not enough workers in the Central Business District. There is not enough housing in and near the CBD. Businesses are abandoning the area and looking to other zones, such as Cherry Creek, RiNo, etc. to find new offices. Retailers are leaving. There are no vibrant restaurants. No one really wants to go downtown and there is very little to see and do when there…