Colorado Real Estate Journal - March 18, 2015
Once-ghostly Denver Union Station has been reborn as the pride of the region. The 120-year-old-landmark terminal closed in 2012 for a $54 million renovation, a partnership among the Union Station Alliance (USA), the city and county of Denver, and RTD, which owns the historic building and its former railyards. Carefully restored and connected to 21st-century transit systems, Union Station reopened on July 26, 2014 as “Denver’s Living Room,” a singular public space combining a train waiting room with local transit hub, hotel lobby, eating court, meeting space, and special event venue. The Great Hall and wings host 13 local retailers and restaurants and 600 works of public art. Using innovative outreach techniques, Union Station’s retail spaces were 100 percent preleased to creative local businesses. In its first year, The Crawford has become one of the city’s top-performing hotels for room rate and occupancy. Union Station and the Crawford Hotel have spurred a $1.8 billion wave of development in the area. Developers: Union Station Alliance (Dana Crawford, Founder/CEO, Urban Neighborhoods Inc.; Joe Vostrejs, Pat McHenry, Rod Wagner, and Jeff Hermanson, Development Partners, Larimer Associates/City Street Investors; Walter Isenberg, President/CEO, Sage Hospitality, Denver; Ferd Belz, Principal, REGen; Chad McWhinney, CEO/Founder, McWhinney Owner: RTD Architects: Tryba Architects, JG Johnson Architects Engineers: Monroe & Newell Engineers (structural); RK Mechanical, (mechanical/plumbing); MDP Engineering Group; Cator, Ruma & Associates (electrical) Design/Build Contractor: LEI Companies Debt/Equity Participants: Financing by FirstBank General Contractor: Milender White Construction Company Wow factor: The Great Hall rolls the dice on a new type of public space and comes up a big winner.