Colorado Real Estate Journal - May 6, 2015
At the U.S. Green Building Council Colorado Chapter’s Rocky Mountain Green Conference, several leaders in the green building industry delineated their plans to transform the National Western Center, a centrally located but underutilized complex, into a community hub and educational resource center for the Rocky Mountain region. Mark Johnson, founding principal of Civitas, an urban design, urban planning and landscape architecture firm, explored the area’s rich industrial history and tremendous natural resources during “Regeneration: The Future of Development in Colorado,” the opening keynote address at Rocky Mountain Green. Johnson, who was involved in the redevelopment of the Stapleton neighborhood of Denver, visually walked through the transformation that Denver has made over the past 20 years to a group of more than 500 of the Rocky Mountain region’s leading construction and design professionals. He suggested that while the development of the area was considered cutting-edge at the time, the fact was the envelope could have been pushed further. He then encouraged attendees to imagine the possibilities for a National Western Center in the middle of the 21st century. Johnson pointed to natural resources like the South Platte River that National Western has yet to advantage of. “So, we said, why not make this an entire green zone?” said Johnson. “Why not celebrate the original ecostructure of the National Western site and bring nature back in?” Jocelyn Hittle, director of Denver Operational Initiatives at Colorado State University, reviewed the formation of the National Western Center Master Plan. Last year, the National Western Stock Show, Colorado State University, Denver Museum of Nature and Science and History Colorado partnered with the city and county of Denver to create the plan, which includes a bold vision of education, commerce, competition, tourism and entertainment for the area. In the master plan, the organizations set aggressive sustainability goals for the redevelopment of the National Western Center. “We wanted to really continue to advance Denver’s reputation for forward-thinking, large-scale regenerative development,” Hittle said. Hittle touched on the sustainability challenges facing the complex, which sits in an industrial area that also is undergoing a dramatic change. With out-of-date facilities that are hard to navigate, the site is dormant for most of the year when it is not hosting the 16-day Stock Show and Rodeo, which draws about 750,000 people each January. The partners involved wanted to redesign the site to make it not only sustainable, but also attractive and easy to navigate so it can be in use 365 days a year. “One thing we wanted to do was take the history of this site, flip it and think about the future,” Hittle continued. They created nine guiding principles for redevelopment of the site, including concepts like fostering innovation, building cultural crossroads, inspiring health and wellness and embracing an ethic of regeneration. According to Hittle, the planning committee sought to answer the question, “How does the spirit of the National Western translate to the ‘New West,’ and what does it mean to be part of the West today?” Hittle gave attendees a highlevel view of the redevelopment. Plans include covering two large sewer pipes that run on the east side of the river so people will have access to the river for educational purposes, new vehicular roads, a livestock center, equestrian center, sports medicine facility, new expo hall for trade shows, new arena and coliseum and a Colorado State University building that will house art collections and classroom spaces. The most aggressive sustainable goal in the plan is creating net zero energy, water and waste for the site, Hittle noted. It will include diverting allowable waste from the site, reducing greenhouse gases and exploring district-scale rating systems. “The site is 240 acres and is going to be under one management company so there’s a great opportunity for us to think about closed loop systems,” Hittle remarked. As what is currently a major development and construction project for the city of Denver, and for what will be a major tourist attraction for locals as well as out-of-town guests, the National Western project is unique in involving citizens in the decision-making process through the use of a Citizens Advisory Council, noted Sonrisa Lucero, sustainability strategist for the city and county of Denver. “In a lot of the sustainability work that we do, we tend to focus on energy and water and the environmental protection side of things, but we really need to remember social equity as well,” Lucero said. She also raised challenges that the project is addressing, noting that if a city wants a construction project to benefit the surrounding neighborhoods, residents need to able to provide input on how they want their neighborhood to look and know that this will benefit them greatly as well. “We’re trying to create a very porous boundary with the National Western. Right now it looks like a separate campus,” she said. “It’s not an inviting place.” Just one example of the benefits the new development will bring to the depressed industrial area are plans to focus the planned community hub on agriculture and food, situated in what is currently considered a “food desert” with very little healthy, nutritious and locally sourced food options. In addition to the National Western Center rebuild and the revitalization of the South Platte River, Lucero touched on some of the most important projects underway in the city of Denver: the reconstruction of I-70, the addition of a new light-rail system south of the highway and Brighton Boulevard redevelopment project, which she sees transforming Brighton Boulevard into a new gateway to the city of Denver. Lucero said she was impressed by the way Coloradans reacted to the sustainability goals in these projects. “One thing I’ve been really encouraged by is the number of people throughout the city who are really focused and keyed in on these issues.” Looking forward, she credited Colorado’s record of sustainability with attracting new big businesses to the area. For example, Panasonic recently chose Denver over 22 other U.S. cities to build its new innovation hub.