Cherry Creek and Speer Boulevard Vision and Feasibility Study

A Gathering Place

The confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte River has been a gathering place for people for hundreds of years. It first served as a gathering place for the Indigenous Peoples who moved seasonally through the region and came to trade and hunt. Today, the confluence of these two waterways remains the physical and cultural heart of downtown Denver.

Since Denver’s incorporation in 1861, the metro area has grown to a population of close to three million people. Near the original birthplace of Denver runs Cherry Creek and Speer Boulevard, two parallel systems which define a distinct and vital corridor through the city:

Cherry Creek is an urban waterway that provides downtown residents and visitors a connection to nature and plays a key role in managing the area’s watershed.

Speer Boulevard is an important vestige of Mayor Speer’s City Beautiful movement and serves as a vital transportation link through the city.

From Barrier to Connector

Development potential to the west of Speer has the potential to bring over 20,000 new residences and 40,000 new jobs to the corridor through new, dynamic, mixed use neighborhoods. Today, Cherry Creek and Speer currently separate, rather than connect, these new neighborhoods and Downtown.

How can the Cherry Creek and Speer Boulevard corridor help unify downtown?

This Study proposes consolidation of a critical section of the divided Speer Boulevard. This provides opportunities to re-imagine the corridor as a buzzing, beautiful center of public and ecological life, that features active recreation, leisure, dining, shopping, and the safe movement of multiple modes.

Denver is Best When Bold!

City-led public-private partnerships have forged our most treasured urban landmarks and have energized the growth and vibrancy of modern Denver. The rebirth of Denver Union Station, the Millennium Bridge (and its cousin bridges over the South Platte and I-25), Coors Field, and the parks and mixed-used neighborhood of Central Platte Valley; these transformational projects were born of bold vision, strategic partnerships, and a desire to deliver vibrant, world-class public spaces to Denver residents and visitors.

Led by private sector development at two large infill sites, and educational and cultural institutions, massive changes to Denver’s downtown are being planned for the western edge of Speer Boulevard:

• Between The River Mile and Ball Arena redevelopments, the next 25 years could bring 20,000 new residents, 40,000 new jobs, robust entertainment, hospitality, and other commercial uses.
• Auraria Higher Education Center Master Plan: The draft master plan includes several thousand new residential units for both students and other residents, an expansion of the Auraria Early Learning Center (adding much-needed downtown childcare), and streets and plazas activated by commercial uses will be designed to connect campus to downtown Denver.
• The Arts Complex and its resident companies are planning new venues and modifications to existing structures that will invite the community to connect more robustly to the arts.

The city has a staggering opportunity to stitch this string of new developments into downtown by transforming the Cherry Creek and Speer Boulevard corridor. This transformation is critical to achieving the mayor’s Citywide Goals.

An Interdisciplinary Approach

This Study was initiated in summer 2023 as a partnership between Denver’s Department of Community Planning and Development (CPD), Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI), and Denver Parks and Recreation (DPR), as a follow up to the Urban Land Institute’s Advisory Services Panel focused on the same corridor in 2022. This interdisciplinary approach is foundational; it provided a holistic framework comprised of interconnected regional and local systems of hydrology and ecology, mobility, land use and parks, and includes historic considerations, economics, and shifting demographics and trends.

Included below is a snapshot of each discipline’s role in this study:

Hydrology and Ecology: Cherry Creek is a 48-mile-long tributary to the South Platte River, which itself spans 439 miles and performs a central role in the city’s watershed system. The team explored options to restore the hydrological and ecologic health of the corridor to create a connected, biodiverse artery within the city. The reintroduction of native and adaptive plants and the restoration of a naturally-meandering creek in strategic locations will form the foundation for future wetlands, critical to urban resiliency. Wetlands aid in stormwater management, filter out pollutants from run-off, provide groundwater recharge, attenuate flood flow, and prevent soil erosion. Wetlands also provide habitat for a robust collection of plants and animals. Increasing biodiversity is a key to climate resiliency.

Mobility and Connections: Historically, Cherry Creek is a place of gathering. Over time, as Speer Boulevard has grown wider and become dominated by fast-moving vehicles, the corridor has become less safe for pedestrians. The Cherry Creek Trail, too, needs safety improvements to meet current standards. Multi-modal transit options must be integrated into both Speer Boulevard and the Cherry Creek Trail to support future mobility needs and goals.

Parks and Public Spaces: The opportunity exists to unlock previously inaccessible land and provides a clear vision that prioritizes a robust, diverse, and vibrant public realm that will guide future corridor development. Central to this vision are high-quality parks with activated edges that include retail, dining, and community and cultural uses. This new collection of connected public spaces will exist at multiple levels, from street to creek, and will reconnect the Auraria Campus, Ball and The River Mile to LoDo. To catalyze further development, the plan provides places for recreation and respite, connects people to art and nature, and forms a world-class public space.

Community Engagement: Multiple in-person and online outreach and engagement efforts brought a wide variety of voices, opinions and perspectives to the study.  Social media channels provided an opportunity to engage with members of the community. A project website and other social media platforms communicated project progress and invited participation in public events and surveys. Over 1,000 people responded to the surveys. The study team facilitated small focus-group discussions with over 24 project stakeholders, including adjacent land-owners, business alliances, Council members, and institutional and arts leaders.

This study strives to shift the nature of Cherry Creek and Speer Boulevard from a barrier to a connector as it unifies downtown around an identity grounded in nature. It proposes consolidation of a critical section of the divided Speer Boulevard. This provides opportunities to re-imagine the corridor as a buzzing, beautiful center of public and ecological life, that features active recreation, leisure, dining, shopping, and the safe movement of multiple modes.

Consolidating Speer Boulevard unlocks city-controlled land parcels that can be interconnected at both street and creek levels to provide places for recreation and respite, connect people to art, nature, and entertainment, and form a world-class public space that will catalyze further development and value. The realignment also allows flood walls to be replaced sloping landscapes more reminiscent of the creek’s natural condition. The redesign addresses the creek in a variety of ways, each improving the health and functionality of the waterway as much as space and adjacencies allow. Removing impermeable surfaces maximizes space for a more natural creek meander. This helps slow water velocity and promotes filtration and infiltration.

Cherry Creek and Speer Boulevard can become an ecological corridor in the center of Denver with the potential to unify downtown, accommodate growth, enhance the movement of people and connect them to both art and nature.