> History > Skyline Park Events > Skyline Park > Sponsor a Bench
In early 2003, the fate of Skyline Park hung in the balance. After seven years of arduous public process, the Denver Parks and Recreation Advisory Board overwhelmingly approved the Thomas Balsley and Associates design to transform the park from a sunken and foreboding concrete canyon into a green, open and accessible urban park befitting its location in the heart of Downtown Denver. However, the City was in the midst of a budget crisis, and had only $3.5 million available for the project - nowhere near enough to fund implementation of the new design.
It was at this crucial juncture that the property owners immediately adjacent to Skyline Park came together to create a public-private collaboration unprecedented in Denver's history - a collaboration that provided $3,000,000 in private funds to a public park. Without this contribution, the park's revitalization could not have occurred.
Led by Jeremy Fletcher, Senior Vice President for Beacon Capital Partners - the owner of the Park Central and Chase buildings - the property owners signed and submitted a petition to the City to authorize the creation of the Skyline Park Local Improvement District (Skyline Park LID) in February 2003. The Skyline Park LID was approved and authorized by Denver City Council in May 2003.
The Skyline Park LID is a funding mechanism by which the property owners agreed to assess themselves over a 12-year period to pay off $3,000,000 in bonds used for the reconstruction of the park. Property owners immediately adjacent to the park, including Beacon Capital Partners, Equity Office, the Westin Hotel LLC, and the condominium owners of the D and F Tower, paid for 60% of the funds. Those directly across Arapahoe Street, including Qwest, Amstar Denver Ltd. and the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, were responsible for 30% of the total assessment. Property owners across 15th and 18th Streets from the park, including Denver-Stellar Associates, Skypark Partners Ltd., Global Pacific Properties and individual owners of Brooks Tower, were assessed 10% of the total cost.
The property owners' initiative was a bold and civic-minded move that is now showing a clear and positive impact. Skyline Park has been open for almost one year, and the results are dramatic. Reports of crime and suspicious behavior in the park have plummeted to nearly zero. Based on weekly eyewitness counts by Partnership staff, park usage is triple or quadruple what it was prior to the park's closure and reconstruction. Events and activities are now held in the park on a regular basis. The City and the Downtown Denver Partnership were able to incorporate Skyline Park into the City Free Concert Series and free music performances now take place in the park ever Friday during July and August. Two new restaurants (Corner Bakery and Green Fine Salad) have opened with sidewalk cafés facing the park in the last year, and this summer, for the first time in many years, the Palm has opened a sidewalk café. Janor Bourgerie, Manager of Palomino Euro Bistro, which faces Skyline Park, reports that his restaurant has made its sales targets for three consecutive quarters, the first time that has occurred in four years.
"We were very pleased that we and the other property owners could work with the City in such a productive fashion to get such a terrific result," Jeremy Fletcher said.
Bar Chadwick, Skyline Park project manager for Denver Parks and Recreation, was equally enthusiastic about the owners' initiative. "The adjacent property owners were absolutely instrumental in making this park happen."
Wendy Williams, property manager for Park Central, is thrilled with the changes. "Skyline Park has become the park that we envisioned," she said. "It has created greater neighborhood appeal and has become a user-friendly, vibrant, interactive park for Downtown Denver."
The commitment of the Skyline Park LID property owners is stimulating other investment as well. In 2004, the Downtown Denver Business Improvement District (BID) contributed $175,000 to purchase movable tables, chairs and umbrellas that grace all three blocks of the park and are packed with people. The Gates Foundation, Coors Foundation and private donors have pledged more than $160,000 in the last year to fund additional elements from the original Balsley design that will further enhance the park.
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