The Local newsletter is your free, daily guide to life in Colorado. For locals, by locals.
What if Downtown Denver had a gondola system soaring above city streets? Or an observation tower taking guests 673 feet up in the air? These are two of several ideas that developers are dreaming up to reenergize the city core.
And their timing might be just right. Downtown Denver is ripe for renovation. Multiple office buildings now sit largely vacant, foot traffic is about 83 percent of what it was in June, and the city is incentivizing some projects with $570 million up for grabs. Pair these factors with the recently renovated 16th Street corridor, and it’s clear Denver wants to bring people back to the heart of the city.
Other visionaries want to get in on the action, too, and help reshape the Mile High City’s future, starting with striking, unique designs for hotels, residential towers, gondolas, Ferris wheels, and more. “There’s almost like an alchemy at work,” says Meg Touborg, president and CEO of the Denver Architecture Foundation. “Somewhere in this alchemy, there must be an impetus from the post-COVID life.”
Regardless of the timing, these projects and dreams showcase Denver’s “openness to have creativity with a purpose,” Touborg says. Denver isn’t prejudiced against one architectural style or design, she adds. Touborg is a Boston native and spent much of her career on the East Coast and in Los Angeles before landing in Denver. “I don’t find that we have such a burden of precedent [in Denver] as maybe one does on the East Coast or some of the more classical designs of Los Angeles, of Bel Air. We’re more wide-open to ideas and fresh faces,” she says.
Downtown gondolas may seem far-fetched, but others—like an observation tower—are gaining traction. Some have even become reality over the last few years, such as the aspen tree-inspired Populus Hotel and One River North apartment building with a plant-filled canyon splitting through it (though the greenery is still in the works). Touborg welcomes these innovative ideas but cautions that each must be designed with purpose. People are excited for Denver’s future and they’re being “intellectually aggressive” and “bold,” Touborg says.
Ranging from a pedestrian bridge to a Ferris wheel, here are six out-of-the-box developments currently floating—or taking root—around the Mile High City.
Jump Ahead:
- Gondolas
- Ferris Wheel
- Spiral Observation Tower
- Capitol Pedestrian Bridge
- One River North
- Populus Hotel
Gondolas
- What: Ride-hailing gondolas
- Where: Downtown Denver, specifically along three loops: Union Station to Civic Center Park via 16th Street, around Civic Center Park and Colorado State Capitol building, and Union Station to Lower Highland and the Auraria neighborhood
- Status: An idea, no formal development plans submitted to Denver
Former reporter and private investigator Ryan Ross is dreaming up big plans to revitalize downtown Denver, including the addition of ride-hailing gondolas called DEN-VAIR.
Ross is the director of New Downtown Denver, a nonprofit he launched in March to promote his vision for downtown. That vision includes gondolas, which take visitors above Denver’s traffic to places like Union Station, Empower Field at Mile High, Ball Arena, and Coors Field. Constructing the gondolas is estimated to cost between $120 million and $340 million, a total Ross hopes the private sector will fund. He says he would need some “planning funds” from the city, which could come from the $570 million the Downtown Development Authority is doling out.
Ross says DEN-VAIR would be a “powerful magnet for downtown Denver,” attracting visitors from around the world. He is trying to schedule a meeting with Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and other city officials to make this high-flying dream a reality.
Read More: Could Gondolas Really Soar Over Denver? We Asked the Experts.
Ferris Wheel
- What: 500-foot-tall Ferris wheel with 30 passenger cabins
- Where: Downtown Denver, ideally on 16th Street between Commons Park and the Denver Millennium Bridge
- Status: An idea, no formal development plans submitted to Denver
Ross also envisions adding a Ferris wheel to downtown. Modeled after the London Eye, Denver’s attraction (cleverly called…the Rocky Mountain Eye) would feature 30 glass passenger cabins that could each accommodate 25 people. “The reason I think it would be an excellent fit in Denver is that there is no other city in the country in which you get a more spectacular view,” he says.
Although Ross is still working to raise capital for the ride (construction costs are estimated to be $250 million), partner with a developer, and secure a location, he hopes to see this project come to life at the northern end of 16th Street.
“I’m disappointed in the progress we’ve made so far because Mayor Johnston seems committed to playing small ball for downtown Denver. He professes to want to reenergize it, but his deeds don’t match his words,” Ross says, noting he’s tried to connect with Johnston and his office several times but has yet to secure a meeting. “I’m confident that the door will be opened and we can sit down with them, but for now, they’re bogged down in other matters, and in my view, they’re cheating downtown Denver out of the future it needs to revive itself.”
Spiral Observation Tower
- What: A 673-foot-tall observation tower with circular pods that spiral around the structure, moving people to the top
- Where: On two parking lots at 1546 California Street and 1555 Welton Street
- Status: In discussion
An LLC tied to NAI Shames Makovsky, a Denver commercial real estate firm, proposed building a 673-foot tall “observation spiral tower” near the recently rebranded 16th Street corridor, according to concept plans submitted to Denver in late June. (A concept plan is an early step in the development process that shows a proposed idea or infrastructure. The plans are reviewed by several city departments, and modifications may be made before a formal site development plan is sent to the city.)
“We are in the very early stages of research and planning for potential options for this site,” says Evan Makovsky, a managing partner at NAI. “We’re fully committed to creating the type of development that contributes meaningfully to a thriving city. We look forward to sharing plans once we’ve committed to a direction.”
Initial concept plans and renderings show circular pods rotating around the observation tower, taking people from ground level to the top of the structure, providing a 360-degree view of the Mile High City. If built at its planned height, the observation tower would be the fourth-tallest structure in Colorado, according to the Denver Business Journal.
Capitol Pedestrian Bridge
- What: A pedestrian bridge
- Where: Over Lincoln Street, connecting the Colorado State Capitol building with the Lincoln Veterans Memorial Park
- Status: Rejected
To celebrate Colorado’s 150th birthday, Governor Jared Polis rolled out plans—and wild renderings—for a zigzagging pedestrian walkway near the Capitol building. The proposed 11,000-square-foot bridge, intended to be reflective of Colorado’s rivers, was designed by Studio Gang (the architecture firm behind the nearby Populus Hotel). But plans for the bridge and its “viewing platforms, sculptural monuments,” and artwork were met with opposition from Historic Denver, several lawmakers, and a whopping 94 percent of Coloradans.
“Coloradans were clear, and I will stop the pedestrian walkway proposal in its tracks,” Polis said in a statement, even though building the bridge was his idea. “If needed, I will chain myself to the Capitol plaza to prevent it from being built.” Polis’ plans for the $28.5 million bridge to be a “new gateway to downtown Denver” by next summer are now dead in the water.
According to the survey results, Coloradans don’t want a sesquicentennial project at all—or at least they don’t want taxpayer dollars going toward one.
One River North
- What: A 16-story residential tower with a canyon design trisecting one façade
- Where: 3930 Blake St. (southwestern Elyria-Swansea, near RiNo)
- Status: Open
The 187-unit apartment building was designed by MAD Architects and Davis Partnership Architects to feature a landscaped canyon running along one side. But the greenery developers once promised has not yet bloomed as renderings depicted.
“Just as any landscapes in the wild and large-scale plantings take time to mature, the environs at One River North are in an active phase of growth and establishment,” says Ryan Bartizal, senior managing director at the Max Collaborative, one of the developers behind the project. “Our landscape strategy prioritized resilient, local species that thrive in these [Denver] conditions. Already, the greenery is beginning to root deeply, and over the coming seasons, we’re excited to see how the plantings will continue to soften the sculptural architecture.”
While Denverites wait for more pops of green, the residential tower has received national recognition. It was recently named an honoree in the Fast Company’s Innovation by Design Awards under the architectural design category.
Read More: A Sneak Peek at MAD Architects’ Adventurous One River North Project
Populus Hotel
- What: A 265-room hotel with an aspen tree-inspired façade
- Where: 240 14th St. (Downtown, overlooking Civic Center Park)
- Status: Open
Populus opened last October and aims to bring nature back into the city, according to Jon Buerge, president of Urban Villages and developer of the project. The hotel’s nature-inspired exterior, designed by international architecture firm Studio Gang, translates inside with eye-shaped windows in each room, beetle-killed pine, and hues of browns used throughout the building’s design.
Although it’s too early to tell if its sustainability initiatives are paying off—Populus claims to be the country’s first carbon-positive hotel—it was named Best New Hotel of the Year by Esquire and landed on Time’s list of the World’s Greatest Places of 2025. Most importantly, it was 5280’s top new hotel in 2025.
Read More: Does Denver’s New Populus Hotel Live Up to the Hype?
