What Portland Architects Have Planned for the 16th Street Mall

For about a year now, a plan has been in place to make downtown Denver’s 16th Street Mall more “vibrant and successful” for the generation to come. “This project will be more than a makeover of the mall,” Cassie Milestone, urban planning manager for the Downtown Denver Partnership, says (in a statement via the Denver Business Journal). “Ultimately, it will integrate place making, economic development, universal access, historic preservation, and other components to create a space that will be sustainable economically and environmentally for the next 25 years.” Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects LLP of Portland, Oregon, has been picked to develop a design that will include a makeover that runs to the core of the mall, including its infrastructure.

In other words, ZGF should be able to provide some images to the general public to help explain jargon-y concepts to average guys like me, who have no concept of what “place making” is. I won’t try to guess. Meanwhile, Gart Properties and ING Clarion have finished a majority of work on a major upgrade to the Denver Pavilions, on the mall between Glenarm Place and Tremont Street, notes PRNewswire. Improvements include heated stairways, LED screens, new lighting and landscaping, and myriad other amenities. A weeklong celebration is scheduled to begin at the Pavilions at noon November 10, including a fashion show.