The Broncos submitted a large-area redevelopment plan to the city Wednesday that includes a preliminary map for the team’s future stadium and surrounding entertainment district at Burnham Yard south of downtown Denver.
The initial plan includes a stadium sited on the western portion of the now-defunct rail yard, which the club announced as its preferred site for a new stadium in September.
The team confirmed its submission. In a statement, the Broncos called the conceptual design in the review “a high-level preliminary draft,” and added, “We look forward to partnering with the city of Denver and our future neighbors to shape the next phases of planning. Together, we will refine this conceptual layout into a detailed plan that respects the surrounding neighborhoods, adds new homes and creates vibrant community amenities and green spaces to be enjoyed throughout the year.”
Maps submitted in a 38-page document include information like a baseline of some utility work to be redone and early indications about transit considerations for the area. The maps were developed by the Broncos “through ongoing conversations with city staff,” the document says.
Separately, the city’s planning department announced plans Wednesday to host a kick-off open house later this month to begin formulating a small area plan for the Burnham land and the surrounding area.
“The Large Development Review — alongside the Community Benefits Agreement and Small Area Plan — is an opportunity for the Denver Broncos to ensure the stadium and mixed-use community bring meaningful, lasting benefit to the area,” the team said in its statement. “Our goal is to create a true local asset that expands access, improves quality of life and provides year-round impact for the broader neighborhood, metro area and visitors.”
The document also outlines general timelines for several of the regulatory processes. It anticipates the large development review to last into the spring and the city’s small area plan to take about a year. The timeline suggests a goal of having building permits at the start of 2027.
It’s very much a preliminary plan, but it offers clues and insights into the future of the Broncos’ next home. Here’s a breakdown of a few key points from the 38-page plan.
Denver Water submits plans for operations campus, replacing land going to Broncos
Map outline
The initial plan proposes that the Broncos’ new stadium sit directly east of a BNSF Railway freight line running through Burnham Yard, and directly south of an extended West 11th Avenue and the current Denver Water headquarters.
A concept map also includes several new roadways through the area, including one that will loop directly around the west edge of the stadium. The overall proposed stadium-district area, meanwhile, stretches from an extended West 13th Avenue down to a sliver past West Sixth Avenue, where the bottom of the railyard currently sits.
Much of the concept is built around the Regional Transportation District’s 10th and Osage station, as the plan’s area is bordered and cut off by that rail line to the east.
“By expanding the 10th & Osage Light Rail Station and weaving the site into the city’s street grid, Burnham Yard will transform from an isolated industrial zone into a connected, transit-oriented redevelopment,” the plan reads.
A map of the Burnham Yard area that the Broncos submitted as part of their large-area plan for the new stadium site and entertainment district. (Image courtesy of Denver Broncos)
One key note from the area concept: The only parcel of land in the map that hasn’t been bought by a Broncos-affiliated LLC or is under a purchase agreement is a concrete plant, sitting directly east of Denver Water’s current headquarters.
That plant is owned by SRM Concrete, a national company that operates 560 concrete plants across the nation. As of now, entities affiliated with SRM Concrete own six individual pieces of property sitting in the middle of the Broncos’ area plan; the city’s property-records database puts the total value of all six parcels at roughly $15.6 million.
The Broncos clearly hope to eventually buy that land. But the map in the document published Wednesday includes multiple new and extended roads that cross SRM’s current properties, which also brings into possibility a city-affiliated entity issuing an eminent domain notice to the company.
Company employees and executives have not responded to multiple requests for comment and interviews from The Denver Post in recent months.
The concept map itself was formulated in part via “ongoing discussions” with Denver’s Community Planning and Development department, as the plan reads, indicating the city itself expects that concrete plant to be repurposed.
The document also begins to address a plan for parking, including a substantial area dedicated to it south and southeast of the stadium site, along with Denver Water’s parking garage and part of SRM’s current plot.
“In addition to on-site parking, the project could leverage nearby parking reservoirs, most of which are within easy reach of the light rail, to reduce demand within the redevelopment itself,” the plan says. It outlines a “shared parking model” that includes integrated parking garages in the residential and commercial portions of the proposed district.
Design features
The Broncos have indicated interest in building a large-scale mixed-use district around their stadium, and the initial development review offers plenty of glimpses at the eventual design.
The Broncos have tabbed design firm Sasaki as their masterplan architect. The international company has designed multiple districts in China and developed several masterplans around the Denver area in the last few years.
SRM Concrete Company, center, Burnham Yard, background, and the Denver Water Administration campus parking garage, below, in Denver, on Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
The document notes goals to establish retail and dining that “activates the district year-round,” and incorporate “green infrastructure and open spaces.” A future masterplan, the document also reads, will “provide housing, jobs, entertainment, offices and everyday amenities that extend well beyond football-related uses.”
“The redevelopment of Burnham Yard could create an entirely new central urban neighborhood,” the document reads.
Timeline
District 3 City Councilwoman Jamie Torres told The Post in late October that she hopes to have a community-benefits agreement committee established by the end of the year, with negotiations happening in 2026.
In the meantime, the city is planning its public open house on Nov. 19 to begin soliciting input for its small area plan, which will “create a long-range vision for Burnham Yard” and nearby areas over the next year to guide redevelopment. The open house will be from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at La Alma Recreation Center, 1325 W. 11th Ave.
The Broncos’ new large-area development plan indicates the team hopes to have a “site development plan” submitted by mid-2026, but Torres indicated she hoped a CBA is signed by the time the team submits a final rezoning application and development plan to the council.
“In an ideal state, if we’re able to accumulate funding along the way, it might take one year,” Torres said of the CBA negotiation process with the Broncos.
From that point, final approval on rezoning would take seven months once submitted to the City Council. That would likely push the timeframe for the Broncos to actually begin construction into 2027 or 2028.
Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.
