The Broncos on Tuesday released updated renderings of their proposed multi-use district around a football stadium at Burnham Yard.
The renderings, the team says, show the latest in what is expected to be many iterations of plans for more than 100 acres of total land that surround a stadium plot on the now-defunct rail yard and surrounding real estate acquisitions. The renderings do not include any images of a proposed stadium itself and team president Damani Leech said Saturday those will likely not come for a while yet as myriad approval processes and negotiations move slowly forward amid — in some instances — simmering frustrations from team officials and community coalitions.
What the just-released renderings do show, though, is the manner in which the Broncos, who have hired Denver-based Tryba to do the design work and master planning for their multi-use district, currently see the areas around a potential stadium site coming together over the course of the next five years and then well beyond.
The team says the updated renderings also take into account “extensive” input from community groups and information gathered over the past nearly year since the club announced Burnham Yard as its preferred stadium and district site.
“These updated plans will continue to evolve as Burnham Yard becomes a place where neighbors, fans and visitors can gather, connect and belong year-round,” the team said in sharing the renderings via social media.
The plans unveiled are designed by Tryba and build off of the work that Sasaki, which partnered with the Broncos until early this year to do the initial planning work, submitted to the city as an initial infrastructure master plan this spring and presented at a community meeting in February.
“We’ve been working with Manica, a global, world-renowned architecture firm for a number of months now and continue to progress on designs of the stadium,” Leech said Saturday. “I think the things that we’ve seen have been pretty beautiful. (Broncos owners Greg and Carrie Penner) are very, very involved and have a great relationship with David (Manica) and his team and things are going well there.
“Our (district) master plan continues to iterate and evolve. Sasaki got us to a really great point. We’ve brought on Tryba Architects, which is a local Denver-based firm that’s done a lot of great work here in Denver, to help us continue to evolve that master plan.”
Among the changes to the district plan the Broncos have made in their updated plans include:
* Eliminating a crossing at 11th Avenue and slowing vehicles, which the team says will improve pedestrian and bike safety, along with closing additional crossings on event days
* An increased emphasis on larger parks and green spaces — around 11-12 acres of public open space — that can be used year-round
* Removing the freight rail tracks and crossings, which the team says will reduce conflict and transition those into a new tree-lined trail
* Connecting the neighborhood by extending historic streets through Burnham Yard, including adjusting 8th Avenue into a slower main street feel
The new renderings also add some names and context to what different parts of the district are expected to feature. The initial IMP showed an emphasis on residential building on the north end of the district and an entertainment zone running north to south along the eastern flank of the district, bordering the La Alma-Lincoln Park neighborhoods. In the updated renderings, that area is named “Village Center.” Directly south of that stretch is an area the new renderings refer to as “Turntable Green,” designed and built around an old railroad turntable that the Broncos have said from the start they wanted to feature as a landmark in the area. That is also near the old diesel locomotive shop, another staple of the district that could end up as some kind of market or large, open food hall.
The renderings also include an area around what is expected to be a substantially expanded light rail stop at 10th Avenue and Osage Street.
The southwest corner of the district, directly south of the proposed stadium site, is called “South End” in the new renderings and, in the original infrastructure master plan calls for zoning that is primarily mixed commercial and industrial.
The Broncos said Tuesday they expect the plans will continue to change and evolve as more input is gathered from the community and also stakeholders including city and state officials, RTD and others as the processes of getting green lights to start building continue to move forward.
Historic Denver president and CEO John Deffenbaugh said in a statement provided to The Post that his group is, “is encouraged by the continued commitment to preserve the historic Locomotive Shop and incorporate the turntable pit into the future development. But history goes beyond the tangible.”
The nonprofit studied stadium-anchored districts in North America and Europe earlier this year and, according to Deffenbaugh, “the most enduring projects weave historic places into new development, strengthen the neighborhoods around them, and ensure that the benefits of redevelopment extend well beyond the stadium itself. …
“History does not end at the property line. As Burnham Yard continues to evolve, that connection should remain visible in the place it becomes.”
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