Statistics are deceptive, noted keynote speaker James Lima at ULI Colorado’s “Case for Open Space” event, where an audience of 120+ convened at the Children’s Museum on July 18, 2019.

Denver would appear to have adequate parks for its residents. But parks have not kept up with population growth, and money has not kept up with parks. For example, when Denver’s population grew 11 percent in recent years, the growth in park space was only 1 percent. And one in six Denver parks suffer from deferred maintenance are in poor condition with aged playground equipment and landscaping.

Drawing on the report he helped research and write (with ULI Colorado’s own Chris Dunn and others), “The Case for Open Space: Why the Real Estate Industry Should Invest in Parks and Open Space,” the New York City-based Lima focused on the value parks bring to urban real estate.

In turn, developers can make relatively modest investments in parks that can enhance their returns through “additional density, faster absorption, enhanced value and  cost-saving resilient design.” For example, along the 8-mile-long Indianapolis Cultural Trail, property values have increased 148 percent. (Lima also noted the unintended consequence of gentrification and displacement.)

While providing economic benefit, parks foster social and health equity and can connect communities by creating social spaces as well as safe environments for walking, biking and active living.

How do developers benefit from park investments? Lima cited a Colorado examples from the publication. As part of the major Solaris redevelopment of 2010 in Vail, the developer proffered a 2.63-acre central plaza (in place of surface parking) and received approvals for additional height and density. The plaza has become one of Vail’s central gathering spaces. The developer pays to maintain it while a Business Improvement District does programming and marketing.

Lima also argued that parks improvements can be bundled into Opportunity Zone investments. Colorado has 126 OZs (10 in Denver) designed to attract new investment into designated low-income areas. Nationally 145 OZ investment funds have been formed with resources totaling $28.8 billion.

With government funding limited, the future lies in such partnerships, noted Lima. Kicking off the big-picture “macro” panel, Jim Petterson, Southwest and Colorado director of Trust for Public Land, said TPL has gotten involved to create new several new parks in Denver. A 2014 collaboration with Denver Parks & Recreation created Quatro Vientos/Four Winds Park, the first new park in the predominantly Latino Westwood neighborhood in a generation. In Northeast Denver’s Montbello, TPL is working with the nonprofit Environmental Learning for Kids (ELK), to transform five industrial acres into a restored natural area with native gardens, educational kiosks, walking trails, and nature play spaces.

Harriet LaMair, executive director of the High Line Canal Conservancy spoke of a new master plan to make the 71-mile-long historic canal the open-space link for 11 underserved communities. Challenges include keeping water in the leaky canal, creating safe access points from neighborhoods, and creating crossings through the many busy streets intersecting the canal.

From the public perspective, Mike Bouchard, assistant director of design and construction at Denver Parks and Rec, spoke about the new “Game Plan” (master plan) and importance of Denver residents passing ballot measure 2A in 2018. This measure provides new sales and use taxes that will increase the parks budget by about $46 million, or about 63 percent, with all funds dedicated to promoting and restoring natural areas and greenery. “It’s the first time that Denver Parks has ever had a dedicated funding source,” said Bouchard. “Kind of crazy when you think about it. This is huge because they are doubling their capital source forever.”

Bouchard detailed the ways developers can contributed to new and expanded parks: Write a check, donate the land, , build it, program it.”

Nicole Ankeney, senior landscape architect at the City of Westminster, said that 59 parks, plus greenways and open space, provide the future spine for “a city that is a bit suburban, but urbanizing over time.” Westminster funds new parks partially through developer fees and also enjoys 3,100 acres of natural open space (funded by a sales tax increase approved in 1985) that has preserved 15 percent of its land area.

How can developers help make more projects like this happen? Veteran landscape architect Bill Wenk of Wenk Associates moderated the second panel of (mostly) developers who have contributed to parks.

Bill Mosher, senior managing director of Trammell Crow Company, said they made a conscious decision to connect to the South Platte Greenway when developing Riverview, a 213,000-square-foot spec office building on Platte Street. The building features a glass curtain wall facing the Platte and a courtyard “rain garden” that provides greenery with minimal irrigation and stormwater treatment without pipes. A $170,000 investment (plus $4,000 in annual maintenance) attracted a marquee tenant as BP moved its headquarters from Houston into Riverview.

“Open space should create real estate value,” said Mosher. “I can assure you it created real estate value here. This is now the most valuable commercial building downtown, including Union Station.”

Mosher also described an intensive collaboration between Trammell Crow, the parks department and other cities agencies. “Once you get all sides to see the benefits, they become advocates.”

Jason Winkler of Industry described how a modest investment of $160,000 in donated and in-kind fees from 14 different organizations spurred a $1.24 million renovation of St. Charles Park next to Industry RiNo Station. The key was recruiting local advocates in the form of the Ambassadors, a group of teenaged students from the adjacent Cole neighborhood. They reached out to their neighbors “and got hundreds of people involved to answer the question ‘what do you want in your park?’” The Ambassadors also raised $520,000, nearly half the project budget.

Up from Colorado Springs, Tim Seibert, senior vice president of Nor’wood Development explained efforts to wrap the isolated America the Beautiful Park with new connections and development that will blend it with the city’s core. The keystone is the new Olympic Museum (designed by the architects of New York’s famed High Line park), featuring a sculptural bridge crossing railroad tracks and connecting to the Pikes Peak Greenway. A planned Legacy Loop will link the site to other trails and downtown. “America the Beautiful has been a jewel surrounded by blight for 20 years,” said Seibert. “We’re completing the gaps in the vision of General Palmer, the founder of the city.”

Seibert detailed nearly $50 million in infrastructure investment that makes this possible, with $21.5 million coming from a BID largely supported by Nor’wood. Driving this investment is Nor’wood’s master plan for 5.2 million square feet of mixed-use development wrapping the park and museum.

Finally Tyler Gibbs, former planning director of Steamboat Springs, described the seven-year effort to transform Yampa Street into a park/festival spine connecting downtown to the Yampa Riverfront. Based on recommendations from a 2012 ULI Colorado Technical Advisory Panel, the $11.2-million project moved slowly at first as voters and city council disapproved several funding schemes.

Finally the city won the support of other downtown property owners by including them in streetscape and sidewalk improvements and cobbled together separate funding sources. Once a popular but unsafe street with no lighting or infrastructure, Yampa has been reborn with sidewalks, a new waterfront park, and a greenway link to downtown, along with commercial activity such as a new brewpub and renovated historic building. “Steamboat is not lacking in open space, with 2,000 acres, and fly fishing and skiing, within a five-minute walk of downtown. This project was designed to reconnect the river to downtown, recognizing that the river is the future.”

The program was created by ULI Colorado’s Explorer series committee, chaired by Susan Brown of Valerian and Michele Decker of 4240 Architecture.