Holy Moly!  That’s One Awesome Bridge

We’re so excited.  The new Union Gateway Bridge (formerly the 18th Street Pedestrian Bridge) is open!  It’s incredibly cool.  Take the time to walk over there.  The key moment?  Riding down the glass elevator on the Union Station side of the bridge.  The second cool part?  Watching construction at Union Station.  Really, an amazing view that none of us have ever seen before.  For a few details on the bridge, click on through.

Best Sign Yet That Union Station Is About To Start

Click through to figure out where this is.

We’re Not Saying, But Someone Will Be Soon

Looks like there’s a pretty big announcement going down this afternoon behind Union Station at 1:30.  All kinds of current politicos and politicos wanting to be politicos and so forth will be there.  If you’re wanting to hear what it is, well, you’ll just have to go.  I’m not saying I know, but, I doubt they’d have a press conference if they didn’t have something to say.

Congratulations are probably in order, but we’ll wait until the end of the day, just in case.

Quick Link to a Neat Story

Our friend Bill Mosher got some good press this weekend in the Denver Post.  Bill is the project manager for the public side of our public-private partnership at Union Station.  He’s doing a spectacular job.

Announcing the First Project at the New Union Station

[Note:  I’m new to this whole blogging thing and can’t get these photos formatted so that you can actually see what you are looking at.  Denver Infill posted a picture on their site, and it’s a lot easier to see.  Click this sentence to see it.]

So, cool.  This weekend, we announced the first project that will be built at the redeveloped Union Station, the IMA Financial Building.  Located alongside the historic station, the project will be five stories tall, with about 100,000 square feet of rentable space.  The owner and primary tenant will be our good friends at IMA Financial, one of the city’s premier risk management companies.

The building is pretty, for which we’re glad to thank the hard working team at Anderson Mason Dale and Semple Brown Design.  The team has done a spectacular job of integrating the building into the existing street wall along Wynkoop and looking forward to the more modern design aesthetic that will define the whole neighborhood.

Of course, no one deserves more credit than the folks at IMA.  Their willingness to make such a large investment speaks volumes about the Union Station redevelopment as a whole, but even more about their civic commitment.  I’ll let Rob Cohen, the company’s founder, speak on their behalf:

“This is a unique opportunity to do something really special.  Union Station has always been this magical place of what could be when it happens.” Click right here for a little bit more.

Make Yourself Heard

Do you have an opinion of what path downtown Denver should take in the future?  If so, head to the Denver Marriott Hotel City Center tomorrow morning at 7:30am for MetroQuest.

MetroQuest is an opportunity created by the Downtown Denver Partnership’s Member Forum and the Denver Regional Council of Governments for Denverites to explore the issues facing downtown, including population growth, development patterns and infrastructure investments. 

The forum is free for Downtown Denver Partnership members and forum sponsors, and $50 for non-members.

Vote and be heard.

Photo credit.