Denver's Union Station Refresh: A Review

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: The other weekend, I made my way over to Denver's Union Station to check out the reveal of its new facelift and light remodel.

[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_00]: It has been reported that around $54 million were spent on this particular project.

[00:00:14] [SPEAKER_00]: I love this historic building so much and I thought it would be interesting to share my thoughts on the reveal and what I noticed while I was there.

[00:00:21] [SPEAKER_00]: I do want to share some context.

[00:00:23] [SPEAKER_00]: I have patronized the building for patronized, no patronized the building for as long as I can remember.

[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_00]: And during its current iteration as a Q&Booji transit hub, I've used it basically since day one since it reopened.

[00:00:38] [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, this week, I went there for dinner with a friend of mine who was in town for a book tour and was taking the train to the plane after dinner.

[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_00]: She had her luggage with her.

[00:00:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Before working on a recording this episode, I also made a point of walking through Union Station a couple of times so that I had a better sense of what the design team was trying to do.

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Listen on and I'm super curious to hear your impressions of this space as well.

[00:01:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the Square State Colorado, a website in podcast focused on sharing the city of Denver and the state of Colorado from a long time locals perspective.

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_00]: My goal is to uplift and share local initiatives, shout out and share locally owned businesses and tell a different story of the Queen City of the West than you usually hear.

[00:01:40] [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to kind of give you a perspective of how Denver's Union Station is currently used for folks who live outside of the Denver Metro or perhaps don't use public transit.

[00:01:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Denver's Union Station is a long time transit hub specifically serving train traffic in 2016 market street station that was the downtown RTD bus terminal it closed and they moved that terminal underneath and adjacent to Union Station,

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_00]: which for me was a phenomenal way to streamline transit access that way if you're taking the train or the light rail you catch the bus it just was it made things a lot more seamless and remove some of the friction around taking transit.

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_00]: And we know there's a lot of friction nowadays with our transit anyway and 2014 Union stations current renovation was completed and the way we used it changed in some profoundly important ways.

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_00]: It became a spot where both locals and travelers alike ate watched music, shot and people watched.

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_00]: It's one of my favorite places in Denver to enjoy and to bring friends from out of town like my friend that I was hanging out with the other day.

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_00]: And also just friends from town like we'll go there to have dinner or drinks for what have you there are restaurants in the area coffee shops housing hotels and more in fact.

[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Inside of Union Station is the Crawford Hotel a fantastic place to stay while you're visiting Denver or looking for a local staycation face I'm an affiliate by the way, but they weren't paying me to share that.

[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_00]: There are cocktail bars markets and you can walk to the following spots, McRaker Square, very block base camp market course field and Lairmer Square within minutes from Union Station.

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_00]: So when the refresh was proposed that posed a significant change to how we would experience that space during the renovation just like everything else in Denver dealing with extensive construction projects I'm looking at you 16 Street Mall.

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_00]: It was uncomfortable navigating the giant like white plexiglass box that enclosed the center and I really appreciated during that time during the remodel how Union Station the place of Union Station as a community space in downtown Denver.

[00:04:01] [SPEAKER_00]: So when the project finished, I was super excited to see what they did like what did they re imagine the space to do before I share my thoughts.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_00]: I do want to touch on a few issues that were occurring at Union Station and we're likely things that the remodeling team, I guess you would say, were trying to address with reconfiguring the space.

[00:04:24] [SPEAKER_00]: So safety, I feel extremely safe in this building.

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, there is a visible security presence usually I'm not excited to say this out loud but there is in and around the building.

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_00]: And I do want to point out that during 2020 to 2022 there was definitely a sense of a lack of security things went crazy it was like the zombie apocalypse and the entire downtown Denver.

[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_00]: And I continue meeting people who have not returned to downtown because of how bad the experience was during that specific time frame.

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_00]: So if you're listening to this episode, I'm talking to you and the last time you were in downtown Denver or in Union Station was between between 2020 to 2022.

[00:05:10] [SPEAKER_00]: I strongly recommend that you give it another try.

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_00]: I feel for you because I remember being like, what the hell?

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_00]: But it's really a beautiful experience now and I think it's important for you to hear this because I literally spoke to someone this weekend who said, is it safe yet?

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Last time I went down blah, blah, blah, blah. Yes, it is still in downtown like things can happen but it definitely is not like what happened in 2020 to 2022.

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Another issue that I do want to touch on briefly is the tension around a public space and public use this goes back to the safety issue.

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Denver, like many cities, is working through the challenge of the unhoused crisis and having public spaces of rest where union stations should really fall into that is something that came up over and over again, especially during COVID like during the peak of COVID things got rough downtown.

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_00]: And there was even a point when Union Station made the seating area secured this pissed off a lot of people because locals local dimmer rights use the space to

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_00]: and they wouldn't have an amped track ticket or you know what I mean like just some of the way that the space had been cut off to usage impacted just people who live here.

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_00]: So it just wasn't a sustainable thing to do and it felt gross that it was happening.

[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_00]: So after the outcry, they backed off from securing the center seating area in the way that they were testing out.

[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Currently, I will say I don't see as many unhoused citizens in the area as before.

[00:06:50] [SPEAKER_00]: There has been a significant drop and a visible presence of unhoused persons.

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_00]: It does not mean that they are not there.

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_00]: It means that visually it seems like they are not to the extent as they were before which means that somehow they have been shifted to be somewhere else.

[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_00]: How that has happened? I do not know.

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I do want you to remember this specific point as I talk about my first impressions of the space and my experience at other Union stations across the US.

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_00]: So first impressions, the building looks fantastic.

[00:07:23] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, those general wear and tear that has to be maintained with buildings that are used as much as this building is and the overall feeling that I got while walking in the building was that they address some of those normal usage issues.

[00:07:37] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm thinking that there were some additions or changes to the lighting because the lighting is really nice.

[00:07:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Like it just looked like the mood was really nice.

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know if there was a difference but it felt good, the furniture.

[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot going on with the furniture.

[00:07:52] [SPEAKER_00]: There are fewer couches and a lot of cozy seats now which I feel will accommodate more people who would like to sit on their own,

[00:08:00] [SPEAKER_00]: like sit down without being too close to people that they don't know to strangers.

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't love the furniture, but I will share why once I complete giving some of my first impressions.

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER_00]: They removed the shuffleboard table that was on the elevated area in the middle and expanded seating in that specific area and added some nice wood flooring in that elevated space.

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_00]: There seems to be a new restaurant selling portas which I'm very excited about love portas.

[00:08:29] [SPEAKER_00]: The Crawford hotels check in lobby was shifted to what used to be a retail space.

[00:08:34] [SPEAKER_00]: They did a really nice job of making a welcoming space for guests.

[00:08:39] [SPEAKER_00]: That is away from the hustle and bustle of the building.

[00:08:42] [SPEAKER_00]: I still in that main area but I think it's easier for the team to hear the guests and just to be attentive to them.

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_00]: And there's some seating in that area so that family members or whomever is with the guests can sit down as they check in.

[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_00]: The historic wooden benches were taken out.

[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know that I love that, but smaller benches were brought in and my thought is they did that with the goal of making it easier to see around the space.

[00:09:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Having that area not be so cut off because of the height of the benches.

[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_00]: The center has what could be considered gates that kind of frame the seating area.

[00:09:23] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that was done to direct people over to like a host or host to station where they could direct you to the seating.

[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_00]: If you are getting something to drink like coffee or what have you at pig train or you're getting something to eat at one of the different food concepts there.

[00:09:43] [SPEAKER_00]: They've also put in a, I don't know how you would say like a retail fixture where the visit Denver welcoming team will be located as well as a couple other food concept and I would say the visit Denver, Concierge service if you will.

[00:10:01] [SPEAKER_00]: The furniture I do want to talk about this it pains me to say this but I don't love the concept around the furniture.

[00:10:08] [SPEAKER_00]: It feels like having a non concept was the goal.

[00:10:11] [SPEAKER_00]: It's not cohesive and it's like the aesthetic is gone.

[00:10:16] [SPEAKER_00]: The biggest mistake for me is that they didn't lean into a western vibe.

[00:10:21] [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to be clear that you're in Denver in the Rocky Mountain West and the blandness and just felt bland of the furniture was really disappointing.

[00:10:29] [SPEAKER_00]: There's no weather there's no Americana pieces nothing that would be on a ranch nothing historical no artistic calcoles it just feels like there was a team primarily made up of people from Los Angeles and Indianapolis who aren't familiar with the city of Denver.

[00:10:47] [SPEAKER_00]: It's vibes and thought let's not make any waves and I think that that was an opportunity lost.

[00:10:53] [SPEAKER_00]: I want to share though my experience in other Union stations across the West these buildings these spots these spaces are so important in terms of a city's infrastructure.

[00:11:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Whether it's in the United States or a broad that I'm only going to make comments specific to the US.

[00:11:10] [SPEAKER_00]: I love visiting these spaces and enjoying what they have to offer.

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Sorry about using words faces so much in the episode by the way one of my favorite stations is Chicago's it's so expansive and the light comes in it's just a wonderful train experience both for a person who's traveling as well as someone who lives there and is dropping in for whatever reason.

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_00]: My least favorite experience was that last Angela's Union station it is a stunningly beautiful building on the outside with a tremendously horrible experience for travelers and locals alike inside.

[00:11:52] [SPEAKER_00]: I wasn't going to talk about what that was like, but I feel like it's important for some context when I was at I'm going to frame it this way when I was at LA's Union station you see the building outside it's like so beautiful.

[00:12:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god it's one of it's just stunning you walk inside and you're like what is going on because the seating is basically not available to people they curraled it they have these really ugly like plastic bins and plastic gates that surround the seating and there is a security person looking at your ticket in order to allow you to sit.

[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Now part of what's going on is they are really having a difficult time working to maintain safety in that space when I was there there was a woman who is under distress just screaming.

[00:12:46] [SPEAKER_00]: She was on house she was just screaming and I wondered if they had a team similar to the star's team that would be brought in to work with folks who are under distress versus the police because.

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that having police would be helpful if someone's having a breakdown but it seems like there were resources that their union station really needed in order.

[00:13:14] [SPEAKER_00]: I was looking for everyone to be okay and that that wasn't happening at the time that I was there so it was really a horrible experience.

[00:13:23] [SPEAKER_00]: I think it was horrible for her because she was under distress it was horrible as a visitor because you're just like what the hell like I can't even sit wherever I want in this beautiful building there was more to the story that I don't want to share but just understand that dimmers union station does stand out and many of the best of ways that it can.

[00:13:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that it was a relatively welcoming spot for locals and visitors alike but I want to talk about what truly mattered for me and visiting the remodeled building and the refresh and looking at it so despite my critique around the look of the furniture.

[00:13:59] [SPEAKER_00]: What I was really looking at was what were the vibes now that dimmers union station has opened back up completely would people visit the vibes were immaculate and have been every single time since they've re-opened and I've gone deliberately to visit the space it feels lively fun and a place that you want to be.

[00:14:22] [SPEAKER_00]: I love that for travelers they get to experience such as a great spot as they make their way to their final destination and I love that for locals.

[00:14:32] [SPEAKER_00]: They can stop and eat there before rocky's game or going to see a Broadway show at the dimmers center performing arts they've done a really great job of cultivating a warm and inviting spot and I really do encourage everyone to check it out.

[00:14:46] [SPEAKER_00]: I do want to mention that I truly love the space before the first major remodel in 2014.

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_00]: I have a deep admiration and respect for historic buildings and historic building preservation but I'm aware of the fact that when historic buildings are reinterpreted for the times that we're living in that reimagined space doesn't always leave people happy.

[00:15:09] [SPEAKER_00]: And dimmers union station is no different. For some people it's now a gentrified bland experience for others it's a hub of humanity.

[00:15:19] [SPEAKER_00]: For me, it's a mix of both right now I need that furniture to go.

[00:15:24] [SPEAKER_00]: But I'm curious to hear what you have to say. Thank you for listening to this episode and as I said before ignore the furniture and enjoy this space.